Day 8

4 miles
Not wanting to get bit by more mosquitos, we packed inside the tent until we had to get out and then packed that up as fast as possible. It largely worked. I sped down the trail, snapping a few photos of Mt. Hood along the way. I was eager to get to the trailhead at the highway. We caught a ride with Athena who was shocked we were hiking so far. We had a very brief, fun chat and she even took our picture before dropping us off at her exit. We walked a little to get to the other side of the interchange and then caught a ride with Christopher who took us the rest of the way to town. He worked for the forest service (I can’t recall if it was related to fire or not) and also wants to hike the trail some day. We went into Government Camp and started laundry. Next stop was Charlie’s for a burger and beer, and to recharge our phones. They played a bunch of late 90s punk rock so I was digging it. Our laundry was done, so we wrapped up at Char Bar and then picked up our clothes. Whimsy was there doing her laundry too. We walked down to Mt. Hood Brewing Company and hung out for awhile. It’s a brewery that’s just as much a restaurant so it feels weird changing into clean clothes in their bathroom. Jay chatted with us while he walked by, we were waiting for the $2 shuttle to Timberline Lodge. Whimsy got on the same bus and we made our way up Mt. Hood (the easy route, admittedly). There’s a campsite up the hill that PCT hikers can use and it has an incredible view of Hood. The buffet at the Lodge is a hiker favorite so we made our reservations for breakfast tomorrow. Our dinners in camp were to-go orders from the brewery today, town stops are great.