South Sister Trek

This past Tuesday, Dan & I took a long walk. It was a longer walk than our normal hike with the dogs down in the canyon. This was a walk that defines many Central Oregonians. If you have accomplished this walk, many say, you are an official Bendite.

I am talking about the hike up South Sister. This is a 10,000+ foot mountain in our "backyard". It is the easiest and most frequently hiked of the Cascades. Just about 'anybody' can do it - at least, that's what if been told. Well, Dan has done it - twice - but, I guess, I am still a slacker.

Actually, we started out knowing that we didn't have time to reach the top. We had to be at school @ 2:45 to pick up Amy. It generally takes at least 5 hours to reach the top and then you do have to come back down. So, we had a convenient excuse to reply to all our fellow hikers when asked if we were headed to the top.

The 1st mile and a half was a steady up hill climb (pretty grueling, actually) till we left the tree line and came out into the open. Then, we were on the flats for a while and I thought - hey, this isn't too bad. When we hit the real steeps I knew I had used up my legs in the beginning 1 1/2 mile. We manged to get to a few of the snow fields and saw some 'spring' flowers just starting to bloom. It was a glorious blue sky day - perfect for our purposes - just to enjoy the beauty of our surroundings and revel in God's creation!

Maybe next year!