Showing posts with label hiking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hiking. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Thursday, July 16, 2015
South Sister
Earlier this week Kevin and I had the chance to finally climb South Sister just outside Bend. We dropped the girls off at camp on Sunday and then headed to central Oregon for a few days (early anniversary celebration).
There are 3 "sister" mountains - North, Middle and South OR Faith, Hope and Charity. South Sister is the tallest of the three and is the third tallest mountain in Oregon. It's 10,358 feet tall and isn't a technical climb like Mt. Hood or other glacial peaks in the area. I don't usually look at a mountain and think to myself, "I need to stand on top of that mountain," but I have wanted to climb South Sister for a couple years. I think it's because it's really just more of a difficult hike and less of a mountain climbing adventure.
After hours of hiking we finally crossed the saddle between the Lewis Glacier and the Clark Glacier and found this beautiful little lake.
You can see from this pic that the clouds would roll in quite quickly. On a clear day, the views from up here are amazing. But it was cloudy and there were times when we could really only see our feet.
When we got to the top of the mountain, you realize you still aren't at the actual summit. You are at the "false" summit. The actual summit was over there by those peaks...yes...we walked over there.
One of my instagram friends had posted on her account that morning that she was watching her grandkids that day so her daughter could climb South Sister. I commented back that I, too, was climbing South Sister. So we exchanged some info and when we got to the top of the mountain I found her daughter.
So then we started the long hike down. Hiking down was worse than hiking up...it was very steep and much of the trail is just scree. Plus with a touch of altitude sickness, the initial descent was miserable.
There are 3 "sister" mountains - North, Middle and South OR Faith, Hope and Charity. South Sister is the tallest of the three and is the third tallest mountain in Oregon. It's 10,358 feet tall and isn't a technical climb like Mt. Hood or other glacial peaks in the area. I don't usually look at a mountain and think to myself, "I need to stand on top of that mountain," but I have wanted to climb South Sister for a couple years. I think it's because it's really just more of a difficult hike and less of a mountain climbing adventure.
If you do the math, it's about 12 1/2 miles round trip. Not too bad. But what this sign doesn't say is that there is a 5000+ gain during this hike. It was steep, and despite being in pretty good shape, we were both very sore for several days.
1 3/4 miles in and you arrive at Moraine Lake. It's a beautiful lake - we've hiked here before with the girls. You can see better photos HERE.
Then we headed toward the mountain....
It's basically up hill the whole way. Without the girls we were able to hike at a pretty good pace and I didn't stop to get my camera out much. I was focused on putting one foot in front of the other. But there was a beautiful display of wildflowers about halfway up the mountain.
After hours of hiking we finally crossed the saddle between the Lewis Glacier and the Clark Glacier and found this beautiful little lake.
This is looking up at the trail we still have to climb.
You can see from this pic that the clouds would roll in quite quickly. On a clear day, the views from up here are amazing. But it was cloudy and there were times when we could really only see our feet.
Our view of Broken Top mountain
When we got to the top of the mountain, you realize you still aren't at the actual summit. You are at the "false" summit. The actual summit was over there by those peaks...yes...we walked over there.
on the summit
One of my instagram friends had posted on her account that morning that she was watching her grandkids that day so her daughter could climb South Sister. I commented back that I, too, was climbing South Sister. So we exchanged some info and when we got to the top of the mountain I found her daughter.
parital view from the summit....We didn't stay up here too long. It was cloudy, windy and cool. Plus being at 10,000+ feet was making us a little dizzy with altitude sickness.
So then we started the long hike down. Hiking down was worse than hiking up...it was very steep and much of the trail is just scree. Plus with a touch of altitude sickness, the initial descent was miserable.
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Backpacking/Camping at Mt. Adams
Monday was a day off for Kevin (he's cut back to 90% time so he gets more days off regularly) and we decided to do a backpacking adventure at Mt. Adams. Our plan was to hike in a mile or two, set up camp and then explore from there.
Because we were each carrying our own share of what we would need for camping, I didn't bring the good camera along.
There was a forest fire here in 2012 so the first mile or so was through what remains. It was cool to see the forest coming back to life, though.
After setting up our tent, we set off to find a water source and came upon Morrison Creek about 1/2 mile further up the trail.
It was a beautiful, alpine setting with gorgeous wildflowers growing all around, and the water was cascading down rocks and making lots of little water falls.
We filled up with water and headed back to camp for dinner.
We found a great overlook with a gorgeous view of Mt. Adams and a wonderful place to watch the sun set.
After a not so good night of sleep, we set off for a hike up Mt. Adams. Here's a photo I found on line that will give you an idea of what we did. Our car was parked at Cold Springs Camp. We hiked into the Crescent Glacier Snow area to camp. Then in the morning we hiked up to Lunch Counter. This is where most people hike to and camp over night...then set off to summit the next day.
It was a bit windy up there!
There are lots of camping spots like these...tents inside rock circles which have been built to help protect from the wind. On weekends, these spots are all taken and it's quite crowded. We didn't see too many people up there on Monday morning.
And this is looking up the glacier at Lunch Counter - as high as we got.
Then we hiked down to our camp site, packed up everything and hiked out. We were all pretty tired by the time we got to the car. It was a fun adventure, but I don't dream of spending an extended period of time on the trails. I never sleep well when camping so it's not my favorite thing.
Because we were each carrying our own share of what we would need for camping, I didn't bring the good camera along.
There was a forest fire here in 2012 so the first mile or so was through what remains. It was cool to see the forest coming back to life, though.
After setting up our tent, we set off to find a water source and came upon Morrison Creek about 1/2 mile further up the trail.
It was a beautiful, alpine setting with gorgeous wildflowers growing all around, and the water was cascading down rocks and making lots of little water falls.
We filled up with water and headed back to camp for dinner.
We found a great overlook with a gorgeous view of Mt. Adams and a wonderful place to watch the sun set.
After a not so good night of sleep, we set off for a hike up Mt. Adams. Here's a photo I found on line that will give you an idea of what we did. Our car was parked at Cold Springs Camp. We hiked into the Crescent Glacier Snow area to camp. Then in the morning we hiked up to Lunch Counter. This is where most people hike to and camp over night...then set off to summit the next day.
It was a bit windy up there!
There are lots of camping spots like these...tents inside rock circles which have been built to help protect from the wind. On weekends, these spots are all taken and it's quite crowded. We didn't see too many people up there on Monday morning.
And this is looking up the glacier at Lunch Counter - as high as we got.
Then we hiked down to our camp site, packed up everything and hiked out. We were all pretty tired by the time we got to the car. It was a fun adventure, but I don't dream of spending an extended period of time on the trails. I never sleep well when camping so it's not my favorite thing.
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