Chapter 8 - The Land of the Pines

 We were cruising along and making good time. Probably made 15 miles and came around a bend where you could see farther west. And there waiting for us was Mt Hood with rolling hills of pine trees leading up to it's base. That was one of my favorite moments of the whole trip. After two weeks of waking up to the same shrub-steppe environment, we finally get to see some trees.

After a long day of paddling and a little sailing we made it the 20 miles to The Dalles Dam, but not before dark. It didn't look like a chill spot to camp, being right next to the dam, and we figured a portage would be more comfortable without the blazing sun. We decided to go for it. 

It was three miles to the next put-in spot. We had to walk down a two lane highway with cars going 50mph past us, all in the middle of the night. We almost caused one head on collision when cresting a hill. Sparky turned to me and said, "Mad Dog, I'm just sayin', this is a little gnar."

And gnar it was

We did make it though. Our cart is taking some wear, but we only have one damn dam left. We made it to the put-in spot super late, and still had to cook dinner. Which was over a twig fire since we've been out of fuel for my stove for days. It was a long day to say the least. 

The next day we went over to the city of The Dalles. We got more fuel! I don't think I've ever been so happy to see little canisters of gas. We loaded up on some other supplies, and got breakfast at Denny's. 

The Dalles has some beautiful turn of the century architecture too.

We left and made it a solid 10 miles before getting to a park where we wouldn't be bothered and made camp. We slept under some big conifers, and boy does it feel good to be in the land of the pines.