Day 19. July 13, 2020. From Cascade Locks to Wahtum Lake
I received my new shoes, put them on and pitched the old. Done properly, I would’ve taken both the old and the new; slowly breaking in the new while getting the last few miles out of the old. But I didn’t want the extra weight or the dilemma of where and when to dispose of the old.
My pack was heavy with seven days supply of food. The Columbia Gorge is characterized by very steep walls. I feared we would immediately have to climb steeply. However, the trail designers found a route that rose somewhat gradually at the start.
Due to a terrible fire in 2017 started by a 15 year old lighting fireworks, some of the trail was through forests that were just starting to recover. We saw several people, perhaps 20, out on day hikes.
By mid-day, we were engaged in some serious switchbacks gaining elevation. It was tough, but finally we neared a plateau and the tough work was rewarded with some beautiful mountain views to the north. I spent several years of my childhood in Oregon and it was rare to be able to see so many Washington and Oregon mountains so clearly. While saddened by the deaths and illness of Covid 19, a silver lining has been the reduction of pollution and increased air clarity.
After plateauing, we had minor ups and downs in and out of trees. I was feeling the food weight just before we reached our destination, Wahtum Lake. Cole had fallen behind just a bit. We came across a marked shortcut. We wrote Cole’s name in the trail with an arrow showing which trail we took.
We were getting settled into our campsite and starting dinner. A young guy burst through the brush and looked at us and asked “Are you the Texans?” Josh said “Yes” and the guy was super excited, dropped his pack, and went to get his wife.
They joined our campsite. They were going southbound and had seen the Instagram account of Joshua. They wanted to join them on their hike.
At night, I dozed off fairly quick. However, around midnight an owl took up a communication post nearby. At first it was a consistent, almost melodic, hooting at measured intervals. I was about to fall back asleep to the rythmn, but from across the lake the hoots were answered. Whether the response was from a foe or potential mate, it generated a sound from above that I can only describe as dragging a metal rake across sheet metal.
backpacking over the hill 