Sunday was pretty uneventful. I met up with Hazmat on the ride out, but was almost entirely alone through intermittent burn areas for an easy 20 miles, starting at 1 pm. Filtering water with my new bag was great. So was setting up my tent with my new adjustable-length trekking poles. (Sadly aluminum, since I couldn't find the carbon fiber version at the Bend REI.)
On Monday I listened to the start of the new Critical Role campaign while I hiked through a smoky day. The characters in the campaign were in a situation where they were taking levels of exhaustion from breathing in too much ash. (I'm a pro at demotivating myself via too-real fiction at this point.) I tried not to think about it too much, and kept my breathing slow, steady, and through my nostrils only. (Mouthfuls of ash taste bad, unsurprisingly.) I cruised through my 29.9 mile day pretty easily, unlike the characters in Critical Role.
The easiest way to drive from Bend to Olallie overshot north on the way, so I had a bunch of moments where I crossed a road and thought, "I could have been dropped off here instead." I felt a mix of wistfulness and strength of will from hiking those extra miles.
On Tuesday there was a cold rain all day. I was pretty stoked about it from a "maybe some fires will go out" perspective, but it was annoying to hike in. But honestly, Tuesday was easy and awesome. I hit Timberline Lodge for a breakfast buffet after the first 2 miles of cold rain walking. Then, near the end of my day, there were 3 unrelated groups doing trail magic at the same parking lot! I got a cocktail (Dark and Stormy), hot food (pulled chicken sandwich), and dessert (brownies). They even had canopies to hide from the drizzle for a bit, which were sheltering about a dozen hikers in ponchos. I hung out from about 5:30 to 6:45, then did another 5 miles before setting up camp.
It got cold Tuesday night, and waking up to a wet tent and a cold morning Wednesday was not encouraging. I powered through the morning, wearing more clothes than was strictly optimal, since I wanted to stay warm more than I wanted to go fast.
Then the weather decided that Wednesday was gonna be a beautiful day instead. Around 10 am the rain cleared up and the clouds went away. The sun felt so good on my cold legs, since the high today was only in the 70s. The low was sub-40. The descent into Cascade Locks was fast and easy, giving me plenty of time to spend on the phone.
I made sure to walk far enough on the Bridge of the Gods to get into Washington before turning around. Let the final state commence!
Then I had to get to Portland's airport. Since Uber and Lyft and my own thumb let me down, I had to take a very expensive taxi ride into a Walmart, where I bought town clothes for the flight. I then went to a Planet Fitness, where I had a discussion with the clerk about a guest pass. I was attempting to not get a monthly bill, since gyms in general have a bad reputation about that. He was trying to gently turn away this homeless guy. I ended up winning the standoff, and somehow also didn't have to pay at all. I'm still a little confused about that one.
But anyway, I'm now clean, wearing mostly clean clothes, and ready to take a long weekend off trail, after a stupid-early flight into Philly.
Happy Meal, 1119
PS - I'm now posting this just before getting back on trail, but I wrote it last Wednesday night.
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