A lone coyote's cry pierced the night air as I neared my slumber for the night. He was very close by and I wondered if he would visit our makeshift camp to try and steal my precious food. Still, I had no energy to get out of the tent to bring my backpack and its contents inside for protection.
At dawn there was no evidence as I peered outside that my backpack had been touched. Tabasco and I did our normal morning routine of packing up all our gear and we resumed our highway hike around 8am. I was relieved that we hadn't been discovered by humans during the night and that our stealth site worked for us so well.
Road miles went by and we had great views of the Cascade range from the Sisters to the southwest to Mt. Jefferson to our west to Mt. Hood to our northwest. Hood was quite impressive from this high desert angle looking up to tons of fresh snow. I wondered where we would encounter snow on the road or trail as we began the slowly changing landscape from desert to arid pine covered land and eventually to the lush Mt. Hood National forest.
We stopped for a water and lunch break along the banks of a river passing through the reservation. As had been the case throughout the reservation, there was a barbed wire fence designed to keep humans inaccessible to anything other than the easement along the highway. So Tabasco and I climbed through the fence to retrieve precious water for drinking and to cook another lunch before continuing north through the reservation.
I kept thinking about the pending rain/snow and the fact that we would be so close to Mt. Hood tonight we could sleep warm and dry at the condo if Debi would be willing to come pick us up. She and I traded voice mails with really sketchy coverage but I was able to make arrangements for her to show up on the highway this evening at dusk.
The afternoon miles dragged on again and we were both sore and tired of the highway hiking. Late in the afternoon we finally left the reservation and entered the Mt. Hood wilderness, only 17 miles from Government Camp. As darkness fell Tabasco searched valiantly for a decent campsite just off the highway. Options were really limited with little to no flat ground and dense forest. He had decided to spend his last night on the trail camping out, while I really was looking forward to a warm bed with a decent non trail meal for dinner. Tabasco finally found a site in now almost total darkness while I stood on the cold highway with my headlamp on so Debi could see me as she drove down the highway.
When Debi arrived about 15 minutes after darkness fell I piled in the car with my gear and agreed to meet Tabasco at the same location tomorrow morning at 7:30 am. From there Debi and I drove to Government Camp where I got a hot shower at the condo then we walked over to the Huckleberry Inn for dinner and relaxed at the condo the balance of the evening. About 9pm we heard roof noise...and it was rain. Hard rain. And it didn't let up. I thought about my trail partner out there in the woods, but knew he was able to set up camp and get into the tent dry before the rain hit with a vengeance. I knew tomorrow would be a soggy day for the grand finale finish to this wild and crazy journey.
Today's weather: Clear to cloudy. Low: 32 High 55 Today's Road Mileage: 30
Equivalent Trail Miles: 25 Cumulative Miles: 2,221.4
