Phase XVII : Return to Oregon and Washington

I'm going to have to lump these two together simply because we spent time bouncing between the two states at the border.

We left Colusa with great joy and excitement, though feeling a little bit sad that we would be leaving our new friends behind.

I followed Ryan to the car rental place so we could drop off Abbe, and I was thrilled that Vincent behaved admirably the entire drive, despite his 2 week hiatus.

That night, we made it to Sierra Nevada.  If you recall, Sierra Nevada was supposed to be the stop the night after Russian River... except Vincent's brakes gave up.  We celebrated by dressing up in our Hawaiian garb and enjoying a flight and some charcuterie.

We had one last stop before we left California, and that was Lassen Volcanic National Park.

We've got our routine down- once we get into the park, I scour the hike sheets and park info to discover which hikes would be best suited to us, given our enthusiasm and overall physical prowess for the day.  We were feeling a bit "up" on this particular day, but recognized that we had not been really-really hiking since Redwoods, which was prior to Hawaii, and had a pretty minimal altitude situation.  Lassen, on the other hand, is Really High Up.

I found a hike at Echo Lake which seemed to fit our bill.  4.5 miles- down and back, Moderate rating.  Ok, sure.  Now, it's not so much "down and back" as "straight uphill for several hundred feet," then back down.  About a mile into it, my butt muscles, which had been rotting on a beach for several days, were burning.  My ankles were tight.  I was gasping for breath with the altitude change.  But I kept walking.  I'd walk, stop, get my breath, let out a tirade against hiking, then walk on.  Ryan remained rather calm, if not amused by my struggles.  And yes, we completed the hike.

There were two really cool things about this hike.  The first was that everyone we met on the path was incredibly nice and supportive.  I like that.  The second was that we were absolutely swarmed with butterflies.  They moved too fast for me to capture with my wonky cell phone camera, but they were everywhere- fluttering on Ryan's shorts, dancing through the plants, floating over the snow... it was truly magical!

We packed our sore and cranky selves back into Vincent, and hit up Happy Hour at Last Draft for a lavender Saison and some Life Changing Peanut Butter wings.  I have never had peanut butter wings, and I'm hoping they become a thing in Ohio before I return, because YES.  They are delicious.

With one last glance at Mount Shasta, we spend forth into the darkness to Oregon.

The next day was Crater Lake.  We haven't really done any back-to-back hiking, so I woke up stiff and surly, and not at all interested in hiking.  Ryan, on the other hand, was super-stoked and very psyched to see Crater Lake.

Again, Vincent rose begrudgingly upwards on the snow-covered slopes of the park, while I tried to navigate to a few unassuming hikes.  The good news about Crater Lake is that you get tremendous views pretty much anywhere you stand.

The bad news was that, after our march uphill at Lassen, my legs were doing a rousing rendition of "Oh No She Betta Don't."  I ground and popped through the first short hike to see the Pirate Ship island, and then groaned and protested back down.

Somehow- I'm not sure how- Ryan convinced my stubborn self to do "just one more hike."  We set off for Discovery Point, because it was listed as short and harmless.

There is a pretty rocky part at the beginning of the trail, if you're taking it from Discovery Point back to the Visitor Center.  As I climbed that part, the back of my knee went POP and my calf muscle went CRUNCH, and I decided at the summit of that particular climb that I ought to call it for the day.  I walked the rest of the mile to the Visitor Center, while Ryan continued the down and back to pick up Vincent.

Even though we didn't accomplish much that day, we still enjoyed the brewery scene in Bend, Oregon.  The first brewery, which shall not be named, offered a barrel-aged stout that tasted like... nothing.  I was already disappointed by my hike, and I was blistering under my hiking bra from my sunburn, and my legs really hurt, all the camping spots are booked for the night, and now my beer sucks??

We avoided certain meltdown by grabbing an *actual* barrel-aged stout from another brewery, and doing that "parking under a tree" thing that works pretty well for us.  We picked up a pizza and some more spicy peanut wings, and slept awfully well under our isolated tree in the middle of nowhere!

The next day was mostly driving.  I drove.  Ryan drove.  We took turns.  We blared the stereo and lost a speaker.  We popped by Mount Hood.  But as promised, there was Absolutely No Hiking.

This particular night was pretty cool, because we zipped into Washington to stay at a hotel on the border.  In as much disappointment as we experienced the day before in Oregon, we were rewarded with happy surprises in Washington.  Our hotel had a hot tub and pool that hadn't been mentioned in the reservation, so we soaked our achey bodies.

We headed to Heavy Metal Brewery, which we thought closed at 10, only for Andy, the dude there, to say, "I'm about to close, but how about you stay and have a quick beer?"  That was an excellent surprise, as well!  We drank quickly, but really enjoyed talking to Andy, and he threw in a few stickers so we could decorate Vincent.  As he walked us to the door to lock up, he gave us some very sage advice about traveling and life, which fueled by beer, was pretty entertaining.

Thus giggling, but pretty hungry, we tried to find another place to grab a beer and some food.  Nothing was coming up, and we kept getting lost, until we pulled over to reassess our situation.  We looked up, and we were parked- quite legally and with no parking fees- at Heathen Brewing.  The hours posted said they closed in 30 minutes, but we figured we could grab another quick beer and figure something out.  Imagine our surprise when we sat down and were handed Happy Hour menus- not only were they open until 10, but they had all-day Happy Hour.  Bless.

The next morning, Ryan had a bug to see some waterfalls in Oregon, so we back tracked about ten minutes and ended up in Waterfall Country.

I try really, really hard to remove tourist heads and people in general from my photos, but it was stinkin' HARD at the waterfalls.  Here's AFTER editing, and BEFORE editing.

That was great and everything, and we had zero plans for the day, except Eventually Go North.  We drove a bit up the road and saw a sign for Bonneville Dam and Fish Hatchery.  I forget which one of us decided to check out the dam, but yes, we ended up checking out the dam.

AND IT WAS FREAKING AWESOME!!!!

First, the landscaping.  I'm a rose fan, as my father used to raise and compete roses when I was a child.  I was not expecting this level of roses in the Pacific Northwest.

Then there was the fish ladder.  Conscious of conserving the fish who use the Columbia River, there are fish ladders to aid in the migration of lamprey and salmon.  Plus, they have under-water viewing areas in the Visitor's Center.  I kinda zoned out and watched fish migrate for... well, I don't want to admit how long.

We took the historic dam tour, and wandered around for a bit longer than we anticipated, considering it was an impromptu trip to a dam.

For our traditional "One Meal a Day," we stumbled into Pfreim Brewing, where I had the most delightful Japanese lager, and of course, poutine.  As we were on the waterfront, we wandered a bit before continuing our push north.

This particular day was kinda rough, despite being all-around pleasant.  Ryan and I had a case of the upset stomachs- we're assuming from something we ate along the way.  This made for frequent stops, which was a shame, because we drove approximately 50 miles on a dirt road through National forests.  When we found cheap camping with a toilet, we immediately settled down for the night.  Besides, the next day was a big hiking day!

Miraculously, we felt fine the next morning, albeit out of it and a little rumbly.  We headed into Mount Rainier National Park with the best of intentions, and surprisingly, a little daring-do.  I'm not sure if it was the iced Americano talking or what, but I actually WANTED to hike!

We started off with a wander through the Grove of the Patriarchs.  This is a very easy hike with educational signs posted along the trail.  I had a blast on this hike!  The grove is so named because the trees here are over 1000 years old!

It was here that I overheard the best conversation I've ever heard on a trail:
Kid:  I hate this hike!
Dad:  Why?
Kid:  I keep tripping over things!
Dad:  Yeah, that's Nature.  You have to respect it.

I wanted to high five the dad, but they turned off to a different branch before I got the chance.

Next, we decided to check out base camp at Mt. Rainier itself.  Ryan famously hiked Rainier for his 40th birthday, but did not get to summit due to snow and avalanche conditions.  This day, at the end of June, proved similar.  I wanted to hike, but it turns out my hiking shoes are not fantastic in snowy conditions.

We pushed on to a lower-altitude hike- Carter Falls.  This hike was also really neat- you wander through a river bed, then up, up, up, up for a mile or so to the falls.

Under the shadow of Rainier, we explored the local area and tried to find camping.  Most of what we could find was either closed, road closed, no longer camping, etc, etc.  As we ate a pound of roadside cherries and contemplated our options, the answer flew by on the left.

"Wanna spend the night in a caboose?" I asked Ryan.

"Kind of," he replied.  So, we turned around in the parking lot of yet another dead end camping lead, and booked ourselves into a caboose at Hobo's.

We feasted on elk burgers and cider in the dining cart, then hung out in the cupola of our caboose before turning in that night.

I must admit, I did not sleep well.  Something about rejoining the civilized after having been feral made it hard to drift off in a comfy bed, not surrounded by bugs.

Soon, morning came, and it was off to Seattle.

We've got this terrible habit - or maybe it's a fantastic habit, since we have to be somewhat time sensitive- of spending four hours or so in a location.  Seattle was no different.  We parked near Pike Place.  We snagged an amazing lunch at Beecher's.  We wandered around and bought things.  We stopped at the Wine Tasting Room.  We did some light record shopping.  I recommend all of these things to anyone who only has a few hours to spend in Seattle.

We popped into Holy Mountain Brewing, where we ordered a couple half-pours for the experience.  Suddenly, we were approached by another patron who wanted to split a bottle of Syrah-aged brew with us.  Washington is a very friendly place, by my experience!  We sipped, we talked, and we headed on for the night.  As temporary and fleeting as these moments seem, we sure manage to pack a lot of meaning into them.  We have met some really fantastic folks at breweries and restaurants along the way, and even sharing experiences - however briefly- on the trails leads to this synergy that really keeps my momentum going along this voyage.

The next day was North Cascades National Park, for more - you guessed it- hiking.  Hey, we don't call this our "Ales and Trails" trip for nothing!  North Cascades was our 19th National Park since April, and despite the fact that I'd never heard of it, it was fabulous fun.  I jokingly referred to it as "Oz," because the woods were misty, and dreary, and cool, and dark.

Cascades is also formulated around a major dam, so we read more about dams and how they work.  Ryan is now a dam expert.  We also hiked one of my favorite trails to date - the Thunder Knob trail.   Up up up, only with switchbacks, and it only lasts just under two miles.

We cooled off by Happy Creek and viewed the Happy Creek Falls.

All in all, it was a lovely, if not eerie, day of hiking.  I felt pretty good about our trail choices and performance, and best of all- there were very, very, very few tourists!  I could hike freely!

That night, we spent a ridiculous amount of money on camping.  *IF* we pay for camping, we usually go as sparse as possible- primitive site, no hook up, vault toilet, etc.  Sometimes we get a little froggy and pay more for a site that has showers and flush toilets.  Sometimes those sites include electric and water and wifi, which is fun for charging our phones and watching a little Netflix in the back of the van.  This site had flush toilets, pay showers, and nothing else.  We were a little dismayed, but the sun was setting, so we had a choice of stay and pay, or set off into the darkness and find a tree to park under.

We stayed.  I read; Ryan caught up on his journal.  We played games.  We feasted on the delicious items we purchased at Pike Place.

That would be some Reserve cheese, smoked salmon, cherries, and a massive avocado.

Ryan invited me to make our plans for the next day, so I suggested we stop at a brewery or two in Spokane, then push on East as far as we could.  We paused at Iron Goat and Twelve String, where we nearly imploded ourselves with charcuterie, fried mac n cheese, and some truly delicious beer.  If you get a chance to try the Tequila Mango Mamba at Twelve String, please allow yourself the pleasure.

And that was it for the Pacific Northwest!  Amazing hikes.  Delicious beer.  Incredible food.  Views for miles.  Really cool people.  And, of course, a climate where I could finally be comfortable!