July 28, 2021 PCT Mile 2137.4 - 2148 (Bridge of the Gods) PCT miles - 10.6

We slept in today because we were in no rush to complete our last day hiking in Oregon, we had a lovely tent site by the river, and only a few miles to Cascade Locks. We passed more thundering waterfalls as we hiked into the town. Ripe blackberries now lined the trail - everywhere! Unfortunately, some sections of the trail were also lined with poison oak, which put a stop to any more berry picking. We had our first glimpse of the Columbia River. Big! Wide! Met a day hiker who peppered us with questions about the PCT hike. He spotted us and said he KNEW we were thru-hikers - the amount of dirt, perhaps?

We walked under the ‘Bridge of the Gods’ which we will cross tomorrow to enter Washington and begin our final section of the PCT. We were told the Bridge of the Gods was a natural dam created by the Bonneville Slide, a major landslide that dammed the Columbia River near present-day Cascade Locks. The event is remembered in local legends of the Native Americans as the Bridge of the Gods.

Cascade Locks is a very friendly PCT town - provides free showers and a nice camp site. We stopped for breakfast (dirty, but acceptable) and saw a few hikers we had met in southern Oregon at the restaurant. A nice reunion breakfast. We both ordered an omelette dubbed the ‘PCT’, but Chris put hers in a to-go box because it was too big to eat. She never did eat it. Rick, of course, had a milkshake with breakfast.

After breakfast we took a spiffy bus (only 1$ !) over to Hood River about 16 miles west to pick up our resupply at the post office, mail some items home and prep for Washington. Showers, too!