Jared, Ursula and I headed out around 8:30 a.m. As we drove towards Cascade Locks and the Bridge of the Gods, the lower half of the mountain across the Columbia from us remained shrouded in clouds. By the time we started hiking and reached the rock outcropping at the top of lower Hamilton, the cloud-covered forest quickly changed to to a partly-blue sky and clear views of the Gorge.
At the summit, several other groups of hikers arrived shortly after us. A few hikers overheard Jared and I conversing about the names of different mountains and started asking us questions about all of the peaks surrounding Hamilton. It felt strange to be considered an authority on the geography of the Gorge considering we only started hiking here in 2008. We even found a new recruit for the Pentaquest - Rob from Sequim, WA - who is going to join us on the Mt. St. Helens climb in June.
The three of us had a fierce hunger brewing when we got back to the car and decided to travel home on the Washington side of the river in search of food. The first major sign of civilization we reached was Washougal. After driving aimlessly around the town, we finally settled on an underwhelming drive-in, but ended up making another new friend - the next time you see Ursula, ask her about Ed Kowalski.The overall thoughts for the day: Hamilton rocks and don't look for food in Washougal (suck it up and hold out for Portland).
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