By the mid afternoon I was on the Columbia Gorge, which ended up being so much more than I had even anticipated! Truly spectacular views.

Attachment 8258

I only post the best picture here, but there are plenty more on my Instagram feed (http://instagram.com/motozeke).

As some of you probably noted from my tire wear thread, I had started to reach my wear bars on my rear and was concerned enough that I decided to bunk down in Tigard to catch Beaverton Honda when they opened on Tuesday morning. Sure enough the dealer felt that I had gone more than long enough on that tire and slapped on a new one, putting me back on the road before lunch. On my way to Mount St. Helens, the crown jewel of my trip!

So the weather report wasn't promising--mostly cloudy with a 30% chance of rain--but I had come this far so there's no way I wasn't going to give it a shot. Unfortunately, as I started to close in on the mountain and I saw the first vista points, it was clear that I was in for a disappointment. The cloud cover was uniform and well below the summit. This was the best view I got, from Johnston Ridge:

Attachment 8259

It was cold and blustery, but I figured I could at least get my money's worth by going on a 90-minute ranger-led narrative hike that left an hour after I got there. So I wandered the visitor center, and put on my hiking garb. And then, and I mean *right* then--it started raining. So I bugged out. Another time, Mount St. Helens...