Days 76-81, Mt Hood to Cascade Locks

Day 81, August 10. Mi 2025.3- 2148.0, ~18mi because of an alternate.
Woke up, started hiking around 6am. Beautiful sunrise with some alpenglow on Mt Hood. We had about 18miles into Cascade Locks which also finishes Oregon. Nice morning walking and took the Eagle Creek detour. Initially it was a steep descent through a burn area but then eases up. Ed and I had good conversation reminiscing to each other about other trips. Before long we saw two excellent falls, which in my mind may have been the best falls I have seen on trail! The first falls were Twister Falls, Eagle Creek flows through deep pools then plummets through a deep V canyon to a small pool then jumps 90⁰ and plummets into a deep pool all surrounded by high vertical basalt cliffs. Just after Twister Falls is Tunnel Falls. The trail runs through a tunnel behind a waterfall with moss and ferns growing all over. After these two falls we started to see more day hikers as we followed Eagle Creek to the parking lot. There we hiked a bit of the Gorge Trail then the bike path to Cascade Locks finishing the state of Oregon. Ed, Dreamcatcher, and I had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the Columbia River and I said bye to them. We had hiked something like 2 weeks together and they were pushing on while I headed into Portland for a week+ off for a family reunion in San Diego.

Day 80, August 9. Mi 2095.9- 2025.3, 29.4mi
This morning we woke up and hiked about 2mi to Timberline Lodge. The short hike in was beautiful. There were views of Mt Hood up above, fields of flowers up close, and a touch of morning dew in the air. Mt Hood is a lot more complex of a mountain than I thought with hanging glaciers and steep rocky faces. Some snow was still present on the lower flanks of the mountain and people were skiing. Ed, Dreamcatcher, and I headed into Timberline Lodge for our fancy schmancy breakfast reservations at the breakfast buffet. We ate a lot. Food was good. Oof it hurt to leave. Ed paid for my breakfast, thanks Ed!! Now I call him my sponsor. We hiked out with very full bellies, contouring around Hood. Most of the trail was a descent with one good climb after Ramona falls. Tons of day hikers and a number of southbound PCT hikers today. In the evening we hit a section with pretty bad blow down trees. For about a mile, the PCTA has an advisory for this area. Being the smart guy that I am, I lost the trail right away and started bushwhacking on the otherside of the ridge paralleling the trail. Being hardheaded I didn’t want to turn around so I pushed forward walking through blackberry and raspberry bushes and trying to dodge the stinging nettle. The upside of my offtrail detour is that I dealt with very few blowdowns. The downside is that I bushwhacked for an extra 30+ minutes scraped up and dejected. I should have learned by now that I can save a few minutes by backtracking instead of investing more time into pushing on. Oh well. I had to night hike an hour or so, catching a great sunset, to camp with Ed and Dreamcatcher. Oh well, I did find seclusion during that off-trail bushwhack!

Day 79, August 8. Mi 2087.5-2095.9, 8.4mi
Spent most of the day hanging and chilling. Fixed my shorts with a borrowed sewing machine from Nick’s roommate, woohoo! In the late afternoon, Nick and I picked up Ed and Dreamcatcher, had lunch at a brewery with food trucks. Then Nick drove us all the way to Government Camp to skip the closed trail. Very nice, thanks for the ride! He hiked the first mile and a half with us then turned back to head home. We collected some berries after and hiked on. We got to camp a little early, ate dinner, and are stoked to hit the Timberline Lodge breakfast buffet tomorrow, it’s less than an hour from us now.

Day 78, August 7 zero day in Bend
Spent the day with Nick. Pretty casual. We had fried eggs over fried rice for breakfast and some mint/honey tea he made. Very good. We spent the afternoon at the river park and swam a little. I tried to go down the rapids without a tube/floaty/wetsuit and got a bit scraped up. We then got lunch/dinner at 10 barrel brewing. We had nachos and burgers and a flight of beer. It kind of turned into dinner. We then heading back to his house and lounged.

Day 77, August 6 miles 1958.9-1983.7, 24.8mi
What a great day. The clouds cleared overnight and I had great views! In the morning I walked through a meadow and finally saw Mt. Bachelor and the Sisters. It was, after all, the Sisters Wilderness. Walking was a joy. Great views east to the peaks and saw some glaciers on Middle and North sister. One day I’d like to come back and try to traverse them. I walked through the Obsidian Falls area where shiny rocks were on the ground (obsidian) and there was a cool waterfall! I crossed a couple lava flows which wasn’t easy walking but pretty cool. Somehow trees were growing in the middle of the lava fields. Don’t they need soil?? The trail finished at McKenzie Pass and I checked out the observatory there before catching a ride into Sisters. Nick picked me up in Sisters and we had a fun afternoon and evening. We got tacos, boogey boarded the standing wave at the wave park in town, and hung out! It’s good to see him.

Day 76 August 5 Miles 1925.1-1958.9, 33.8mi
A tough day for me mentally. The smoke seemed to be a bit worse this morning than days earlier but did clear up by the afternoon. The trail was relatively flat and monotonous. I started and finished a whole audiobook today. I pondered all sorts of things. Like why do bumble bees bumble? I would think they’d be better fliers after millions of years of evolution. I contemplated getting off the trail for good in Bend, OR. I don’t think I will but the monotony got to me today. We passed by many lakes and for a week+ Ed has talked about how this section has so many places to swim. The irony is that it was a cool day with a high around 65. No interest in swimming today. Clouds rolled in in the later afternoon. I got separated from Ed and Dreamcatcher and didn’t see them after lunch. I’ll probably head into Bend alone tomorrow, I doubt they will catch up to me before then. I saw 15+ SOBOs today. The bubble! No views at all today, hopefully smoke/clouds clear for some views of the sisters tomorrow.