October, 2018
In the last blog post, I reported that I spent most of the morning at the Cascade Locks (here, if you missed it). It was threatening rain the whole morning, that morning. After I had lunch back at my trailer, the rain finally arrived. But I wanted to be out and about even with the rain, so I opted for a driving tour in the afternoon with not very much exploration on foot.
I headed back to the town of Cascade Locks (but not to the locks themselves). Instead I headed across the bridge there, the bridge that spans the Columbia River in order to connect the State of Oregon (where I was camped) to the State of Washington … Oregon on the south side of the river, Washington on the north side of the river. That original huge landslide dam across the river back in the years 1100-1250 A.D. (described in the last blog post here) had been called “Bridge of the Gods” by the Native American people who lived there. Then in the 1690s, earthquakes destroyed the landslide dam and allowed the river to run through again. A man-made bridge that spanned the Columbia River was constructed at Cascade Locks in 1926. That bridge was rebuilt in 1940 to be higher above the water and longer since the river-water level had risen because of the Bonneville Dam a few miles down-river. This 1940 bridge is still here at Cascade Locks and is now called “Bridge of the Gods”.
It was not a sunny day! On the other hand, the clouds and the rain were pretty and added a soft touch to the day and probably kept a lot of people off the roads. The bridge seemed to suit the day with its simple elegance.
From inside the bridge, however, The “Bridge of the Gods” (above), was not a particularly pretty bridge. The speed limit was 25 mph since huge semi trucks do traverse it. A semi happened to come across in the opposite direction while I was on the bridge … oh my did that bridge rock and roll. One must believe that the bridge is built to rock and roll in order to relieve tension on the girders and joints.
There was a bridge-painting crew at the far end of the bridge … painting in the rain?
After crossing the bridge northbound, I was then in the State of Washington. I turned left and followed the road that ran west along the north side of the Columbia River, back towards Vancouver, WA. It was just a two-lane road and a very nice drive along the river, through forests, past many ponds and small tributaries.
I almost didn’t see the sign in the photo below … the Pacific Crest Trail. But I did catch just a quick glimpse of the sign, pulled over as quickly as I could, and then turned around and went back to the sign.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sign to this famous trail. How cool was this?!
I parked the truck and locked it. And then I walked about 30 feet up the trail, turned around, and came back to the truck. Hey, I have hiked part of the Pacific Crest Trail! 🙂
The sign above was on the trail. So, ok, let’s figure this out. The distance between this spot and the US-Canada border is 507.2 miles. Since 507.2 miles equals 2,678,016 feet, and since I hiked about 30 feet along the trail, that means that I hiked about .00112% of the distance between this spot and the US-Canada border on the Pacific Crest Trail.
Sigh … not very far, huh? But I had a good time doing it. And I got a photo of the sign. 🙂
The rest of the afternoon drive was relaxing and most enjoyable, though with very few stops along the way because of the rain. Eventually, I crossed the river again back south into Oregon and then headed east towards the campground. I got back to my trailer at Ainsworth State Park on the Oregon side of the Columbia River around 4 pm. With a lovely, soft rain tapping on my roof, I sat and read for a couple of hours before dinner.
Have any of you readers hiked any portion of the Pacific Crest Trail? Or do you know anyone who has? That sure would be an adventure, one that I will likely never do. Are there any good books written about it?