Day 100: Cascade Locks

Our last hiking day in Oregon started off a little slow, mostly because we were taking a lot of breaks in the morning. Eventually we picked up the pace, as the trail descended from over 4,000 feet down to sea level. As easy as it is to go downhill quickly, it is also tougher on the body and the joints, especially with the rocky terrain of the gorge. Views would have been great if it weren’t for all the smoke and haze still lingering from all the fires.
We made it to Bridge of the Gods by 2pm, the end of the Oregon section as the trail crosses into the final state of Washington.
We walked down to Thunder Island Brewery, wherever have a beer trail magic program for PCT hikers. All year long, people buy at beer for a hiker, and we get to grab one of the prepaid tokens for a free drink! From there we headed over to the Ale House to wait for a ride from our friend Tony into Portland. There we ran into Strider, our friend from the AT who we haven’t seen on the PCT since Idyllwild, near the very beginning. We had a great time catching up.
Later on, Tony picked us up and drove us into Portland. We went out for dinner, took a shower (in that order, this is Portland after all), and hung out at the house. We’ve got lots of errands to run in Portland so we’ll be here a few days.