Next morning dawned bright and not too cold, and I was up first. Actually, Shelby was unable to move. Later, he noted the bit of foam I had brought for sitting (also an object of ridicule until now) and purposed to use that the following night. Seems even real men can profit from a soft bed. As we left camp the wind was coming up, and some gusts may have hit 20-30 mph, but it was a grand morning with a splendid view of St. Helens, Rainier and Adams a few minutes out of camp. We were now officially on PCT 2000.
Somewhere along here Shelby confiscated my map and would not relinquish it for the duration. He spent a great deal of time and effort calculating how much up or down lay ahead of us, but he was invariably wrong. He began to blame it on the map, but I don't know.
Here is where we came up yesterday--about 10-11 miles and 2,500 feet or so. The exposed face in the middle distance is along the far side of the Columbia River.
I had made the mistake of commenting on trail conditions a few times yesterday, and I was particularly impressed by the efforts that someone had gone to in the upkeep of this trail. This tickled Shelby's teasing nerve, and I was to hear about this too for the remainder of the trip.
A few miles down the trail, we were strolling through pleasant woods on the top of the ridge.
