Day 117, Cascade Locks to Stevenson

I mentioned that last night we came up with a plan to allow us to move north today while also giving me an extra day to rest and rehab my shin. The PCT leaving Cascade Locks has a ton of elevation which has the potential to aggravate my shin. Pants found a way to reduce some of the strain on me by eliminating much of the elevation. This meant we would change our path north by taking a few roads to bypass the large elevation gain and loss. The idea would be to walk to Stevenson, WA today and then tomorrow go through Carson, WA back to the trail. We know this isn’t the pure PCT but both Double Down and I never have felt like we had to be purists to the trail. Most importantly it would allow us to maintain our continuous footpath, which is the most important thing to us, while minimizing aggravation to my injury. So with our new plan in place Mantis, Pants, Double Down and I left Cascade Locks heading north.

Before leaving Cascade Locks we slept in and then grabbed breakfast at the Bridgeside restaurant. Then it was time to head to the Post Office to see if we could find our missing box. I got in there and gave them my name. The response I got was that the box wasn’t there. I was confused, how could the box not be at the Ale House or at the Post Office!! The very nice postal worker kept looking, but luckily for me a worker from the Ale House had over heard my conversation. He went over to the Ale House and brought back my box. He said it had been placed in the wrong area which is why they didn’t see it. Phew!! I was kind of frustrated but I had my new shoes and we could now leave Cascade Locks.

Before heading back to the hotel we made one last stop for a soft serve. Ice cream for a second breakfast is good right? We checked out of the Best Western and headed back to the trail. The PCT actually heads straight across the Bridge of the Gods. For this part of the trail we get to walk across the bridge next to the cars since there is no specific walk way. The bridge is grated and this allows you to see straight down to the Columbia River below. It is an awesome way to cross from Oregon to Washington!!

Second breakfast
Heading to the Bridge

After crossing into Washington we then had to road walk 3 1/2 miles into the town of Stevenson. We were doing a very short amount of mileage today allowing my shin to basically have another day of rest and it allowed us a fun day of eating and drinking together!!

Hello Washington
Here is to Washington

We are heading back to the PCT tomorrow and I can’t believe we are down to about 3 weeks left on the trail. Double Down and I are excited to see what Washington has to offer and are feeling so close to the completion of this amazing journey.

We really appreciate the support we have received to this point and are super excited to share with you remainder of our journey!! Link