Washington State! Active volcanos and all.

I've been working extra hours and training for the trail so I have been running short on time to write. This trend will probably continue so today and tomorrow, I'm finishing up my trail summary. I feel bad for Washington because this always happens to it. CA and OR are written about with love a detail and then WA gets the "I can't believe I'm almost done"/ "snow!" treatment. I'm about to give it the short end of the stick once again. I'll try to treat the trail like a good book and never think about the end until it has arrived, but for now, because of time management issues, I will have to write quickly about a walk through the state.

maps h, i, j

By the time we pass over the Bridge of the Gods, we are in WA.
The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area (CRGNSA) is the 24,000 acres around the Columbia River. The River is the second largest in North America, starting in Idaho and ending at the Pacific. The gorge is 4,000 feet deep at it's lowest point and includes the second largest waterfall in the world, Multnomah Falls.

Gifford Pinchot National Forest is nothing short of epic. It has Mt Adams, Mt St. Helens, Goat Rocks Wilderness, and huckleberries (yum). We will walk through patches of Gifford Pinchot that are apart of the Wind River Experimental Forest. These lands have been studied since 1909 when Thorton T. Munger set up an arboretum.

On the PCT we walk the entire Indian Heaven Wilderness from north to south, just over 16 miles. In the north there is a section named the Sawtooth Berry Flats where native americans collected huckleberries. To this day there is a section which is designated for the use of local tribes. Check out the Huckleberry Legend from the Yakima tribe. The summary is the Huckleberries are the plants that grew from the bloody eyes of the creator.

Goat Rocks Wilderness is spectacular. Not only do I love goats, but I love rough and rocky areas. This place looks heavenly. (photo) Jagged and lovely, can't wait to skit the sides of this range.

Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest is huge. It extends a 140 miles from the Canada down to Mt, Rainer National Forest. Outside of Alaska, it has the most glaciers of any national forest. We pass through Alpine Lakes Wilderness, which is mostly in Wenatchee National Forest. It has 700 mountain lakes and craggy peaks and ridges.