Walks A Ways: 09/15/26

Tuesday, September 15, 2026

Overall PCT Day 145

2026 PCT Day 29, 12 September 2026 (Saturday)

Overall PCT Day 145

"Locking It Down"

Start Location:	Between Mount Hood and Cascade Locks, Mi. 2124.4	Destination:	Cascade Locks Mi. 2150.2
PCT Miles Day 145:	0.0	Cum PCT Miles:	2648.4
Non-PCT Miles Day 145:	21.0	Cum All Miles:	2918.3
PCT Miles Remaining:	0.0
Elevation Gain Day 145:	0	Cum Elevation Gain:	447,197

Note, like yesterday, that since I completed the PCT, I'm counting all miles today as non-PCT, thus, the elevation gain today of 1312 feet is also non-PCT.

Today is it, it’s the last day of hiking for this trip. I can’t believe that with all the weather issues, I actually finished on exactly the day I had originally planned to finish. And although I got fully back into long distance hiker mode, I am ready to be done. Doing these long distance, hikes, while rewarding, is very hard.

Cascade Locks is near sea level, so today was mostly a big descent. The trail tread was terrible, but the views of all the waterfalls along the way were great.

Tunnel Falls is an extremely popular day hike. It’s by far the most day hikers I’ve seen on the trail anywhere on this PCT. The entire area is also popular with recreational backpackers. So us PCT hikers were way outnumbered by locals and tourist today. Although today’s trail was pure torture on the feet, Tunnel Falls is such a unique place that it’s worth it to see at least once.

As in 2022,I’ll probably do a summary post, but need to think about it for a few days before attempting to do so.

One last sunrise on trail

One of the falls along the Eagle Creek Trail

More falls along the Eagle Creek Trail

Along the Eagle Creek Trail

Some sections of the Eagle Creek Trail have cables to hold for people that feel the need

Tunnel Falls, the highlight of the Eagle Creek Trail. The trail goes right behind the water.

The tunnel of Tunnel Falls

One of several narrow slots along Eagle Creek

Back in Cascade Locks at The Bridge Of The Gods

Making the finish "official"at a PCT Monument in Cascade Locks

Eastwind Drive-In...I guess it's beginning to get well known

Paddle Wheel boat on the Columbia River

Columbia River from Thunder Island

The historic locks of Cascade Locks

Overall PCT Day 144

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2026 PCT Day 28, 11 September 2026 (Friday)

Overall PCT Day 144

"No Pressure"

Start Location:	Timberline Lodge, Mt. Hood, Mi. 2100.1	Destination:	Between Mount Hood and Cascade Locks, Mi. 2124.4
PCT Miles Day 144:	0.0	Cum PCT Miles:	2648.4
Non-PCT Miles Day 144:	24.7	Cum All Miles:	2897.3
PCT Miles Remaining:	0.0
Elevation Gain Day 144:	0	Cum Elevation Gain:	447,197

Note that since I completed the PCT, I'm counting all miles today as non-PCT, thus, the elevation gain today of 4469 feet is also non-PCT.

Last night felt and looked very stormy but it didn’t rain. Because rooms were available at Timberline Lodge, every hiker near the area stayed there, including me.

Weather was very nice today. I took the alternate trail to Ramona Falls, one of the best alternates on the PCT.

Most of the day was in the forest again. Every once in a while there was a good view of Mt. Hood or Mt. St. Helens. Otherwise, not great photo ops again.

It was interesting hiking today. I don’t think I realized how much pressure I was putting on myself to complete the PCT. Somehow, today felt easier, moving felt freer. It wasn’t necessarily an easy day, but it felt more relaxed.

Tomorrow will be my last day on trail. The forecast calls for rain starting in the afternoon, so hopefully I can get to Cascade Locks before it starts.

Mount Hood in the morning

Timberline Lodge with Mount Jefferson in the background

A nice view of the trail in the Mount Hood area

Sandy River Falls

Sandy River crossing

Ramona Falls with a bunch of its fans sitting around

Ramona Falls. One of the great day hikes you can do around Mount Hood.

Spotted Tussock Moth in caterpillar stage

That's just kind of strange looking

A distant view of Mt. St. Helens

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Overall PCT Day 143

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2026 PCT Day 27, 10 September 2026 (Thursday)

Overall PCT Day 143

"100 PCT (%) Done"

Start Location:	Warm Springs River, Mi. 2067.7	Destination:	Timberline Lodge, Mt. Hood, Mi. 2100.1
PCT Miles Day 143:	32.4	Cum PCT Miles:	2648.4
Non-PCT Miles Day 143:	0.2	Cum All Miles:	2872.6
PCT Miles Remaining:	0.0
Elevation Gain Day 143:	5381	Cum Elevation Gain:	447,197

First A Note About Miles: Because there are various alternates to the Baseline (Redline) PCT routing, some mandated, some official and optional, the miles in my stats do not exactly match the official PCT mileage.

Last night was the warmest night in Oregon in a while. But this morning was actually pretty cold. I did just barely managed to get one more 10 x 10 in.

Although today’s trail was pretty nice, it was almost entirely in dense forest. Therefore, there were not a lot of photo opportunities.

But all that is besides the point, because today I did it, I completed the PCT. I wasn’t entirely sure whether I would complete it today or tomorrow. But the trail cooperated, mostly, and I pushed pretty hard all day. It definitely was not an easy day as can be seen in the stats. And just to make one final point that the PCT is not an easy trail to complete, the very end was very hard. The last 5 miles were basically just straight up. And in the last couple miles you come out of the forest and into the Open. It was actually very windy today, and you could really feel the full force of the wind once out into the open. Near the end, with just about a half a mile to go, the wind was blowing very hard right into me, and the trail was still steep. It was a struggle just to move forward one step at a time. It was like the PCT just didn’t want to let me get to the end.

But I did get to the end. I walked every inch of the PCT from Mexico to Canada, over 2600 miles. And that doesn’t even count all the additional miles that were not technically PCT miles. I didn’t walk the entire trail in one continuous foot path like I wanted, but that was out of my control. No matter how you slice it, it was a long, hard hike.

But I am not done hiking yet. I am going to continue on the PCT for the next two days until I get to Cascade Locks Oregon. Cascade Locks is the end of the Oregon section. It is also on the big Columbia River with the iconic Bridge of the Gods (named after a Native American Indian legend), and it has a PCT monument. I don’t know why, but it just seems more appropriate to end the hike at a location that has a PCT monument. This might seem a bit silly, but some people would say that liking the entire PCT is kind of silly. So what’s a few more miles.

Typical trail today

There it is, Mount Hood

Lupine near Timberline Lodge

Getting very close to finishing the PCT

Done!

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Overall PCT Day 142

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2026 PCT Day 26, 09 September 2026 (Wednesday)

Overall PCT Day 142

"Transition"

Start Location:	Near Jefferson Park, Mi. 2039.2	Destination:	Warm Springs River, Mi. 2067.7
PCT Miles Day 142:	28.5	Cum PCT Miles:	2616
Non-PCT Miles Day 142:	0.9	Cum All Miles:	2840.0
PCT Miles Remaining:	30.3
Elevation Gain Day 142:	3469	Cum Elevation Gain:	441,816

Last night was the warmest night in Oregon in a while. It was still cold, just not near freezing cold. It did get warmer today. And so far, the forecast for clear skies and warmer temps has held.

There wasn’t much of interest today. The first part of the day was going through more of a massive burn area on slow trail. And the second half of the day was back in dense, healthy forest with fairly fast trail. It was really just a day to transition from the Mount Jefferson area to the Mount Hood area.

There is an outside chance that I could complete the PCT tomorrow at Timberline Lodge. However, it would be a real stretch to get there; I would need everything to go perfectly.

Sunrise, with moon, from tentsite

A short stop at Olallie Lake Resort which is just off the PCT

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Overall PCT Day 141

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2026 PCT Day 25, 08 September 2026 (Tuesday)

Overall PCT Day 141

"X Factor"

Start Location:	Near Three Fingered Jack, Mi. 2008.5	Destination:	Near Jefferson Park, Mi. 2039.2
PCT Miles Day 141:	30.7	Cum PCT Miles:	2587.5
Non-PCT Miles Day 141:	0.0	Cum All Miles:	2810.6
PCT Miles Remaining:	58.8
Elevation Gain Day 141:	5169	Cum Elevation Gain:	438,347

As per usual in Oregon, it was very cold last night. Sometimes I’m not sure if it’s just me feeling that it is very cold or that it actually was very cold. But the very first hiker I came across this morning mentioned to me how cold it was, and that his tent had frost on it. However, the cold didn’t persist all day, and in fact it turned out to be quite a warm afternoon. Well, at least the forecast for good weather this week has so far proven to be true.

Today was dominated by two prominent mountains. In the morning, it was Three Fingered Jack, which I slept right below last night. The rest of the day it was Mount Jefferson. Both are very unique in how they look.

In one of my 2022 blog posts, I mentioned that, unless you’re already familiar with a trail, the one factor that can really throw off your pace is the trail tread. Today’s tread was mostly difficult. Although there were fast stretches here and there, most of the tread made the hiking much slower than I had hoped for today. Although I did over 30 miles, I could either have done more if the trail was fast or I could’ve gotten to my campsite earlier than I did. Oh well, that’s just the kind of variety that the trail throws at you. And other than testing your physical endurance, the one thing the trail does a really good job of is testing your patience. At least today’s water sources were fairly well spread out and close to the trail.

There are currently a lot of recreational backpackers in the area. It’s funny the difference between PCT hikers and recreational backpackers. As best I can tell, many recreational backpackers don’t even crawl out of their tent until 9 or 10 AM in the morning, and they stop hiking by about 4 or 5 PM, or some even earlier. A PCT hiker that is not on the trail by 7 AM is considered to be a late starter. And most PCT hikers will go to near the end of the day, and often later, before stopping. Although I got to my campsite just before dark, there were several PCT hikers that passed by my tent much later. This is not unusual.