Day 94 | mile 2127.6 - 2147.1 | 19.5 miles

Agh. Not enough sleep because we finished late last night. But Washington awaits!

Moroccan spice oatmeal for breakfast. Again, courtesy of Forrest. I supplemented with pastries we swiped from the breakfast buffet the previous morning.

Hiking at 7. I was expecting a long downhill into Cascade Locks this morning. But annoyingly, the trail was going uphill for a while before the long descent. I wasn’t mentally prepared and tired from yesterday, so I was dragging a bit.

Stopped for a snack and water at a spring just after the descent started. Got reception and lost myself on Instagram. Mostly looking at pictures of Lucille - my beautiful niece. (Guys, I am a cat aunt!!!) And catching up with Merv.


I ate too many nuts and snacks at the break. So, I felt a little nauseated hiking down. Or was it the excitement of almost being in Washington? We could see Cascade Locks 7 miles before we were there.

Cascade Locks and the bridge is nothing like the picture I had in my head. It's SO BIG. When we saw the Columbia River from way up above, I couldn't believe it was a river. We basically ran down thinking about burgers and ice cream. (I know, we just had town food yesterday...) I was in Washington at 2:30! 

My two week Oregon challenge is complete. Being on the bridge was really scary! You're walking on a grate really high over the river. Eeeek.

We walked to Eastwind Drive-In. Bought a bag of cherries on the way. I got a huge ice cream cone. It was very hot and melting all over my hands and clothes. Forrest drove up as I was finishing. I took a couple of bites of the burger we got, said bye, and Forrest and I were on our way on Portland.

Being in an air conditioned car in a comfortable seat after sweating nonstop for 5 days was the best. We west drove along the Columbia River to Portland.

We are staying at Forrest's friend's place tonight. As soon as the door swung open, I spotted a curious cat - Frank. We were best friends as soon as he smelled my face. I love Frank. First order was business was a shower. No washcloth, but I did the best I could. Rinsed my socks and started laundry.


I felt a million times better after showing and brushing my hair. Alex sent some town clothes with Forrest. I was really thankful for them. My black jean cutoffs fit so different after 94 days on the trail. They're loose and comfortable.

Chatted with JR for a bit, then walked (or hobbled) to dinner at food carts nearby. We got just a tasty mélange of plates: a döner sandwich, 2 fish tacos, spicy fried rice with an egg on top. It was so so hot - 95 degrees. I was really tired and kind of in a dream state. (Kind of like this cat.)

We went to FedEx to make a color scan of the driver's license. It was 49 cents a minute to use the computer with a scanner. We tried our best, but still used 3 minutes of time to make the scan.

Salt and Straw ice cream for dessert. The line was long even for SF standards. I really didn't want to stand there for 30 minutes, so we just got a pint of olive oil ice cream. (Even though I really wanted to try all the samples!) One of the salespeople came over to help us pick a flavor. I said we were eating it with cobbler. She was asking what kind of cobbler it was, and I really didn't want to tell her that it was a backpacker pouch cobbler meal.


Back at JR's place, we rehydrated the cobbler. Alex sent it to me to celebrate getting into Oregon. But the package said it was 4 servings and I didn't want to risk rehydrating it, not being able to finish, and having to carry it around. Sharing it with Forrest with ice cream was perfect. Surprisingly good! But definitely would've been too much for just me. Frank was trying to eat the chocolate crumble topping off the cobbler the whole time. Hahaha. What a kook. I love him.

Sleep at 11. I was the most tired. I'm sleeping on an inflatable mattress upstairs. It is really hot, but it's so nice to sleep on a mattress and a pillow. I passed out with the light on while Forrest was trying to pack my bag for tomorrow. I was just like, "please go away let me sleep for the love of god" but with my eyes.