On waking up the first thing I noticed was the wind blowing from the NW and making the trees above us shake. The weather forecast has indicated a drop in temperature too. We are heading NW into the wind.... For a moment the lure of another day of tea and shelter here in Winthrop nearly overwhelmed me but it's not such bad day to tackle the Washington Pass so we drank a small lake of tea and ate a large breakfast - supplemented by some rolls that the departing Canadians left for us. So a good basis for a few thousand feet of climbing - up to 5477' which is the height of today's pass. The road was first of all to Mazama, straight into the NW breeze and gently climbing. But the breeze seemed to be veering more to the north, so not so bad for us. The shop in Mazama sold us overpriced but necessary bananas and rice crispy cakes - we can eat an impressive amount without putting on any weight (more of a danger of losing weight). Then the real climb began - the Washington Pass from Mazama is a classic climb, well graded with a nice surprise at the top where the road does a real proper hairpin and heads off over a hidden valley where after a mile or two the Washington Pass is reached.
The pass is at 5477' and the temperature was 7 centigrade (thermometer stuck onto a post). On the way up we saw about 50 or so bikes but every single one was being carried by a vehicle - we saw no other bikes cycling on the Washington Pass today just bikes being carried. There are trails for off road cycling and walking but there didn't seem to be anyone on these - some of the trails are closed because of the fire risk. As in the UK most people are content to walk as far as a visitor centre but no further. The downhill was great - and we've gone from 5477' to 500' - so 5000' of downhill (slightly more because there are three little uphills on the descent to get around dams and the like). But the little pass - Rainy Pass - just after the top on our way down - lived up to its name and it started raining. Going downhill fast in rain with a temperature in single figures was very chilling and soon we both had our gloves, jumpers, waterproofs and extra layers on. In spite of the rain there was plenty of evidence of fires and a large encampment of firefighters is about a mile from where we are now camped in Nehalem. The fires smoulder along - the 'Easy Fire' was shown on a map. The 'beat' author Jack Kerouac spent some sessons fire watching from a lookout near our route - for him mountains (he mentions Hozomeen Mountain) are an example of imperturbable tranquility. It's probably what he needed to find.... Camping looked initially problematic since there are no spaces here - every site is either reserved or has a vehicle stuck on it, no space for low powered, non-petroleum using, green travellers. Guy spotted the 'camp host' sign and he helpfully showed us the 'bikes only' site. I guess a hiker arriving on foot would count too. He said only the site only had bikes on it three times during the summer. After 8pm it becomes an ordinary site if no bike has turned up. Americans are mostly very averse to powering themselves along. We ate pretty much all the food we had left - curious mix of chocolates, bananas, bread, a delicious tinned mackerel in olive oil with lemon and then, after everything was safely in the bear proof box nearby, fell asleep in moments. Rarely does a sleeping bag seem so warm and perfect as after 40 miles of being chilled and rained on going down a mountain. We got to 4300 miles total mileage today. We are here. It is less than 100 miles to the Pacific.