Day 133 

Cascade Locks

Cost: Cowboy camped in the RV park, $3
We said goodbye to Howard at 5am when he left to drive to Seattle for his flight back to London. Breakfast was included at the restaurant next door (formerly known as Charburger) so we walked over there and bumped into Roadwalker, Tapatio, Starfish and Colin and had breakfast together. 
After breakfast as we were getting ready to check-out of the hotel we got a message from Teflon and the Smiths saying they had just arrived in Cascade Locks 🙂 Teflon came around and helped us eat the leftover voodoo donuts (her favourite donuts as she’s from Portland) and also picked up some of our leftover food for her next resupply. Then the three of us walked over to the Thunder Island Brewery where the Smiths were waiting. It was so terrific to see everyone again, we were reunited, except for Shepherd 😦

  
Thunder Island brewery is pretty special. Customers can buy PCT hikers beers (they buy a token and write their name or an encouraging message on it) and PCT hikers can get a free beer, thank you! 

  

The Smiths are going off trail for a few days and Teflon is going away for the night so we said our goodbyes again and hope we’ll see them further down the trail. 

We weren’t originally going to stay the day in Cascade Locks but KC had some stuff that needed posting (it’s Sunday today), we wanted to see and spend time with Teflon and the Smiths and we also needed to look at the fires  that are affecting the PCT in Washington… So here we are still in Cascade Locks. 

We walked over to the RV park by the river and paid our $3 to stay the night – it’s a terrific deal with bathrooms, showers and electricity. We bumped into Zigzag there, it was so great to see him again!

 

 
I looked at the PCTA trail closures page  to see if there were any updates regarding the fires north of here in Washington. No new updates and the main message is to wait and see how things progress, so I don’t feel bad for taking the day off. At the moment the first fire affecting the trail is near Stevens Pass which is about 2 weeks (walking) from us. We’ve heard news of lost lives and homes and I really hope the fires can be put out soon and that everyone in the area stays safe. 

I want to remain positive and hope that we’ll be able to hike the whole way through Washington into Canada but I’m also seeing people ahead of me leaving the trail throughout Washington, unable to make it to the monument because of the fires… If this is how it has to be, then so be it, but of course after 2150 miles, I would love to hike to the end. 

All we can do is keep an eye on the trail closures page when we have phone service and hike as far as we can. 

And so I will leave Oregon tomorrow. Oregon has been volcanoes, lava rock, beautiful mountain vistas, huckleberries, sand, dust, lots of dead trees and burnout areas, stunning lakes and heaps of lakeside resorts, great beer and reasonably flat. Thanks Oregon!