Here is a pic of the lawn I was sleeping on last night at Cascade Locks.
Now, you might think this looks like an ideal location. Nice grassy area, next to the Columbia River, plenty of space between tents, etc. Well the one downside is that the train tracks are about 100 feet away and these tracks are special. These are the super highway of train tracks, with heavily loaded freight trains passing by every 20-30 minutes….all night long. Last one I recall passed by at 1:23 AM before I finally went to sleep. My night on the railroad cost me an early start, I finally got moving around 8:30.
Most of the folks I camped with last night have already taken off. One couple, Work Horse and Chai, who I got to know yesterday have already left. I expect to see them in the coming days. They are in their early 50’s and look like they do my kind of pace.
Bridge of the Gods. What a name for this utilitarian, narrow, steel girder bridge. Whoever named this thing was a branding genius. It is a narrow two lane road across with no pedestrian walk way, so I just walked in the road with cars finding their own way around me. Took one quick pic while I was walking across.
Got on the trail and started climbing. Wow what a difference. I’m walking through an old-growth forest. I counted the gowth rings on a couple trees that had fallen over the trail and had been sawed in half. These beasts are over 150 years old. An added bonus was ZERO bugs. So it was a groovy shady climb out of the river valley filled with black berries I’d pick as I ascended.
Huge difference in the trail here. The trail is wide, well maintained, and all the fallen trees have been cleared. The footing is nice and soft. Loved it.
I’m starting to run into more Southbounders (SOBO’s). These folks have already done 500 or so miles and are getting their trail legs, so I didn’t talk to them much. They are trying to get the miles in and since we are passing each other, what’s the point in long conversation? While I don’t get to speak with many folks, there are plenty of snakes to hang with.
When I got to the top of one of the climbs, there are the ruins of an old railway siding structure that was destroyed in a 1929 fire. Pretty much just a pile of wood and steel cables now.
Once I gained some altitude, around 3k or so, the trail alternates between shady forest and stretches of open areas filled with tons of plants with supercharged growth. It feels like I’m in a salad.
Around 6 O’clock, I hit the creek that I was targeting to camp only to find tents all over the place. Work Horse and Chai were at one nice spot next to the creek. Next was a local backpacker who absorbed a 3 tent site with his one tent and yard sale of camping stuff (camp chair, hamock, etc). The next spot had 3 ladies in 2 tents squished together.
My next alternate was occupied by Papa and John, two cousins about my age who are sectioning some of Oregon and all of Washington. Papa John, get it? Anyway, they looked comfortable in their nice spot with no room for the Salty One. I resigned myself to doing another mile or two.
The next potential spot was off trail along a dirt road. It was getting dark and I didn’t really want to be night hiking. There was some chatter about camping spots 5 minutes south of the trail, so I gave that a shot. The good news was I found it. The bad news was there was a truck parked there with an older women and 2 barking dogs that came running at me all snarling. Talking, well shouting actually, she offers to let me stay there. She says her dogs are “Trained Service Dogs”. Apparently they are trained to ignore her. Yeah….no thanks.
Saw some dirt roads leading off the main road and kept looking. Eventually I found an awesome spot right next to the river. Huge, flat, and unoccupied. As I was setting up, I could hear the lady’s dogs barking at another hiker who was in the same predicament. Then another. Poor folks probably had a crappy night.
