Dealing with adversity (Updated)

After a great ride out from our campsite at Ashford we stopped for a brew by the river.

Lovely riding on a quiet road that was on a deep forest and downhill :)

Found out way to a campground only to find out it had closed the night before. We spent the night in a picnic area by a lake. Very lovely but there we lots of 'no camping' signs so we were a bit concerned about being discovered. (We get away with it)

Some super roads on our way to Lewis and Clark State Park including passing several lakes and having some swims.

The camping was again amazing in amongst the trees and we were all ready for our next day's cycling. However things did not go to plan ...

We dragged ourselves to the top of a climb and zoomed down the other side to realise we were off our route. No problem, drag ourselves to the top again and all works be well. Not so. The turn we should have taken was a gravel track. No problem, we can handle gravel. Not so. The track was closed due to fire risk. No problem, we could sneak round the barrier. Not so. The gravel was deep and more than our bike could handle. 

We faced facts and retraced our steps. We are now in a cafe about 10 miles from our morning's start about 7 hours after starting and re-making plans for where we will get to tonight. 

We rolled down the road beside the river Cowlitz with no clear plan as there were no campgrounds nearby. We stopped to ask a man who was setting up for an evening's salmon fishing if he knew of anywhere to camp. He pointed at a path leading into the woods and said "That's County property. You can camp where ever you like in there."

Hence we camped right by the river: