Hood River County

Usually one ends the PCT at the Canadian border after having hiked through Washington state in late september when it is raining and starts to snow again. I was told that Washington is most beautiful in July.
The ever rising temperatures of the last days let me spontaneously decide to Jump ahead to Portland to hike from there.
Yesterday I said goodbye to my two buddies from South Africa whom I met at Burney, and this morning I stuck out my thumb. Rather problematic on 04.July when all cars are full with families!
My third lift, however, was an adventure I will never forget! A 22 year old guy recently released from the US-Navy because he had received a 600 volt shock while repairing equipment on a ship and was "never the same again", stopped and offered me a lift. But I didn't notice all this when he stopped. When I got into his ancient toyota pick-up, I noticed that on my side there was no seat belt. Then he explained that the rear tyres of the car were bigger then the front causing strange behaviour of the car in certain situations. Then I noticed that the shock absorbers were totally destroyed resulting in the car constantly swinging to-and-fro-fro. This was especially exciting each time he entered a curve at 130 kph giving the feeling that there was absolutely no control of the car.
I considered asking him to stop and let me out but then decided to put my life in the hands of my angel, and by god did he do a good job!
But far more moving, was the state of this poor young man. When I asked him where he was going, he answered "I dont know, I'm just driving". He had driven from the north to the south through the desert and was now driving north again on the N5. He had no home and was receiving a pension/damages from the Navy of
USD 1.200,- per month. In USA that is a joke of a sum. This Navy had used him and then dropped him without a home, without a perspective, and without psychological help after having destroyed his mind.
I was deeply moved and angry!

But, I am now actually still alive in "Cascade Locks" and will cross the "Bridge of the Gods" tomorrow into Washington state to walk the last 813 km to the border.
My tent is camped on the Oregon side of the river 30m from a rail line and every ten minutes one of those 3km long freight trains comes past at 50kph.
To improve things further, Washington, on the other side of the river, also has a train! And the two have perfectly synchronized themselves with Oregon so that hikers don't have to suffer because of too much silence.

Now thats a good start to this next section!Read more