Going Home

I saw this on the way out to Portland. I thought it was funny and fitting as my last post. :)

Location:NE Airport Way,Portland,United States

A View

I wish kc had one of these views!

Location:Bikepath,Portland,United States

The Day Was Ours

So, we started the hike up The South Sister late Friday afternoon. We spent an hour climbing two thousand feet over a mile and a half of trail. The incline was at least 25 degrees. It was really tough to climb with a hiking pack but we made it.

Tired from completing the first stage, we set up camp near Moraine Lake. We had a simple meal of honey/peanut butter sandwiches and went to bed when the sun went down.

The morning came early. We decided the night before to get up at two am to reach the summit before sunrise. It ended up working out perfectly, because we made it to the top right when the sun was peaking over the horizon. Getting there, however, was REALLY hard work.

We had to navigate a trail that meandered across grass fields and through small pine forests. Eventually, the trail would disappear across a steep lava field. Getting through those parts in the dark proved to be challenging. There were definitely some times when we decided to go right just because we had been going left for so long.

Eventually, we reached the top though, but not before passing some guy sitting by a rock, in the dark, at 3 am. That guy totally scared the crap out of all of us. Were still uncertain why or what he was doing so high on the mountain so early....alone.

There were also time where we literallybad to crawl on all fours to continue our advance up the mountain. I think the darkness helped a lot here because if we had actually been able to see what was above/before us, it would have been very demoralizing.

When we finally made it up to the summit, there was snow everywhere. It was also freezing cold. So cold. Brrr. I can't emphasize enough how cold. Needless to say, I was thankful for every piece of cold weather gear I had lugged around for the past two days. The sunrise made it all worth it though. Check out the photos below.

(I'll upload them soon)

Location:Hwy 22

The South Sister

We hiked the south sister yesterday and it was tough. The mountain is the third highest peak in Oregon and the trail has over 5,000' of vertical rise. The average incline is at least 15 to 20 degrees at all times. That's the average though over the entire 6 mile (and some change) trail. There is about 2 miles where it's fairly flat so that average doesn't quite paint the picture on how difficult the hike is. There were at least three distinct sections where I could put my hands out and touch the ground without leaning down to do so. The trail there was more like a ladder, only without steps. Instead it had loose volcanic rock that for every step you took, say 2', you'd slide back down for 1.5' of that step. It was "turbo" hard as my friend Chris would say.

We started hiking late Friday afternoon and camped a three quarters of the way from the summit. We sat around that night, enjoying the weather and scenary and went to bed when the sun went down. We woke up at two am to reach the summit for sunrise. It was awesome. Those pictures are on the camera still so I'll post again when I get those loaded.

Location:Bend,OR

No voodoo to do today

Long line for doughnuts. Mission aborted, will try again Sunday.

Location:SW Naito Pkwy,Portland,United States

Khakis?

Ok so not exactly the wilderness but we did go hiking at Multnomah Falls today outside of Portland. It was awesome but wewalkedby A LOT of people wearing khakis and polos! It's hard to get in the hard core hike groove when you walk by someone in khaki pants. Off to Bend tomorrow and the big hike.

Location:The Wilderness

Portland!

Although the clock says 11:25, it feels much later... Because it is! At least we have a sweet ride. Yeah it's a Kia.