Washington Part

This is Mike writing. Since we have pretty limited time with internet connectivity, Margo has decided she’s going to use that time to start looking for a post-hike job. So I’m taking over the blog, at least for now.

Our journey into Washington started out by crossing the Columbia River over the Bridge of the Gods. That was a neat experience. Since the CA/OR border was closed due to fire when we passed by, this was our only state line crossing on the whole hike. Of course, we documented it well with photos.

Now we’ve finished our first stretch of about 150 miles in Washington. We’re in the little town of Packwood just south of Mt Ranier. Much of WA so far had looked a lot like Oregon, but with more up and down. But the last section before Packwood goes through an area called Goat Rocks, which is stunning. I’d say it’s the best scenery we’ve seen on the hike since we left the Sierras way down in California, over 1,000 miles ago. Unfortunately, about half of the PCT through Goat Rocks is closed because of a wildfire, so we only got to see the first half. And even in that section we were only able to see through hazy, smoky skies. But it was enough of a taste that I’m sure I’ll be back in clear weather to see the rest sometime.

Needless to say, the pictures don’t do it justice. You’ll just have to trust me when I say it was jaw-dropping.

We are starting to feel the end of the trip nearing. We’re starting to see signs of fall in the mountains up here, the days are starting to get noticeably shorter, and the Canadian border is getting quite close. We both have mixed feelings about this. Of course, it’ll be nice to go back to having all of life’s comforts, including having a place to live, regular showers, fresh produce, access to more stuff than we can carry on our backs, etc. It’s easy to daydream about how nice that all will be, and it’s easy to put our focus into hurrying towards that life.

But, we also both realize that this is a once in a lifetime experience. It’s also an experience that has been overwhelmingly positive. Once it’s over, that’s it. There’s no going back. We’ll probably never again have such a healthy, stress-free, peaceful existence. So we’re really trying to savor these last few weeks. Fortunately, days like yesterday and today filled with amazing scenery make enjoying the present a lot easier.