Now that June was here, it was time to head up to Washington State and do some serious backpacking, and it was a four day drive from San Diego, if you wanted to retain your sanity, that is. We decided to keep the driving to six hour days, with rest breaks every two hours or so. Now that we’re getting older, it isn’t such a good idea to do those 24 hour road marathons like we used to. Plus, it was the only way I could get Vicki to come with me!
I spent a large part of the Winter planning a bunch of hikes along the PCT in Washington. I discovered that there were numerous forest roads that would allow us to hike the trail in smaller sections, the smaller portions that Vicki prefers. But to do that without hitchhiking, we would need two vehicles. The only way I could think of, short of driving two cars separately, was to bring a small motorcycle along to act as a shuttle between the beginning and ending of a hiking section. I thought about using an e-bike, but they simply don’t have enough range. After a lot of research, I settled on the lightest street-legal bike I could find: The Honda Grom. At 230 pounds, it was just within the tolerances and abilities of my Rav4. So I bought a motorcycle carrier, and a nice new Grom. This seemed like a crazy expense just to go hiking, but I was hoping to use it over and over again. We’ll see if it works out as I planned. If not, then I had a fun little bike for putting around town. At 125cc, the Grom had a top speed of 55 mph, which made it just barely street legal. Taking it on a 70 mph freeway would technically be legal, in California anyway, but not a lot of fun and about as scary as it gets. So I wouldn’t do that. No problem!
After packing our gear and loading some food, we set off on our latest Adventure. Our first stop was the Eastern Sierra, along US 395. We drove through LA in the dark, passed by Mount Whitney, and continued north to the town of Bishop. We turned west into the mountains along Bishop Creek, where we got a campsite in a National Forest Campground. I also tried a bit of trout fishing, as long as I was there, but I didn’t have much luck. Sorry, Vicki! No fish for your dinner today.
Video of the Middle Fork Bishop Creek from North Lake Road
The second day was similar to the first, in that we continued north on US 395. At least until Susanville. Along the way, we drove past Mammoth Lakes, then on beyond Mono Lake. We did a bit of fishing in the West Walker River (caught nothing), took a shortcut through Nevada to Reno (to avoid the traffic around Lake Tahoe), and headed west on Highway 44 toward Lassen Volcanic National Park. No, we didn’t have to go there, but we liked the Manzanita Lake Campground, even though it was a bit out of the way. And, yet again, I caught no trout in the lake.
On our third day north we left Lassen and headed northwest to good old US 97. Just outside the park, I did a bit of fly fishing in Hat Creek, and (you guessed it) I caught nothing. Since my fishing license was only good in California, I was spared further embarrassment once we crossed the state line. We continued north toward Crater Lake in Oregon, then went a bit further and arrived in the town of Crescent, where I previously made a motel reservation.
After three days, I figured that Vicki had spent enough time sleeping in the back of my “camperized” Rav4, and that she needed a break. And a shower. Plus it wasn’t too expensive. I chose a “themed” motel that had rooms decorated in a “woodsy” style. Some people might not like it, but we thought it was kinda fun. Rustic furnishings abounded. And both of us are still wondering about the embedded-bullet toilet seats. Adding to the themed rooms was the place across the street: The Bigfoot Tavern. Since my hiking trailname is Bigfoot we pretty much had to eat there. I posed with some carved Bigfoot (Bigfeet?) statuary out in front.
The fourth morning was easy. We only had a four hour drive north through Oregon. We stopped along the way to partake of the famous breakfast buffet at the Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood. It has been called the “Best breakfast on the PCT” and I have to say that I agree.
Video of late-season skiing in June on Mount Hood
Afterward, we drove north and saw a fruit stand along the highway. It was June, and the cherries were ripe! Vicki was seriously excited. She loves cherries, and ended up buying several different varieties. This made her happier more than the breakfast buffet.
Our final destination, and the site of our first backpacking trip, was Eagle Creek, just south of the Columbia River on the Oregon side. I had campground reservations, so we drove up and settled in. We got the backpacks and food ready for tomorrow’s overnight hike, then realized that we still had plenty of time on our hands.
I looked at the map and discovered that the Columbia River Gorge Trail ran right past the campground. We decided that a warm-up dayhike was in order. So I put some water in the daypack and away we hiked. The first thing we discovered was a fish hatchery just downhill from our camp. For some silly reason, Vicki and I are fish hatchery addicts. I’m not sure why. Maybe Vicki keeps hungering for the trout I can’t seem to catch.
After the hatchery side-quest, we headed west along the side of the Interstate (I-84) along the Gorge Trail. It turned out that this trail used to be the main road along this side of the huge river. The train tracks got the best location, and the road was relegated to what was left. In this region, it climbed quite high, and the views over the river were gorgeous. We saw the Bonneville Dam further west, the power lines emanating from its generators, and the new locks that lift boats and barges across the dam. We didn’t walk very far, but it felt great to stretch our legs.
We got back to the campground and cooked some dinner on the picnic table. When you backpack a lot, a picnic table is a luxury. Eating like civilized humans, a strange concept. Then we got the car ready for the night. Sleeping in the car was a bit like being in our two-person tent. With about the same headroom. The good part, now that we’re older, is that getting in and out is a lot easier than getting up off the ground. But that would be tomorrow night’s problem.
It turned out that the Eagle Creek Campground was quite peaceful. It was high enough above the freeway that little or no noise disturbed us. After lying down, we talked about our plans for tomorrow. We wanted to get up extra-early, as the trail was going to be heading uphill, and Vicki prefers to hike in the cool of the morning. All in all, we were really excited to hike the Eagle Creek Trail, which had multiple waterfalls, including the famous Tunnel Falls. I read somewhere that it was the most popular trail in Oregon, and tomorrow we would find out why.
For a topographic map of the hike see my CalTopo Page
For LOTS more photos of the trek see my Flickr Page
Onward to Part 2 >> 
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