Days 122 - 125

Sept. 4 - 7
Day 122 - 125
Mile 2113.0 - 2174.2
Below mt. Hood - Rock Creek

Day 122: Target practice

Today was an eventful day! Right after we woke up today we saw our first bear of the entire trip! It was a little black bear down in the canyon below us eating berries. I can't believe we haven't seen one yet.








We also had our most difficult stream crossing in the morning. We could find nowhere to cross muddy fork so we walked through the water. It reached just below my hips and I almost fell over once. After our easy sierra stream crossings i underestimated the depth and force of the current. We took the Ramona Falls alternate which was very beautiful!




About 12 miles in to our day at Lolo summit there was a cache with a few beers left. We took a lunch there and dried our wet socks and shoes out. There were spiderwebs all over the trail today and I kept thinking I was going to walk into one with a spider in it. Sure enough there was a full web spun at the perfect level for my face to completely catch it and I walked right into it. The brown spider was sitting right between my eyes. I was not very happy. Bears, snakes, bats, I am fine with, but spiders I just don't do. Later in the day we saw a breathtaking view of mt. St. Helens, mt. Rainier, and mt. Adams lined up. The lighting made it so that the mountains didn't really show up, but st. Helen's is on the left, Adams on the right, and rainier, which is the hardest to see, is in the middle.




We could also still see mt. Hood behind us and at the end of the day we felt as if it was no further away than in the morning, which was a little frustrating. We decided to take the eagle creek alternate. This is a very popular alternate and goes past many waterfalls, the most popular being tunnel falls, where the trail walks right behind the waterfall. We only walked a few miles into the alternate but the first 2 miles were really steep downhill and I slipped and fell and choked myself on the chest strap of my backpack. It was also very wet and green with spiders, some bugs, and slugs.




Day 123: Mexico? Like the country?!?

Since eagle creek is so beautiful and so easily accessed, there were a lot of day hikers on the trail this morning. One hiker seemed astonished that we had even spent the night outside. Imagine his surprise when we told him we had come from Mexico. He didn't seem to believe we had walked that far and thought we were talking about another Mexico at first. It still seems unimaginable to us even and we have decided that it is because it is difficult to compare to anything in everyday life. You can, for example, compare it to a 1 mile walk you may do everyday but 2650 days of walking one mile is still out of touch with everyday thought. You could compare it to driving 2650 miles in a car, but the thought of walking it is so different than the thought of driving it that that doesn't really make sense either. The only way your mind can grasp what it means to walk that many miles is to just do it. I know what it feels like to walk 2000 miles, but even now the only thing I can compare it to is itself. That is why it is still so hard for me to even believe or understand what we have done so far. I'm not sure if that makes sense but this is one of the conundrums that my brain thinks of while hiking.

We saw the amazing tunnel falls and I took a video that I will post when I get a chance of walking behind the falls.




There were waterfalls and rivers everywhere; it was beautiful.












We made it to cascade locks, our last stop in Oregon, by noon. We ate at the charburger and saw new and old friends. We were able to shower, get our packages, and resupply before our friend annie got here from Portland. She brought us laundry detergent and while we were waiting for laundry we all ate chips and salsa, swam, and talked. It was so fun to see her and catch up! It gave us such a boost.




Day 124: Bridge of the Gods

Today, after exactly 4 months of being on the trail, we entered Washington, the last state of the PCT. I was armed with new shoes and new socks and we both had clean hair. We sent everything home we weren't sure to need for these last weeks to lighten our load as much as possible. We spent most of the morning relaxing, finishing up chores, and enjoying our continental buffet breakfast. I don't think they plan for hungry pct hikers but we sure got our moneys worth. We chatted with other hikers, ate lunch, had shakes, and sat around until we finally left cascade locks at 5:00. We immediately crossed bridge of the gods over the Columbia river into Washington which was awesome!








Oregon was so flat and pleasant and the forests were mostly thin. Washington, in contrast, has dense forests, is much steeper and ruggeder, and can be very rainy and cold in September. We are excited to be here!

Day 125: Shelob's lair

Today was really tiring and were not really sure why. I think we just did not get enough rest in town and we were in a rush to get back on trail. There were a lot of spiders in the morning and even Nate was getting frustrated with dodging them. They just seem to want to spin their webs right in the middle of the trail at face level. There were no views today and we walked in forest all day but we still had fun. So far the forest seems the same as oregon forests.








By lunch we had only walked 9 miles. We were so sleepy that we joked about stopping at a campsite 6 miles away. When we got there, we grabbed water and spent some time throwing rocks across the river to try and knock down a spider web. We were so exhausted we just decided to camp there and get to bed early. The kiwis, weeki and shack, showed up. Later uhaul, tangent, Holstein, Destroyer, and Blackbeard showed up. We were asleep before the sun went down and slept great.




Oh, and the look on my face is from the stink of Nate's flatulence.

-Jenna
-Be Free