Longstride

I didn’t sleep well at all last night. The trains were even worse than they were Saturday night. It didn’t help that the Marine Park hiker camping area was closer to the train tracks, but I think there were just more and louder trains than there were on Saturday.

Although I wanted to hike out today, the lack of sleep left me pretty tired, and by mid-day, I decided to double-zero, get some actual rest in a motel room tonight, and leave fresh in the morning.

• I learned that there were train tracks on both sides of the Columbia River, which helped explain the variance in train loudness.
• I got breakfast at Eastwind Drive-In, mostly because it was close to Marine Park, but also because it was cheap.
• Five of us took the bus to the town of Hood River, the next town east of Cascade Locks to go to the Walmart. When we got to the drop-off point, there was conveniently another bus waiting that performed a circuit around Hood River that went to the Walmart, saving us from having to walk nearly two miles to get there.
• I got eight days of food, which will take me to Packwood, about 150 miles ahead.
• A series of events got me back to Cascade Locks much quicker than I might have otherwise. We missed by a few minutes the (hourly) bus back to where we’d get the bus to Cascade Locks. While we were waiting in front of the Walmart for one of the group to come back from going to some other store, the other three repacked their purchases to that they’d take less space. Ron, a retired volunteer firefighter, leaving the Walmart saw this, and saw a (now) empty plastic jar of pretzels, that he wanted. He struck up a conversation, and I mentioned that we were hiking the PCT and needed to get back to Cascade Locks; he offered to give us a ride back. While the rest had to wait for their friend, I took him up on the offer.
• Back at Marine Park, I repacked my food. While I was doing so, a flock of geese slowly glided in over the lock channel and landed on Thunder Island.
• The post office (in Maryland!) called me to ask about whether my bounce box got delivered or not. Since they have an internal number to the post office in Bend, they’re going to try and call tomorrow morning and see what’s up, and also get them to redirect my bounce box to Packwood.
• The Cascade Locks Ale House sponsored trail magic, providing a lot of hot dogs, beer, chips, and watermelon for hikers at a pavilion in Marine Park. They even closed their restaurant to do so. (Though, I suspect that there wouldn’t have been much business on a Monday afternoon.)
• Tired, I left the trail magic to check in to the motel room I reserved while packing my food. On the way there, I stopped by the post office and mailed off a resupply package to Trout Lake, about halfway between Cascade Locks and Packwood.
• I checked into my room at the Bridge of the Gods motel and got a shower.
• I got dinner at the Bridgeside restaurant.
• Back at the motel, I did laundry, then went to sleep a bit later than I wanted.

Tomorrow: Washington!