I fall asleep to driving rain and howling wind. Luckily it is on the outside of the hotel window. By the morning it has cleared. We head down to the breakfast buffet. We’ve heard about the Timberline buffet for almost 2100 miles and it does not disappoint. I stuff myself with eggs, sausage, potatoes, mix berries and chocolate chips into Greek yoghurt, then smother a waffle with real whipped cream and berries. Two hours later, as we head out into the rising clouds, I am hungry again.

As we head down Mt. Hood, it starts to rain. I pull up my hood and turn up my podcast. Halfway down, we meet Maga. Maga is famous on trail for his support of Donald Trump and it is interesting to meet someone I have heard so much about. We talk about berries, swapping info about what you can eat and what you can’t. Then I poke the bear, as Shake’nBake and Mountain House puts it, and don’t change topics fast enough away from politics. We part ways by the Ramona Falls alternative. We rejoin the PCT after dinner, and hike on til dark. But it’s labor day weekend, and there are weekend backpackers in our planned spot. They have a big fire, a scary dog, and don’t look like they plan on respecting hiker midnight. In a mile, there’s a stream and more camping, but it is full. Finally, we find a flat spot, even if we have to relocate a few small trees. In the morning, it is cold and damp. I hike in my raincoat, then my raincoat and my puffy. I’ve lost my ability to stay warm in the cold. We leave the PCT and drop steeply to the Eagle Creek trail. Finally, it warms up. We follow the creek along a path blasted out of the rock to Tunnel falls. Then it is in to Cascade Locks, where we need to wait for the post office to open. We walk up to Bridge of the Gods and look across. The woman in the toll booth says we can walk across, but we can’t. Not yet. In just a day or two we will, and hit the last border before Canada.