The road across the bridge ended in a T at
Highway 14, also known as the Lewis and Clark Highway. The elevation here
was 180 feet, the lowest point on the PCT, but by the end of this section, the
trail will have climbed to 7,080 feet. At the road junction, there was a
wonderful sign that read,
“Welcome to Washington,
the Evergreen State.”
Then a short way off, there was another sign,
even more exhilarating, that read 507 miles to the Canadian border; the
countdown has begun.
The climb up out of the Colombia River Gorge was
a fearsome one, and the earlier in the day one can start, the less one will be
afflicted by the heat and humidity of the lush, wet forest surrounding the
trail. After climbing a few hundred feet in elevation, I had an
unobstructed view of the Bonneville Dam, built in the depression years of the
1930s, primarily to generate electricity. It also had fish ladders to
help native salmon and steelhead to migrate farther upriver to spawning grounds
and locks to facilitate upriver ship traffic.
The trail guided me around the west side of
Table Mountain, the source of rock material for the Bonneville Landslide that
blocked the Columbia River, and continued to climb until I passed Three Corner
Rock, the major geological feature on this section of the trail. If I
were to hike the one-third mile to the base of the rock, and then scramble up
to the summit, I would have had unrestricted views of Mounts Hood, Adams, and
Saint Helens, and if weather permitted, Mount Rainier far to the north.
Maybe in two years, when I’m seventy-two, I’ll tackle this little summit
for photographic purposes.
In quick succession I crossed over Rock Creek,
Snag Creek, and North Fork of Rock Creek, and camped for the evening at Panther
Creek. Along this route, I was passed by a slew of hikers – Brownie, Commando,
Cookie, Leftovers, Laptop, Sailor Moon, and Trout.
A few miles before Panther Creek, I found a note
on the trail stuffed inside a plastic Ziploc bag. It had been written by
Hermes and Lotus who I had passed earlier in the day as they were hiking
southbound. It read:
“Beware, wasp nest on trail; bushwhack around or
risk getting stung!”
Hiking with me at the moment was Sailor Moon.
She was only wearing shorts and a short-sleeve shirt and was very
concerned about getting stung; accordingly, she veered left off the trail and
bushwhacked through the undergrowth to connect with the trail farther down the
mountain. I was wearing long pants and a long-sleeve shirt and continued
down the trail. I guess I was fortunate, for I neither saw a wasp nor
even heard one.
Many others were not so lucky; the young lady, Ranch,
from Berlin, Germany, was stung as many as thirteen times, had a severe
reaction to the stings, and had to be taken into a nearby town for treatment.
Laptop and Trout have been collecting
chanterelle mushrooms; in fact, when Laptop passed me, I saw a gallon-size
Ziploc bag filled with mushrooms hanging from his backpack. He said that
he and Trout were going to cook them up this evening and would share them with
me if I were around.
Just before entering the Panther Creek
Campground, I find another note posted on a trail sign. It was written by the
British hiker, Walkie Talkie, and it read,
“When the cougar jumps down, the pants fill up!”
There have been sightings of cougars here in the
woods, and it will be interesting to hear Walkie Talkie’s tall tale of what he
encountered.
After I arrived home and reconnected with the
Facebook page for the PCT Class of 2013, Walkie Talkie posted this message.
He said he had been walking solo in the Panther Creek area and after
rounding a bend in the trail, came face-to-face with a large cougar. He
said they both stopped and just stared at one another, not knowing what the
other was going to do.
Now the cougar was no dummy and wasn’t really
surprised to see Walkie Talkie; after all, this was a hiking trail, and the cat
was not surprised to encounter humans walking the trail. The cat had no
particular interest in Walkie Talkie, for over the years, he had seen many
hikers along the trail, and was familiar with their noxious scent; if the truth
be known, he just liked to toy with them.
Like most big cats, this cougar was patient;
after a few moments of sizing him up, the cougar left the trail, walked a few
feet up the hillside, sat down on its haunches and continued staring at Walkie
Talkie, which made him nervous, and was exactly the reaction the cat was hoping
to achieve.
Walkie Talkie said the standoff continued for a
full fifteen minutes and only concluded when another hiker, Roger Dodger,
approached from behind.
So, in the standoff, who won? I’d say
cougar scores again big time.
Walkie Talkie – according to his own account,
not so good – “Pants fill up.”
The cat trotted off, smiling and laughing.
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