lørdag 14. juni 2014

Day 2: Mountain pass

104.2 km

The rain had persisted throughout the night. Strangely enough, the tent and everything inside had stayed completely dry. My shoes on the other hand, were still soaked from the day before. I packed the tent, ate and by 8 am I was on the road and after about an hour I reached the town of Greenwater. 





 After refilling my water-bottles I got talking with three guys, all retired air force pilots/navigators. They gave me some great advice on which route to take across the state and told me I had some beautiful scenery ahead of me. We stood chatting for about half an hour before I set off, having once again been warned of the harsh conditions in such weather over Cayuse pass, and boy were they right! 

The climb started easy but as I gained altitude the gradient increased until I felt completely drained. Being completely soaked and cold from the decreasing temperatures and with so much to go, I repeated to myself what the guys from Enumclaw and the guys from earlier today had said. "80 degrees on the other side. 30 mile descent"






As I finally conquered the pass, I got filled with joy. The view wasn't much since I could barely make out what was 20 meter ahead a of me. I packed myself with almost all the clothes I had to prevent the wind from the descent from reaching the soaked inner layers. And after about 10 km of descending I got below the ever present fog and the rain finally stopped. As I descended into the valley the temperature started to pick up. There was a slight desdcent all the way but my legs felt completely beat after the pass and I wanted to avoid having to camp since the tent had been packed wet. I waved down a car at a local campground and asked the driver if he knew any place to stay inside further down the road, and to my surprise there was, just about 3 km down the road in Cliffdell.



I thanked the guy and almost sprinted down the road, feeling spirited. When I got there the lady at the reception told me they only had cabins left which were 290 dollars a night and that there "probably" wasn't much until the town of Yakima, 50 km away. Disappointed I headed over to the gas station to grab a bit to eat when I again met the guy I had just waved down. I told him what the situation was and  he told me there was a place I about 5 more kilometers further down the road that might have something.






Mentally prepared for another 50 km I set off, and after a while I got to Squaw Rock Resort, just as the guy had informed me. The lady at the  reception told me I could get a cabin for 65 dollars, an offer I accepted in a heartbeat. Feeling extatic over what had just happened, I showed myself a nice little cabin. Perfect. I immediately got out of my wet clothes and hopped into the shower before I spread all my wet stuff around the cabin to dry and went to sleep. 


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