Thursday, October 13, 2016

Washinton PCT 2015: Day 2

Hiking up to table mountain
Little water break
Our second day was a long day of mostly climbing. It was also our move out of the familiar Columbia river gorge and into the wilderness to the north. We bid our neighbor a good hike and continued up toward the table mountain trail. As we passed the kiosk for that trail, we were again excited to be exploring the wider world rather than day hiking that trail.

Hello kiosk. Goodbye familiar trail!
This is steeper and far longer than it looks
Almost there...
 The trail became a relentlessly climbing service road, winding up and up for miles around the west side of the table mountain until we came to the bluff behind it. Here, we got one last great view from inside the gorge. We waved goodbye and headed on. There were flowers and bees everywhere. The trail was pretty overgrown with flowers and we had to watch where we stepped but it was also so alive everywhere! We could hear the constant humming of bees and saw hundreds of butterflies. We thought this was amazing but there was so much more to see in the state!
Mmmmm.... pretty view!
Looking west with Laura


Looking east down the gorge

Lots of flowers and bees

One last look back toward the river

Overgrown trail

After following the ridge a ways, we came to a small newly clear-cut area. We had to follow little flags because the trail was not to be seen. After a nice lunch at a campsite, we continues along a ridge to the northwest. Finally, in the late afternoon, we passed three-corner rock and started heading into the next valley.
Laura and the log truck

Little clear-cut... can you find the trail?

Along the ridge, forest to the right and clear-cut to the left

Luscious vegetation near rock creek

We finally came to Rock Creek. We had hiked about 13 miles and felt great. I enjoyed my first of many skinny-dips. It was really cold but also quite refreshing and helped me get to sleep. We saw no hikers that day, although there were a few loggers around the clear-cut area. It had been a beautiful day. We had seen some great views, although we they were nothing compared with what was ahead!  

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