Day 58, Aug. 13 (Wed.) Yakima to La Wis Wis F.S. Campground, WA

Woke up feeling better and pretty ready to escape from the motel. Andy had found a different breakfast haunt in our only literature (the Yakima Guide) and so we ate back at the cusp of town at the Powerhouse Grill. The food was really good actually (granola covered blintzes?) and we got our own pot of coffee (who can complain) plus the waitress was charming and knew everyone's name in the restaurant. Already a better day.

We started down Powerhouse Road (a highway predating Rt. 12 that we would eventually join) which wound its way all through the rest of the Bitteroot valley, through farms, past some encouraging and energetic biking ladies, and eventually down to Naches. In Naches we got OJ, checked out the Ranger Station, and prepared ourselves for our last (we think) big pass, White Pass.

The water in the river started to get greener as we followed it up into the mountains. The ride was pretty splendid and we both seemed very focused on our goal, and making good time. About 20 miles up, we stopped for a snack. 18 miles to summit.

At some point we came out of the passages of the Cascades and around the sides of the mountains where we saw several gorgeous lakes, bizarre volcanic rock formations, a gorgeous waterfall, and lots of little ones just springing out of the wall down onto the shoulder. We stopped quite a few times on the way up, but finally made summit, where it crossed with the Pacific Crest Trail (sort of like the Appalachian Trail of the West).

At the grocery on top, we took a restbit and talked to about 6 hikers who were hiking from Mexico to Canada. They are the truly hardcore ones. All seemed like nice people who had been alone for a very long time. Two of them were wearing long skirt things which we couldn't figure out how that would be helpful, but still seemed cool at the moment. One's name is Airic, and you can follow his progress on cactustocoast.blogspot.com.

After our bagel, avocado and coffee had been sufficiently digested, we cruised down a few miles, when behold, Mt. Rainier popped up in our vision. It was so gorgeous and unbelievable to see. We couldn't get enough. We had some fine supportive youngsters take our picture with the mountain, before finishing our cruise past the Palisades and down to La Wis Wis campground.

The road down to the campground was super steep and we were bummed that we would have to climb it in the morning. The camping was expensive and had no showers or anything, but we still made do. The trees were enormous (150 ft tall and about 30-60 inches in diameter). We sat by the river for a bit, looking at the neat rocks, then made a reluctant fire, washed my hair in the spicket, cooked dinner, and went to bed.