Washougal Dike: Walking, Wading and Celebrating

Here's my owner and I starting the walk. Notice I wasn't panting in this picture!

Today it was rainy in the morning but by noon it was really looking nice out. That's the way it is in the Pacific Northwest. If you don't like the weather, wait an hour. It will change!

We had been talking about walking and about our walking friend's birthday. Tom does volkssport walking and today is his 60th birthday. Imagine! And to celebrate he planned to walk 60K on the Washougal Dike Walk put on by the All Weather Walkers. So I got my leash on and we headed over to the Pendleton Woolen Mill Store in Washougal to park and register.

I thought we'd be doing this pretty much alone but walking friends Karen and Louise were there with big smiles on their faces. We registered with them and signed a birthday card for Tom (I still can't get over how OLD humans get!). The idea was to go on the same trail and cheer him on. I explained that it was warming up and I couldn't walk more than my age (6) and Louise said that was OK and I could just walk up to Cottonwood Beach and back.

We walked through the tunnel and up onto the dike and started looking for Tom. We walked and walked and I was getting a little warm from the sun. I looked longingly at the water but it was too far away for me to go take a drink.

 

Here's Tom in the green shirt, not looking 60 at all, and his friends. They are walking really fast!

And then we saw Tom and Joe! They were walking really fast. I think this was their third time doing the 12K walk. They just wanted to walk long enough to have everything add up to 60! They stopped to say hi and we wished them well. I was embarrassed to say that I was pooping out after only 2K! 

After the guys kept on walking we found the entrance to Cottonwood Beach. (I love beaches!). So we nosed around the longhouse structure and then went down in the shade of the cottonwoods to the river. I saw some Native canoes. I thought maybe this was going to be a place to eat fresh-caught salmon. But there were no Native people around, just the boats. I hopped in one and pretended I was going out onto the river for salmon fishing. 

Here I am in the boat wishing I could go salmon fishing with my Native friends.

Then I got to cool off by wading in the water, getting a drink and feeling the cool sand between my toes. Ah.... relief. I also thought of Tom and bet he wished he could take a dip in the Columbia right about then!

Here I am cooling off in the Mighty Columbia River

But soon it was time to get back on the trail. We walked about a kilometer more and turned back. I was panting and ready to get back by then. We finished the walk and found out we had walked 5K. That was pretty good.... but not good enough for Tom! He certainly deserves a big piece of birthday cake for all that walking! I was totally impressed.

I'm glad Tom had this walk for his birthday. It gave me an excuse to go down to the river and get some exercise. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOM!

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p.s. If you didn't go walking today and want to take your dog on the Washougal Dike, how about participating in the West Columbia Gorge Humane Society’s Sixth Annual Hike on the Dike event coming up?

Here's all about Hike on the Dike

Registration for West Columbia Gorge Humane Society’s Sixth Annual Hike on the Dike is now open! Hike on the Dike is a popular event so they encourage everyone to pre-register so they can skip the registration line and are guaranteed a WCGHS Goodie Bag!

The West Columbia Gorge Humane Society’s Six Annual Hike on the Dike is on Saturday, June 7th, from 11AM to 2PM and begins at Pendleton Woolen Mills at 2 Pendleton Way, Washougal, WA.