Bridge of the Gods to Packwood
The biggest leg of the hike: 161 miles of fog and cold off the Columbia, Mount Adams, and the Knife’s Edge in cloud.
Day 111 I crossed Bridge of the Gods and sat on the Washington side to eat. Someone pulled over offering a ride to Stevenson, five minutes away. The grocery had everything I wanted and the brewery was across the street. The hitch back out took five minutes, and I still walked 30.8 miles that day. Strava title: “We aint in Oregon no mo.”
One of my early Washington notes reads, “No views at 8am just foggy mist.” Day 112 I hit save on Strava by accident halfway through, and the second half was rough. Mile 2200 showed up laid out in white moss, and Blue Lake was the best lake so far, a great lunch spot with lots of camping.
Quoted lines are from my 2021 logs, verbatim.
Day 113 a black fly tore a hole in my leg on a climb. At FS Road 24 I found the first trail register I’d seen in Washington, in an ammo box. I woke up wet.
Then Goat Rocks: two days in the wilderness and the Knife’s Edge on day 115. More on that below.
My town days by then were about twenty miles in, a resupply and a night, then twenty miles out. Those were my neros. At Packwood the grocery was still pretty bare, no bars, but I could piece together a resupply. The Packwood Inn was great for the price, and their laundry was back up. They do it for you. I tipped. Day 116 I headed back out and had lunch at Snow Lake.
Goat Rocks and the Knife’s Edge
Day 114 was 29.9 miles into the Goat Rocks Wilderness. Day 115 was 20.3 miles over the Knife’s Edge, and I titled it “Horrifying Knifes Edge.”
The Cispus Pass climb wasn’t that bad. After it, every campsite was going to be extremely busy. Past the pass a wasp flew directly at my face and got me on the chin before I had a second to react. The snowfield along the crest was in cloud.
The food, Stevenson to Packwood
Stevenson had everything, five minutes off the bridge. Packwood had almost nothing on the shelves, but the 76 station had Clif bars and the like. The hitch in took about 15 minutes, and the same going back out.
keep walking
