In Central Oregon, there are a group of mountains that are part of the Cascade Mountain Range called the Bachelor and the Three Sisters. The folklore of the mountains is quite charming and you can read the story here. South Sister, also known as Charity, is the third highest peak in the state of Oregon. At 10,348 feet, she rises above her sisters and Mount Bachelor. This goal has been high on the list and was one of the first to get scheduled when I first put the 50 b4 50 list together. In 2013 a group of us put this summit on our goal list for the year, we did the training hikes and even rented a house and planned the whole weekend out for the hike. Unfortunately, the weekend came and Mother Nature had other plans and sent an early snowstorm. This go round, we had a much smaller group and due to everyone’s busy schedules, very limited training hikes. We did decide to schedule the climb around Bend’s Brew Fest, which also coincided with Kristen’s birthday. What a great reason to celebrate with a hike! South Sister has the reputation as being the easiest mountain (over 10,000ft) to summit in the Cascades. However, this does not mean it is easy!! This just means that it is not a “technical” climb, requiring ice picks, crampons, etc. Our friends Bert and Cheri, who you may remember taught me how to cross country ski, offered up their house for us to stay at. Due to other commitments, they were unable to hike the whole way with us, but they did get us up to Lake Moraine and provided us with our sunrise breakfast! We were on the trailhead at 4:52am, and since I forgot my headlamp, I spent the first two miles using the flashlight on my iphone! It was kind of cool hiking as the light was coming up. We also got an amazing view of the moonset and sunrise. The steepness was hard, but the altitude was definitely the most challenging. At one point, my friend Jeff was asking me questions and I told him to ask me again after we got to the top because I couldn’t talk and breath at the same time anymore! We lucked out with amazing weather, with temperatures in the low 60’s as we headed up and of course as we got higher it stayed cooler. I was concerned we might have to deal with some wind at the top, but it was actually very calm and absolutely gorgeous at the summit. At the top we surprised Kristen with birthday cake and champagne to celebrate both her birthday and the accomplishment! We had amazing views with just a little bit of smoky fog from a forest fire burning in the Sunriver area. In some ways, coming back down was harder due to the steepness and slipperiness of the scree. Not to mention our legs were a bit worn out from hiking for 6 hours already! It took us a total of 10 hours round trip and boy were we all ready to be done by the time we hit the trail head J We went over to Devil’s Lake and stuck our very worn out feet into the ice cold water, which felt delicious! I am so glad to have accomplished this feat and make that big check mark!! It was an amazing hike with an awesome payoff….but I definitely don’t feel the need to do it again anytime soon.
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