Monday, June 15, 2015

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Hood River, OR to near Olallie Lake Resort. Zero trail miles, but about 10+ miles of road walking in between rides.

I got a total of 7 rides today before I used up all my ride karma. My first ride was from a logger named Frank. He took me from where I was camping overnight to the town of Hood River.

Next, I crossed over the Columbia River to the town of Bingen, WA. You are not allowed to walk across the bridge in Hood River, nor ride your bike, but a very nice woman gave me a ride to the Post Office. She knew I was a PTC hiker, but thought I was too clean. Bingen was a nice little town, but I did not find what I was looking for, so I headed back to Hood River. Two women headed for Portland gave me a ride back across the river to Oregon.

While I was in Hood River, I found a great sidewalk cafe called Remedy. The had lentil soup with vegetables, and amazing smoothies. I ate my lunch with Ira while we enjoyed the mid-day sunshine.


Oregon has joined the short list of states that have legalized Pot (as of July 1st ... now you know the REAL reason there are so many hikers on the PTC this year!) Two older guys that are new "growers" gave me a ride South on Highway 35 towards Government Camp.

Ride #5 was Rick from Springfield, OR. He was very interesting, and he works for the Forest Service. He gave me a ride all the way to Highway 26, where I needed to go South towards Bend.

Ride #6 was from an older Chinese woman named Sally. Next week, she will go to visit her family in China. I'd really like to go to China for a visit, and Sally would make a wonderful tour guide. Her English was very good, and she knew a lot about China. She was on her way to Bend to visit a friend. She gave me a ride to Road 42.

From there , I knew the rides would be much more difficult, as it was mid-week and in a remote area without a lot of traffic. I walked a ways when ride #7 came along ... 3 younger women from Portland, OR (pizza makers by trade) were heading to Timmothy Lake for some camping with friends. They even went out of their way about 5 miles to get me a little closer to Olallie Lake. They were fun!

Finally, it was starting to get dark, so I found a clearing to put up my tent. I had about 8 - 10 miles to go to reach the resort.

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