One last breakfast before leaving town always makes getting up a little easier. We headed to the Bridgeside Cafe, which is right by the Bridge of the Gods to have breakfast and charge our phones before heading out. Chicken fried steak is pretty much my go to breakfast at these kind of places and today’s was pretty good.
Crossing the bridge was really neat. It’s way above the river and was one of the scarier things I’ve done on the trail. There’s no sidewalk and we walked right on the bridge grating.
After that we took our first steps in Washington. I had hiked the first 6 or so miles before on a trip to the gorge with Meghan. We climbed Table Mountain (you can see it in the picture). Today we passed the trail junction but continued climbing.
Cascade Locks is the lowest point on the whole trail, so it should be expected that the climb out would be tough. We had a couple big climbs and big descents today and passed a lot of people who were in town for trail days.
It was hot out and I got pretty sweaty. One of the streams we passed was big enough to jump in and I took advantage. With our late start, progress seemed slow but after jumping in, we decided to push on to the next water, 10 miles away. It would put us at camp right at dark.
When we arrived at Trout Creek we found out that a lot of people had that same idea. We had hit the PCT Days bubble hard. There was nowhere to set up camp. I did see some people who met my friend Damon at a brewery in Bend though. Small world.
Luckily, there was supposed to be some camping just a quarter mile past the creek and we headed here. It’s just off a dirt road so there’s a bit of trash, but otherwise it’s a good enough site. Several tents overflowed here from the previous camp spot, but we have a bit more privacy.
Washington is just how I remember it, with big climbs and green plants. It’s good to be home.