Bridge of the Gods to Packwood
The biggest leg of the hike: 161 miles of fog and cold off the Columbia, Mount Adams, and the Knife’s Edge in cloud.
Day 111’s title set the tone for the last state: “We aint in Oregon no mo.” 30.8 miles straight off the Columbia, and my busiest day as a trail reporter. The Stevenson note still earns its keep: “Someone pulled over offering a ride to Stevenson, takes 5 minutes. Grocery has everything you want.”
Day 112 split into two Strava tracks because I “hit save accidentally,” and the second half was titled honestly: “rough second half.” 2200 showed up that day, laid out in white moss.
Every quoted line is from 2021, verbatim.
Then Goat Rocks, and day 115’s title does not play it cool: “Goat Rocks, Horrifying Knifes Edge.” The snowfield along the crest in cloud, a catwalk of crumbling rock with the world falling away on both sides.
Day 116 came out of Packwood with the most useful sentence I wrote all August: “Grocery still pretty bare, no bars, but could piece together a resupply.”
The food, Stevenson to Packwood
Stevenson had everything, five minutes off the bridge. Packwood had almost nothing: “76 station has cliff bars and the like. Hitch in took about 15 minutes.” The super-bubble had emptied the shelves before I got there.
keep walking