October 1 day 129 stayed mile 2155.4 Stevenson WA hiked zero miles today.
Another very rainy day. Fortunately I was staying indoors at a motel. I spent the day cleaning sorting repairing and drying all my equipment. It was funny going to the laundromat because I wore a towel from the motel so I could wash everything. Fortunately there weren’t too many people watching the spectacle.
(editor’s note: On October 1, two PCT hikers were helicoptered out of waist-deep snow north of Trout Lake.)
October 2 day 130 stayed mile 2155.1 Cascade Locks OR hiked zero miles today.
Today was a fantastic zero day because my girlfriend Hillary drove down from Seattle to rescue me. We had an excellent day together. We drove out to Portland to have lunch at Pok Pok our favorite restaurant in town. It was as usual fantastic. We tried a squash dish which was a daily special — easily the best squash dish that I have ever had. That, along with green Papaya salad and a roasted eggplant dish made for a wonderful meal. We shared a Lychee and vinegar drink as well as a French style draft hard cider. The cider reminded me of Paris. We went to REI to get replacement rain pants for me but they were cleaned out [of stock] after the deluge of the last few days. I consoled myself by splurging on a full length Thermarest NeoAir pad to replace my 3/4 length ol’ school Thermarest. We headed back out to Cascade Locks in the evening as I was planning on getting back on the trail once more.
October 3 day 131 camped mile 2174 Rock Creek hiked 18.6 miles today.
Hillary and I had a great lazy morning I took her to the East Wind drive-in where I enjoyed my usual chicken fried steak with sausage gravy for breakfast. We later drove over to Stevenson to do a bit of resupply shopping for me. Hillary and I said our tearful goodbyes as I headed once more out towards Trout Lake. I managed to make it to Rock Creek and didn’t get a drop of rain. I was surprised by how good the views were — I had been on this route 2 times before and had seen nothing. The NeoAir is comfy!