Washington! Cascade Locks to White Pass

This will go down as the section that marked the official transition from summer to winter. Yes, you read that correctly. When we left Cascade Locks, we did it with ice cream in hand. Five days and 28,000+ feet of climbing later (aka sea level to the top of Mt Everest) all we wanted was soup and whiskey hot chocolate. In the days out of Cascade Locks it was hot enough that I slept on top of my sleeping bag. Two nights ago it dropped into the 20s. Our stuff was soaked with the unwelcome frost. We have days of rain ahead. Welcome to Washington.

The crazy thing at this point is that we already walked across Washington in 2014 with the exception of the last thirty miles from Harts Pass to Manning Park. It is simple stubbornness at this point to hike the last 500 miles. Something about going border to border is firmly under our skin and driving us forward every day.

It's not for the views alone, though they are spectacular. Oregon had sensational enormous mountains and lakes in the middle of nowhere: Crater Lake, Three Sisters, Mt Hood and Mt Jefferson. Washington has whole stretches of awe-inspiring mountain RANGES. When we climbed out of Cascade
Locks we had views of Mt Hood, Mt Saint Helens and Mt Adams. Not bad, though still very "Oregon". When we got to Goat Rocks Wilderness -- one of our favorite parts of the PCT -- we were quite literally walking in the clouds. We couldn't see far, and it was still spectacular.

It's not for the trail magic, which is limited at this point to the indefatigable Coppertone. Halfway through this 148 mile section Coppertone, now adorned in a sweatshirt in the mist near Trout Lake, gave us still delightful root beer floats. We joked about how hot chocolate might be a better fit going forward.

It's not even for other hikers, though they are a tremendous support and source of motivation. Our trail friends are at this point scattered from the beginning of Oregon to mid Washington. But we make new friends all the time -- in this section Chapstick and Big Bear, good natured guys from NorCal.

It's not for the towns, in Washington the pickings aren't great around the PCT. Here in White Pass, we are staying in a 1970s motel room with a Murphy bed. To turn on the heat, we had to remove an "Oh say can you ski"
poster. And the woman who checked us in even said "you are staying in the 70s room. There's carpet in the kitchenette."

It's definitely not for the weather. Jenny's least favorite mode of being is wet and cold.

It's not for the food. Cheese and crackers have had their day, though oddly we still have lots of love for fancy ramen and Mac and cheese.

I think it's mostly because we have hiked 2,294 miles and only have 356 miles left until Canada. And we are mad stubborn. And lucky: we have had no major injuries or financial constraints.

P.S. Pictures to come in a few days with proper cell service.