Pilot Butte-Big Butte Challenge #5

After we finished our South Sister Adventure we decided to extend our trip a bit and head out to Crane Hot Springs.  Crane Hot Springs are out past Burns so still a bit of a drive but worth it!

We said our goodbyes to Josh and Wendie and headed out.  

On the way through Bend we decided to get another Butte hike off our list since we were going to drive right by the Butte.  It sits literally in the city of Bend.  

This one is a one mile hike up to the top of a cinder cone.  

We got there before 10 am so the gate to the road to the top was closed still.  We parked over in a nearby church parking lot and walked over to the road.  We realized later there was a parking lot on the other side of the butte and a trailhead there.  But it all worked to be the same mileage so oh well.  

I was a little worried about how my knee would feel after the adventures the day before coming down from Moraine Lake.  

The nice part was that it was only a one mile ascent.  We also walked on the road so there wasn't rocks and roots to navigate. And there was only 500 feet of elevation which comparted to the 1,500 feet of elevation from the day before it seemed not too bad.  

Overall I felt good.  We took it slow and I only had to take a couple of short breaks to catch my breath.  Breathing at higher altitutdes is no joke and I see why athletes go to places like Colorado to training in the high altitudes!

We got to the top and as usual, the views did not disappoint!

Broken Top and the Sisters with Bend in the foreground.

Weird to think that one day earlier I had been much closer to Broken Top and the South Sister!

We walked down the road.  We could see lots of mud and debris from the storm that had happened the night before in Bend but had missed us up in the forest.  

I still have a long way to go with weight loss (again) but making progress.

Once we got to the main road we were walking to the truck and Joe spotted three bucks in a grassy space between the road to the top of the butte and the houses on the next street.  They all had big racks with at least four points, maybe five.  So crazy they were right in the middle of town!

So now we have five buttes done in the Big Butte Challenge.  Going to have to work hard to get the rest done before October 1 but I believe we will! 

This challenge has really helped my confidence in doing hikes with lots of elevation.  Especially since I am so heavy right now.  

Getting stronger, one hike at a time.  

South Sister Adventure

Last winter I said outloud, in front of witnesses, that I wanted to hike the South Sister. 

The South Sister is one of three mountains in Central Oregon.  It is a 12.2 mile hike round trip with about 5,039 feet of elevation gain.  So doable but hard work all at the same time. 

When I said this outloud, in front of witnesses, suddenly we are making plans for hikes with lots of elevation to get ready.  

And figuring out when to get the permits to do this.  

And deciding on if it should be a one day adventure or a two day backpacking adventure. 

And finding a place to stay locally for before and after the hike.  

Shit got real in a hurry.  

I've had a hard time being very motivated to be moving the last few years.  

Last year I had a total of 85.26 miles of walking, hiking and running for the entire year.  

This year I have been doing much better.  But to be honest I know I should have been doing even more to get ready for this goal.  

Before heading out on our South Sister climb I have logged in 163.57 miles walking, hiking and running.  That's 78.31 miles more than last year and it's only the start of August.  

We had decided to hike in to Morainne Lake with backpacks and spend the night.  Then we would pack up our backpacks, take them to the trail junction for Morainne Lake and the South Sister Summit, leave the packs there and do the rest of the ascent with our day packs on.  Once reaching the top we would come back down, pick up the backpacks and finish up the hike out.  

This means a little over three miles up on day one and then about nine miles on day two, three up and six down.  

So my husband and our wonderful friends all headed to Central Oregon to have another adventure.  

Sunday moring we were up early having a big breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon.  Which we were able to make breakfast burritos with the leftovers to bring along on the hike.  Wendie had made tacos the night before so we also had burritos from the tacos to bring along as well.  

It wasn't long before we were at the trailhead getting everything situated.  

Josh, Wendie, Joe and Me!

Here we GO!

The trail was beautiful.  The first couple of miles are in the trees and there were a lot of mosquitos.  I had sprayed bug spray all over before we left the house but it became apparent I would need to reapply any time we stopped to rest. 

It was a steady climb up and I was setting the pace so that I could go as slow or as fast as I needed and the rest of the crew would follow my lead.  (I really hate being in the front so I had to work on being okay with that.)  

Creek crossing before we start our ascent.

Still smiling!

Nearing the top of the tree line.

Up we go!

We stopped about every mile to have a snack and take a break from the packs for a little bit.  When we were getting to the top of the tree line I was getting hot so I pushed up my sleeves on my sun jacket and unzipped it.  That was a mistake!

The mosquitos tried to carry me away.  lol  They suddenly were all over my shirt and forearms.  Where I hadn't sprayed bug spray.  I ended up with several bites on my arms and figured out later I had a bunch on the backs of my legs below my shorts.  Dirty little buggers!!

View of the South Sister as we come out of the tree line.

Wendie & Josh!

Not going to lie.  Even though I was doing well overall with the hike up.  I was seriously doubting how I would do the next day.  Lots of things rolling around in my head and a few tears here and there when I let those thoughts overwhelm me.  

But the day wasn't over and we still had some hiking to do and getting camp set up.  

Now we were heading to Moraine Lake.  

Definitely different terrain when we got up out of the main trees.  A whole different kind of beautiful.  

Then suddenly there was the lake!

Moraine Lake with Broken Top in the background!

What a stunning view!  

Now we had to decide where to camp.  There were three campsites above the lake with a view of the South Sister and Broken Top.  There were also a bunch of sites down lower, closer to the water.  But closer to the water meant lots of mosquitos.  So everyone took pity on the mosquito magnet and we picked up high with the view.  

We set up tents and hammocks.  Which made for lots of laughter and trial and error getting the hammocks situated and high enough that our butts didn't hit the ground (mostly me!). 

View from my hammock to the rest of the crew.

View of South Sister from my hammock.

Everyone relaxing during the beautiful afternoon!

I struggled getting out of my hammock.  It was very low to the ground and I couldn't get my legs under me to gain me feet easily.  Joe had to help me out several times but it made my knee hurt, which I have had problems with all spring.  That was frustrating because both my knees felt really solid the whole hike up.  So tweaking it at this point wasn't the greatest right before the hardest part of the climb the next day.  

Home away from home.

Josh trying to be sneaky and get a picture of Joe sleeping.  lol

Later the guys hiked down to the lake to use our filters to get clean water in all of our day pack bladders and some water for cooking dinner.  

Most of the day I had seriously questioned if I could even do the final climb to the top.  I was starting to feel more confident about it but had some concerns about my knee.  

Dinner was Mountain House dinners.  Joe had chicken and dumplings and I had chicken and rice.  It tasted pretty good but I was starting to not feel well so I had a hard time eating much.  

As we were hanging out after dinner we watched a storm rolling in.  The sky kept getting darker and darker to the east of us.  Eventually we started hearing thunder and seeing lightning.  It was staying to the east of us but we defintely had some discussions about what it would look like to hike out because of weather.  We also picked up all the stuff that needed to stay dry and got it all in our tents.  

Sunshine over us, ominous clouds in the distance.

Joe and I were in a tent we had borrowed from a friend, because we don't have a lightweight backpacking tent.  It is small though.  Pretty funny having two big people in one tent, with our backpacks and shoes and sleeping pads.  We were nice and cozy.  It sure felt good to lay out flat though.  

I spent most of the night struggling with an upset stomach.  I also was having a hard time finding a comfortable position to sleep in because my knee was hurting.  Add being cold into the equation and it was a very long night.  

Since I had plenty of time to lay there in the tent and think I gave the next day a lot of thought.  Everyone had told me from the get go that whatever I decided was okay and there was no pressure to HAVE to get all the way to the top.  

One of the things that I really thought over was something Wendie said to me the day before as we were hanging out in the hammocks.  I not only had to think about having enough in me to make it to the top, I had to have enough in me to get down again, pick up my backpack and finish the descent.  

By morning I had made the decision that I was not going to be able to go to the top.  I was disappointed and was worried that the others would be upset.  Everyone was supportive.  So that was one less thing.  

I had a text on my phone from my mom worried about how we managed the weather and wanting me to check in so she knew we were okay.  I let her know that it totally missed us and we would be heading back to our rental house soon.  

We spent a chill morning with everyone getting their morning coffee and breakfast.  Eventually we started breaking camp and getting our packs loaded up.  It was long before we were heading back down to the trailhead.  

Morning clouds blocking the view.

Joe rescuing my bandana.  He got Wendies sunglasses the day before. lol

Reach!!

Happy Birthday to Wendie!

How many friends would spend their birthday supporting someone elses crazy dreams?  I am so blessed to have wonderful friends in my life but Wendie (and Josh) are the tippy top of the list!  Thank you Wendie for celebrating your birthday hiking in the woods with me!  💜💜💜

I could tell pretty quickly that my knee was going to complain the entire way down.  By the time we got to the truck I knew that I had 100% made the right decision.  I would have hurt myself or finished utterly broken if I had tried to do the whole route.  

Normally when I don't reach a goal I have set for myself I beat myself up for a few days about it.  

This time I didn't.  Yes I was bummed to not have my summit pictures and bragging rights.  

But overall, between how my stomach felt and how my knee was doing, I knew I had made the right choice.  

And even though I didn't make it to the top, I did a hard hike and got to get awesome pictures and have a blast with my hubby and friends.  

Check out the views as the clouds burned off in the morning while we were packing up!  So beautiful!

South Sister

Moraine Lake with Broken Top in the background.

South Sister and Moraine Lake

Another aspect of the ascent to the top of South Sister that would have constributed to the day being LOOOONG is my fear of heights.  I do okay going up steep things but I really struggle coming down.  Most of the time I can do okay and Joe helps with being there for me to use him to brace myself stepping down rocks and such.   But I know that I probably would have been slower coming down that three miles to where our packs were going to be than I would have been going up.  That would have made for a super long day, for everyone!  I don't like to have my fear of heights keep me from doing things but the older I get the more I don't care to try and prove myself either.  

Ready to head down.

Rebels!  (Actually just pretending)

Back over the creek.  We are almost back to the truck.

Once we got back to the truck it didn't take long for us to load up and get headed back to the house.  

We had rented the house we stayed at from Saturday through Tuesday, even though we would not be there Sunday night.  That way we could leave all our other food, clothes and things there and one car in the garage while we were hiking.  Our truck was at the trailhead but there was nothing in it for anyone to steal.  

This turned out to be an excellent plan because we got back to the truck before noon and could go straight to the house and not worry about checking in later or unloading anything other than the backpacks.  

We got back, got showered up, laundry going and just chilled.  Later we BBQ'd and sat around and laughed and talked all evening.  It was a pretty great day.  

We saw pictures and news stories about the storm that had missed us the night before.  Turns out there was big time hail, lots of rain, thunder and lightning and flash flooding.  We are very grateful that the storm did not go over us.  That would not have been fun in the middle of the wilderness in a tent!!!!  No wonder my mom checked in on us!

That night we all slept great in a real bed. lol  The general consensus was that we would rather sleep in a bed than in a tent on a sleeping pad.  Getting to old to want to sleep on the ground anymore. lol

Lessons learned on this adventure:

• Sometimes not making the goal is the right decision.
• While I did train more than I had for anything last year, I could have done more. 
• Being in the moment and enjoy what I DID accomplish is awesome.  I'm better at that than I used to be.  
• Good friends who share your adventures, no matter how they turn out, are priceless!  (I knew that one already but this was a good reminder to appreciate that.)

South Sister adventure became Moraine Lake adventure...with an awesome view of South Sister.  

And that's okay!