PCT TRAIL DAYS -CASCADE LOCKS
PCT DAY 129: Rest Day
Saturday August 20, 2016: Zero Trail Miles
I had the opportunity to sleep-in this morning but my body rhythms had me up at the usual time of 5ish. Latert his morning I was going to meet Jim to go to Trail Days at Cascade Locks.
It was a surprising cool start to the day with the phone app saying it was 46F in Trout Lake and 62F in my location. I only had 0.2 of a mile to get to where I was to meet Jim and then it was heading south – back towards Mexico. As any thru-hiker will tell you it hard to knowingly go in the wrong direction. When I got to the road I met Justin who is a south-bounder and he was waiting for a couple of his hiking buddies to come through. A short time later ‘Peace Man’ came through and around the same time Jim turned up and provided the guys with trail magic – this time it was a cold drink.
It was great to see Jim again and even better to hear that he feels his knee is feeling stronger and he may be back on the trail to give his knee a test run soon.
It was then down to the Big River Grill for breakfast and then onto Cascade Locks and Trail Days. It was like an expo of some truly incredible outdoor gear all in one place. Lucky I am still hiking and do not wish to carry anymore than necessary as I could have gone to town on the gear. We went on a tour of the campground, which is on the island in the Columbia River, to see if we could recognize people we had hiked with in the desert or Sierras. Although there were lots of hikers the only ones I knew were Lid, Big Hunk and Obi One who seemed to be settling in for a big day/night. An ice cream and a walk through town and with the temperature at about 95F we headed back to the car for the drive to Portland about 40 minutes away.
In Portland I did some laundry and then Jim and I went out to see the movie Ben Hur before wandering around the famous food carts and getting something to eat. It has been a real treat to have a look around Portland. There is such a nice feel to the city. I will be back on trail again tomorrow with about 430 miles to go to Canada.
