Washington, baby, we made it! At long last! When I started the trail back in early May, that final state seemed soooooooo far away on the map. Yet here we are, hiking in it!
As always, please feel free to mail letters, postcards, mail, business cards, or care packages to me on trail! Really, mail me anything, I’ll be so happy.
I always get so excited heading to the post office, and the next one will be in Leavenworth! This wasn’t a planned town stop, but we’re a few days ahead of our friends Flo, Pablo, Sam, and Sky, so we have time to stop by another town to wait for them! And guess what? That town has a post office! Yay! This address wasn’t in the last three blogs, so looks like it’s your special day :) (and if you send something it’ll be my special day ❤️)
Thank you so much to everyone who’s sent me packages, post cards, and letters so far; going to the post office is like Christmas, each and every time!
Here are the last two post office addresses on trail, along with my ETA to them. In case you’re wondering what to send, Brooke and I love Trader Joe’s baby food pouches, Walking Tamales (picture of these below, red ones are the BEST), instant coffee packets, yummy snacks of all kinds. and colored Goldfish (elite flavor). They’re the most delicious snacks ever!
PCT Dennis Gavrilenko -- 9/17/2025
(My phone number) c/o General Delivery
960 US Highway 2
Leavenworth WA 98826
(Note the arrival date!)
Dennis Gavrilenko, PCT Hiker, 9/20/2025
c/o General Delivery
31 Defacto Lane
Stehekin, WA 98852
Day 116, 9/3/2025:
21 miles today with 3500 feet of climbing.
After our relaxing night in the Timberline Lodge, it was back to trail after a delicious breakfast buffet. We spent most of the day traversing the many river gorges of Mt. Hood, going up and down, up and down, all day long. Beautiful scenery accompanied us all day, and boy was it green! The forests here are stunning, and I can’t wait to be in this greenery for the next month.
Didn’t see too many other hikers today.
Day 117, 9/4:
26 miles today with 2100 feet of climbing.
We’ve made it to Cascade Locks! At long last!
Cascade Locks is the last town in Oregon before the PCT crosses the famous Bridge of the Gods into Washington, so naturally, this day had been highly anticipated for weeks. Even better, Brooke’s hometown friends, Julia and Gianna, flew into Portland to backpack with us for the weekend, so we had some company to look forward to!
But first, getting there: more rolling hills in the morning with epic views of Mt. Hood, followed by a looooooong descent to sea level and Cascade Locks. Best part? Waterfalls! Tons and tons of waterfalls, all along a steep river gorge that flowed into the Columbia. Brooke and I hiked together all afternoon, took a wonderful lunch break swim in the creek, and hiked behind the amazing Tunnel Falls, creatively named because it does, in fact, have a tunnel carved right behind it. Awesome!
Eventually, we made it to bike path leading to Cascade Locks, and sped the last two miles into town where Julia and Gianna were waiting. We celebrated our arrival with burgers at the local brewery, and even got free drinks as PCT hikers! The brewery had a fun tradition of keeping a “PCT Trail Magic Donation Fund”, whereby locals dominated money into a metaphorical pile. If there’s money, you get a free drink; if not, you’re paying! Fortunately, The Fund was well-stocked when we arrived, and so we naturally ordered some fresh fruit ciders.
A festive walk back to camp, where we all fell asleep to the sound of passing trains. Life is good :)
Day 118, 9/5:
10 miles today with 3000 feet of climbing.
Helloooooooo, Washington! The final state, we’ve made it at last!
Following a surprisingly restful night of sleep on soft grass, our group of 4 headed into town for some coffee. Yay! Along the way, I stopped by the Cascade Locks post office, where I got not one, not two, not three, but FOUR presents: packages from Emily, Mama + Papa, and Hyperlite, and a letter from Hamburger Helper. Best day ever! I carried my haul over to the cafe, where I enjoyed a fun unboxing over mochas with Brooke. I could get used to this!
Besides getting tons of snacks and meals, I got a brand new Hyperlite bag, sent straight from the company thanks to their generous warranty policy; I’d emailed them that my water bottle pouch had ripped and the back support was hurting, and they sent me a brand new one for free! Best part, they sent me a shipping label to mail my old bag back for “R&D purposes.” Sick!
After some relaxation in the cafe and a WhatsApp call with some Hawaiians (long story short, Brooke and I are doing a work stay on Maui after the PCT, and we had our interview this morning with our hosts!! We were accepted!!), Brooke and friends departed for the trail, while I stayed behind to resupply, write some postcards, and just chill in general. All, of course, while enjoying coffee.
And then, when it was least expected, a couple walks in and offers to buy everyone coffee! The girl had apparently thru-hiked the PCT last year, was passing through town again this year, and wanted to give back some trail magic herself. We shared some great stories, and it seems that she really misses the trail life… makes me so grateful I still have another month to go :)
After a few more hours of relaxing, I headed off with my new backpack and crossed into Washington! I took the required photos of me on the Bridge of the Gods (I love them!), and proceeded to hike straight uphill for the next 10 miles. Washington is no joke. I arrived at camp around 7, where Brooke, Julia, and Gianna were relaxing with a few other hikers. We saw so many more today, I don’t know where they all came from!
Day 119, 9/6:
26 miles today with 3800 feet of climbing.
We had a slow start today, and enjoyed the morning escapades with Julia and Gianna; they were flying back home tomorrow, but still slack packed 3 miles with us northbound, before turning right around and heading back to Cascade Locks. Fortunately for them, it was all downhill!
The rest of the day was quite cruisy: Brooke and I crushed some rolling mountainous miles in beautiful green forest terrain, and everything was going fine and dandy until no reason at all, a bee stung my foot and buzzed away.
WHY BEE???? I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING TO YOU!!! There was no hive, no nearby nests or other bees, it just stung me completely unprovoked. ☹️ I wasn’t too worried about it, until my ankle started swelling like crazy and it began hurting quite bad. NO NO NO WE’RE SO CLOSE TO THE END!!! Brooke and I carried on for a few more miles before we made a campsite along a river and headed to an early bed.
Day 120, 9/7:
No miles today, just hitchhiking.
This bee sting is no joke. I woke up this morning, it hurt to put weight on my ankle, and I thought I was cooked. After a short discussion with Brooke, we decided that between my ankle, the lack of roads on trail for the next 50 miles, and the general desire to finish hiking before the snow falls, it’d probably be best to strategically bypass (read: skip) ahead to Trout Lake, take a rest day there, and carry on when my ankle felt better.
Now that’s a plan! We hiked one mile to the nearest road, and relatively quickly got a hitch into town. We were dropped off at the bus station, but upon learning that the bus didn’t run on Sundays, figured that we might as well continue hitchhiking and hope for the best.
Boy, did the best happen! These Washington drivers are very hitchhiker-friendly, and within minutes we got a ride all the way to Hood River with these two awesome dudes, Denis and Jason. They were hiking Mt. Adams the next day to prepare for an Aconcagua expedition in January (Aconcagua is the tallest mountain in South America at 23000 feet), and they were great. Both met while working in sales at Yahoo, and Jason was apparently moved to LA and tried the whole “become an actor” stint. He was in some commercials! Including being the guy in a famous Honda beach towel one, which is actually so cool. What in the world are the chances we’d meet??
Denis and Jason treated us to delicious brunch in Hood River, and eventually decided to drive us all the way to Trout Lake for a laugh. The drive was beautiful, with conversation and laughter the entire way, and we were in town in no time. Brooke and I got a room in the Trout River Inn (11/10 experience right there), put down a MASSIVE pizza at the pizzeria across the street, and fell asleep watching Knocked Up. What a life :)
Day 121, 9/8:
12 miles today with 2700 feet of climbing.
After an extremely relaxing sleep in the be try comfortable bed at Trout Lake Inn, Brooke and I headed the mile into town to resupply and pick up our package at the PO. We were planning on walking there, but I lazily threw my thumb out when a car drove by, and crazy enough, it stopped to give us a ride. I say throw my thumb out, because that was literally what I did: just tossed up a thumb at the first car, and lo and behold we saved ourselves 20 minutes of walking. I love hitchhiking! Don’t panic! 42!
The rest of the day passed in a blissful mood: I spent hours catching up on my blog while sitting on the front porch of the General Store, and watched dozens of the folks stop by to chat, buy a quick snack, and hang out. It was beautiful really, the comings and goings of a small town. High schoolers popped over to grab lunch, old timers were greeted by all the visitors, little boys ran in to buy ice cream, hunters to buy ice, it was amazing. All the best parts of small town America, and I got a free front row seat.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and eventually it was time for Brooke and I to head back on trail. My ankle was doing a lot better after popping Benadryls like candy all day, and we got a free ride to the PCT on the 4 pm shuttle. And just like that, it was back to reality! We hiked 11 miles before camp, with unbelievable views of Mt. Adams, St. Helens, and Rainier. We saw the most beautiful sunset ever, and went to bed with the sound of rain pattering against the tent :)
congrats wowza!