With the dilemma of the tires hanging over my head, Shyla and I rode south from our campsite, leaving the wounded Bombshelter behind, and headed for the Columbia River and the Bridge of the Gods. In 2014 Shyla crossed the bridge easily, despite the disconcerting open grillwork nature of the footing, which allows you to look straight through to the river underneath. It can make you dizzy, and I'm sure to a horse it doesn't appear safe (like walking on air), but Shyla did it easily last time, and I was hoping she would be okay this time as well. She was jigging and prancing and nervous as we approached the bridge due to the traffic on the road, but when we got the the bridge itself she was fine, and the cars following us were patient and slow and courteously gave us the distance we needed to be secure. Still, it was a good feeling to get on solid ground again on the other side.

After that, we faced a long climb out the the Columbia River gorge--the lowest point on the entire PCT. We slowly worked our way up and south towards distant Mt. Hood and our campsite at Lolo Pass, where I had cached food for us last week.

The video is of our 2014 crossing . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWuj5ndFX_A

#2016PCT