August 6, 2016 - Got on trail by 7am and hiked across the Bridge of the Gods which is officially the lowest point on the PCT, 150ft. I was actually even lower while I was in Cascade Locks.
I was a little scared while hiking on the bridge as there was no shoulder so not much room between me and the cars.
Across the bridge I was officially in Washington and my last state. I was a little nervous as I have heard stories of how wet and hard the hiking in Washington can be.
After crossing the Columbia River I had a 12 mile hike up which seemed to last forever. The first part was very rocky and lots of overgrowth made the trail hard to see. I got a few views on the way up. I could see Adams, St Helen and Reiner and also Hood back to the south.
Then I was back in the woods for pretty much the whole day. Those first 20 miles I ended up climbing almost 5000ft but it didn’t seem too bad, guess I’m use to it by now.
I got to my planned camp spot for the night at 6:15pm which seemed too early to stop. I had done 30 miles as planned but decided to move on 3 more but there was no campsite listed but I figured with a large creek there had to be a some kind of spot to pitch my tent. I was wrong, so I hiked another 2.5 miles to a known campsite next to Panther Creek. I got there before dark so I quickly set up camp and eat.
Got in 5.5 more miles than planned so need to figure out how far to go tomorrow. Not bad to knock out a 30+ mile day in Washington, wonder if I can keep that kind of pace.
