A lot has happened since the last post. It got cloudy so my solar charger has been useless and my phone has been dead for two days. This means no posts and also means no photos. Very sad indeed. Luckily Arlo got tons so you'll have to wait for those I guess.
We set off for the next town to resupply and it was nice and calm that morning. We got some food and beer and went to the bar to get a little phone charging action. We came back to the boat to find the conditions had changed dramatically.
We started off toward the last dam but could only make it a few miles against the wind. We found a little spot inside a little inlet that seemed like a good spot to camp and blocked the wind. It looked like rain so we made a little lean-to with the retired sail tarp. We slept well after finding some bear poop nearby.
We crossed The Bridge of the Gods, where the Pacific Crest Trail crosses the river, and unofficially crossed the Cascade Mountains.
A mile or so past that was the last dam. Online said the last place to get out of the river was 5 miles upstream. We didn't believe it so we paddled right up to the no boat sign. Can't say it was the best idea but we made it work. We found a shitty little rotten staircase that the natives had used for fishing (many years ago I'm sure) and figured it would be the best place to get out. So we drug the canoe up a 20 ft staircase, then up another steep hill to the road. Undoubtedly the gnarliest portage yet.
The put-in spot was almost as bad. Pretty steep and only boulders. We had to lift our little cart over a chain/gate thing and on the way down it cracked. We got about 2 feet from where we wanted to put in and little Champ (our cart) called it quits. The little guy broke in half. He did all he could to help us and figured he had done enough.
We found a nice little camping spot and called it a night. The current was swift so we figured we'd have a nice easy day ahead of us.
The current ran out pretty quick and we made a couple miles. We met another guy on the river who had constructed a little sailboat out of an old river raft, some PVC, and a trap. He said he had been on the river about a month, just cruising around. We're not the only crazy people on the river that's for sure.
While looking for a camping spot, we stopped on Sand Island. We saw a guy in the distance who appeard to be in the nude. As we got closer it was apparent that he was. We inadvertently ended up on a nude beach. There were no camping spots though so we got back on the river.
We finally found a state park and called it a night, but not before seeing some huge fish in the shallow water. One of them bumped right into the boat. We went to sleep with the city lights of Washugal across the way, and the glow of Portland in the distance.
I did get two photos before my phone died. Here's one where I left Sparky on a bouy...
And one of our new friend Shop Cat...
Cats are friends, not food.
No comments:
Post a Comment