Marine Park in Cascade Locks fills this weekend with backpacks, trekking poles, and the dusty boots of Pacific Crest Trail thru-hikers as the 19th annual Pacific Crest Trail Days festival takes over Thunder Island. The two-day gathering, running through Sunday, celebrates hiking, camping, backpacking, and outdoor stewardship with vendors, giveaways, and activities drawing crowds to the small Columbia River Gorge town.
Festival director Jason Waicunas spoke with KOIN.com reporter Ally Osborne ahead of the event, which he first organized back in 2007 as a modest hiker feed for trail friends passing through. Nearly two decades later, according to Six Moon Designs, that small gathering has grown into one of the largest trail festivals in the country, now produced by Portland-based Outdoor Viewfinder, LLC.
Cascade Locks sits at just 170 feet of elevation, making it the lowest point on the entire 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail and the only incorporated city located directly along the route, per Cascade Locks Tourism. That geography makes the town a natural resupply and morale stop for hikers making the long trek north from the Mexican border through California, Oregon, and eventually Washington.
A Gear Marketplace With Every Booth Booked
All vendor sponsorship slots for this year's festival sold out well before the gates opened, with more than 100 outdoor equipment manufacturers and sponsors setting up at the Thunder Island Gear Expo & Marketplace, according to the Lower Columbia Nature Network. Many cottage gear companies use the weekend to put new product lines directly in front of long-distance backpackers who rarely see this much inventory in one place along the trail.
Admission during the day is free, but the festival's raffle tickets, sold at $2 apiece, raise money for nonprofit trail organizations including the Pacific Crest Trail Association, ALDHA-West, and Trail Keepers of Oregon, per the event's own schedule listed on pctdays.com. Organizers also partnered with the Columbia Gorge Food Bank this year, collecting non-perishable food and monetary donations from attendees at the main entrance gate.
Camping Rules and a Construction Warning for Drivers
Overnight camping happens on Thunder Island itself, but festival rules require all tents and vendor booths cleared off the island by 10 a.m. Sunday. Day admission stays open to the public separately from the overnight camping option, which requires its own registration fee.
Drivers heading out from Portland got a heads-up from organizers this year: construction has narrowed Interstate 84 to a single lane in each direction through the Columbia River Gorge, and festival planners advised arriving before 9 a.m. to dodge the worst of the backup on the 42-mile drive east to Marine Park.
The Bridge Hikers Still Have to Cross on Foot
Just beside the festival grounds, the 1,858-foot Bridge of the Gods spans the Columbia River, marking the spot where northbound hikers leave Oregon and step into Washington. The steel cantilever bridge opened in 1926 and was raised in 1938 during construction of the Bonneville Dam, according to background compiled by The Trek.
The crossing has drawn scrutiny for years because hikers walk the span alongside vehicle and semi-truck traffic with no dedicated pedestrian lane. In September 2023, the Port of Cascade Locks and the Pacific Crest Trail Association petitioned Oregon and Washington officials for $12 million to fund a walking lane, with The Trek reporting that PCTA officials have called the bridge one of the most hazardous stretches on the entire trail.
A Rough Season Made This Stop Feel Earned
This year's festival arrives after a difficult stretch on the trail. A norovirus outbreak sickened Pacific Crest Trail hikers near Wrightwood in California back in May, a story Hoodline covered in its report on the stomach bug outbreak. More recently, active wildfire closures in Wasco County, Oregon, have forced hikers to reroute, with the Grasshopper Fire surging past 23,000 acres earlier this month while evacuations held in the area.
For hikers who made it through those hazards, Cascade Locks offers a rare weekend to trade trail stories, stock up on gear, and rest before tackling the Bridge of the Gods crossing into Washington. The festival's blend of free admission, community food drive, and sold-out commercial expo reflects how the small Gorge town has become an essential support stop where hikers, advocacy groups, and gear manufacturers all converge at once.
