July 26

Distance: 13.8 miles | Ascent: 2450′ | Descent: 2030′

Mile marker: 237.6

Brunch at Trout Lake café: Jason – omelet and hash browns (A), Alex – breakfast burrito (A+), shared coffee and huckleberry milkshake

Dinner: Jason – stir fry (D-), Alex – spaghetti (A)

We couldn’t get ahold of any of the trail angels to get a ride back to the trail in the morning. We loitered around, charging our things and getting showers. We also went to the café in town for brunch and it was delightful. The huckleberry milkshake was a standout favorite.

After our meal, we went back and rendezvoused with another hiker getting back on trail to finish her Washington section hike. The three of us went to get a hitch and was picked up after a few minutes by a trail angel.

After a bumpy ride, we got to the trail and tipped, apparently, quite generously. Our driver also gave us some cookies, brownies, and clementines. The hiker hunger is hitting Jason hard, so he didn’t turn down the extra food.

Relative to the previous days, the trail was even easier. Just dips and bobs only a few hundred feet at a time, nothing too steep. Even the mosquitoes at Mosquito Creek weren’t bad. The dry year has been kind to us, but might mean the northbound hikers will have some tricky sections with water scarcity or even fire closures. Huckleberry bushes lined a good bit of the trail and we often stopped for a quick snack.

Jason’s new pack will get to Cascade Locks by Wednesday next week, hopefully. Because the trail is lightening up and we can’t miss delivery of the pack, we opted to add a day to this stretch, confident we can make it up in the next section or two as we zoom through Oregon.