I decided to take a zero today because of my cough and the bad haze and whatever correlation those two things might have. The men who were hanging out on the bench outside the general store (classic small town-style) told me that an air quality advisory had been issued. I went to the cafe for breakfast with Laura and had huckleberry pancakes, which cost more than normal pancakes but were loaded with huckleberries and delicious.

We then decided to walk over to the aforementioned creamery that ages cheese in lava tubes, me being encouraged by my success at viewing local industries in Cascade Locks, but we weren’t sure where it was and followed multiple sets of directions with no success. We eventually asked at the general store and were told flatly that visiting was impossible because of sanitation reasons. Aw, she said while coughing.

It was back to the cafe with Laura for supper, where we ate with Professor, Killjoy Bill and one of Killjoy Bill’s friends. I camped in the evening with a dozen other hikers on the general store’s lawn. A man approached asking whether anyone wanted rides to the trail at 7:30 AM tomorrow, so I accepted and will be going up in that group. Trout Lake has a list of phone numbers of potential rides – don’t call the last man on the list. A hiker managed to get through the entire list yesterday with no one answering their phone until the last person, who said that he wasn’t actually interested in driving hikers to the trail. ‘Sure, you can put me at the end of the list, I’m sure that no one will ever call me if I’m last.’