This is a blog post for people who like looking at pictures of mountain hikes...
It's time to start talking about mountains in this blog. Mountains are one of my great passions in life. They are important enough for me that I avoided applying to graduate schools in Illinois because it's too darn flat there. I wouldn't survive.
We'll start small. Today's post is about South Sister, the first "real" mountain I ever climbed. There are many definitions of what a mountain is, but nothing standardized, so everyone seems to define them differently. When I say South Sister is the first "real" mountain I climbed, I roughly define "mountain" as meaning "at least as awesome as the Cascades." It's certainly the first mountain I climbed that has a year-round glacier. I say this is "starting small" because it's a completely non-technical climb, at least in the late summer.
All of this is nitpicking, though, so let's get on to the mountain itself:
(Image courtesy of USGS/Cascades Volcano Observatory)
There she is. 10,363 feet. Sparks Lake is in the foreground.
The unfortunate thing, from a blogging perspective, is that South Sister probably looks just like any other mountain to the majority of people reading this. Until I climbed it, South Sister looks like just another Cascade volcano to me, too. But the interesting thing that happens when you spend a day climbing a mountain is that you get to know its shape very, very well. You grow to respect just how huge these mountains are. When you finish climbing a mountain and look back up, you know every step of the route you took, and you see the mountain in a whole new light.
So, to me, South Sister looks both beautiful and nostalgic. Looking at pictures of it makes me want to climb it first thing tomorrow.
South Sister has some neighbors, which I haven't climbed. It is part of the Three Sisters:
South Sister is on the left. The others, predictably, are Middle Sister and North Sister.
To the southeast is this guy, Broken Top, which is covered in talus slopes:
(Image courtesy of USGS/Cascades Volcano Observatory)
Route to the Summit
I was going to title this section "The Climb," but alas, Miley Cyrus ruined that possibility.
The standard route to the summit has four sections. It takes about 10-12 hours. Unfortunately, I can't post my own photos because my hard drive with the photos died, so we're stuck with random photos from the internet.
Section 1. Uphill through the trees. I've climbed South Sister twice (one with kchen, a guy some of you will know!), and both times we started the hike around 8am. Prime mosquito time. There are tons of mosquitoes in the first section of the climb, so it usually turns into 45 minutes of speed walking/jogging while constantly slapping the bugs off your arms.
Section 2. The flat section. This section begins when you emerge out of the woods and get a beautiful view of the mountain.
The mountain looks very far away at this point. Section 2 is the most relaxing of the sections. It passes by a lake!
By the end of this section, you are standing at the beginning of the big ascent.
Section 3. The rocky trail upward. This section continuously ascends the side of the mountain. It is covered in pale rocks and small trees. The following picture shows a random guy from flickr at the beginning of section 3. If you click on the photo, you can see the large version. The reddish cap on the mountain, if you can see that part, is section 4. Distance-wise, section 4 is short. Section 3 is from where the guy is standing up to the beginning of the red section:
Here's the view from part-way up section 3, looking back. If you click on the photo to see a larger version you can see the path stretching away along the flat section:
Section 4. The scree (talus) slope. At the beginning of this section, there's a nice glacial lake:
The way up from there looks like this:
The way up from here is entirely "scree," or "talus." It's crumbly volcanic rock, and at times, the way is a bit steep. You take a step forward and slide a bit back, so the way is tiring at times. Here's another view:
If you look straight down, it looks like you're walking on Mars sometimes:
The way up taught me a lot about pacing on uphill climbs.
The Summit. The summit has chipmunks who would very much like to eat your snacks:
There are piles of rocks arranged into windbreakers that shelter areas to sit and camp. I should try backpacking up there and spending a night on the summit crater... Here's the crater, with a year-round glacier and Oregon's highest lake, Teardrop Pool:
Most people hike around the crater before beginning their descent. You can even hike down to the pool itself, but it's very cold.
Here are some views from the summit. The view of Middle and North Sister:
The view of Broken Top from the summit:
The Descent. The descent is mostly relaxing. An extra pair of socks is strongly recommended, because the descent down the scree slope gets lots of rocks and dust in your socks. "Conveniently," the warmer part of the day, when the mosquitoes take some time off, you're up above the mosquito-infested forest. By the time you make it back down to the forest (section 1), the mosquitoes are out in force again. Both times I've made this climb, I've spent the last half hour of the looong day running downhill through the woods, brushing at my arms constantly. I hate those mosquitoes.
Closing Notes. As I've said, the climb takes 10-12 hours. Most people drink about a gallon of water. I drink about a gallon and a half. Bring that extra pair of socks for after descending the scree slope. Bring some bug repellent. Let me know if you would like to climb this mountain! I will climb it with you.
(Image courtesy of USGS/Cascades Volcano Observatory)
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