Day 183

Day 183 (pct 73): 30 miles

Cowboy camping was a bad decision. I woke up around 4 and felt it raining a little. I was getting up in and hour as soon as it was light so I convinced myself it would be alright to just lay there and take it. I had dealt with rain while cowboying before and this was nothing like the downpour I got in New Mexico. It wasn’t as bad, but all my stuff still got soaked. I also didn’t end up leaving until 7 cause I just kept curling up in my sleeping bag hoping it would stop before I started walking. It didn’t. For the first couple hours it was miserable. It was raining and I was crawling over and under logs frequently.

But then eventually, the rain stopped, the logs disappeared, and the sun came out. Well it want exactly perfect. I took the eagle creek alternate which just reopened and it was really hyped up. In the beginning it was hard to follow the trail and then it just disappeared and we were bushwhacking through high brush just like last night. After doing that for a bit when hammer and buckle caught up to me, we just decided to go down the side of the mountain to reconnect with the trail rather than keep wandering at the top. It wasn’t fun but after a while we did find the actual trail lower and it was much better. And once I got down to the river, I saw what all the hype was about. It was beautiful with a lot of waterfalls.

When I got into cascade locks I met up with some family and got some grub and Colorado kool aid. I also got adjust on some cardboard pallets in the back parking lot of a grocery store which was a fun hikertrash experience. Cascade locks was kind of an odd town. Hammer and I sitting outside the grocery store and drinking a beer was one of the more normal things going on.

Leaving town was tough, physically and mentally. Physically, I’m carrying 5 days of food in a 36 liter pack which is extremely uncomfortable and did not fit well. I had to get a little creative and carry a pocket peanut butter jar. And mentally it was tough cause it was tempting to stay in town. A few hikers we met yesterday were but more importantly would’ve been to deal with the post office. I was supposed to get new shoes and socks delivered there yesterday but when I went today they weren’t delivered yet. I was extremely angry. These shoes are going on 800 miles already. There’s a chance it might’ve been there in the morning if I stayed but I decided to bounce it ahead instead. If I didn’t subscribe to GVO this would’ve really ruined my day but I tried to look at the bright side and will get almost a 1,000 miles out of one pair of shoes so budget wise that’s great.

Song of the day: my own prison-creed