Black Butte-Big Butte Challenge #4

Last Saturday we decided to do a day trip and get another Big Butte Challenge hike done. 

The plan was to leave really early so that we could get started before it got hot and then have lunch in Sisters.  

I just got new Brooks Cascadia hiking shoes so this would be my first hike in them.  They were so pretty and clean!  

We left around 4:45 am and started heading towards Central Oregon.  

View of Mt. Jefferson from Hwy 22

It was a beautiful morning and we enjoyed the drive...

Until we got to the road going up to the trailhead.  Five miles of rutted, pothole filled, big gravel driving.  It was so bad that we were only going about 10 miles an hour.  There was no good part of the road to get out of the bumps.  It felt like the longest part of the whole drive was that five miles to the trailhead.  

We finally got to the trailhead and got organized with our gear, camelbacks, trekking poles, nutrition, and headed to the trail.  

This trail officially 1.9 miles long to the top.  I have done this hike a couple of times before and it always comes up as just over two miles.  

It has been awhile since we have done this hike so I forgot how hard it is!

While it may only be two miles to the top you are going up the entire time. But the views are great whenever you need to stop and take a break.  

Which I had to do often.

Legs felt really good but the breathing sucked.  I did have my inhaler so that helped.  But I got some amazing pictures while I caught my breath!

The Three Sisters

There were WAY more wildflowers than I was expecting since it was so late in the year and already full summer.  They were beautiful!

Fire Lookout

It started to get warm when we were heading up the last climb to the top but not terrible and there was a nice breeze which helped.  The last climb moves us to the east side of Black Butte and we could see Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams in the distance.  My phone camera could not do it justice!

And then we were at the top.  What a view!

Original Fire Lookout

Top of the Butte Selfie #4

We rested on the steps of the old Fire Lookout.  While we were sitting there we had a visitor who was just sure we had snacks we would want to share. 

After a short break we started down the trail.  More people were coming up which made me glad we had started early!  Going down was almost as difficult as going up.  Breathing is easier but you are working different muscles in your legs.  And your toes get crammed to the front of your shoes a lot of the time. 

When we got to the truck, Joe gave me his trekking poles and started running down the road.  I was going to clean up and then make my way down the road and pick him up.  It took awhile to clean up because my legs were covered with Central Oregon dust and dirt. lol 

That's not a tan line!

This is why we keep packages of wet wipes in the truck!

After I got cleaned up and got some food and water I headed down the road to find Joe.  Slow going down, just like up.  I caught up to Joe around mile three but he wanted to go a bit longer so I went farther down the road and found a good spot to pull over and hang out.  He ended up with an additional four miles after we did our hike.  

Our original plan was to go into Sisters and have lunch before heading home.  My mom had warned me that the big quilters weekend was going on in Sisters that weekend.  We were prepared for there being larger than normal crowds on a Saturday.  It was absolute mayham!  People everywhere and most of them not paying attention to cars as they crossed the street.  We were going down the side streets and thought it would be better off the main drag but it was still people everywhere.  We stopped at the park near the firestation to use the bathrooms and get a little more cleaned up and decided to change the plan for lunch.  One lady I chatted with said most of the restaurants had a minimum hour wait just to be seated.  

Plan B was to drive to Suttle Lake and eat at the Boathouse Cafe there by the lodge.  It was also crowded with people there to enjoy the lake but we were able to find parking and got some lunch.  

Black Butte

On the drive out of Sisters heading to Suttle Lake we got a great view of Black Butte.  We hike to the top of that!!!

We had 1,683 feet of elevation so this had the most elevation of all the Buttes we have done so far.  

Four done, five to go!