14 miles of hiking • 5500' elevation gain • 1 night
Have wanted to cowboy camp on top of South Sister, ever since first climbing it overnight to watch the sunrise a few years ago. Totally worth it!
Following a series of delays, finally left the trailhead in 94° heat about 2:45 in the afternoon. The pack was heavy with water for the dry, dusty trail. Kind of brutal, even through the shaded forest. After breaking out onto the plains, the thermometer started showing nearly 100°. Nearly everyone was coming down. I did actually beat my old time up, but that was a purposefully slow ascent in the dark. On arriving at the crater rim, I was astonished to find a pool of meltwater waiting for me, in the now-50° and rather windy conditions. Oh well.
The crater is 1/3-mile across, but it's 1/2-mile to walk the rim over to the summit. Which was, of course, the first order of business. Along the way, I checked out each of the several windbreaks built along the rim, and chose the one I'd come back to. I was entirely alone on the summit at this point. Incredible! After enjoying the sunset for a good half-hour or more, it was time to head back to my chosen shelter, and setup camp.
Night fell quickly. And a thin layer of clouds obscured many of the stars. Crawling into the sleeping bag, and just staring at the heavens, was the magnificent reward for all the work it took to get here. Within the hour, I managed to drift off. Around 11:30, my good friend Jess arrived, having left the trailhead about four hours after me. We enjoyed catching up for awhile, and watching what remained of the Persied meteors whizz across the sky. By around 2:30, the clouds were entirely gone, the moon had set, and the stars were simply magnificent! Never have I seen so many.
Wake-up call came early! Wanted to be up by or shortly after Nautical Twilight, when the sky really starts turning brilliant shades of purple, red, pink, yellow, before finally becoming blue again. We were not disappointed! Oh my, few places could compete for a better sunrise sky show!
After enjoying the sunrise, which words simply fail to describe, we packed up camp and began our way back down. Two folks crested the crater rim, just as we were about to go the other way. They were but a harbinger of what was to come. On the way down, we counted 441 people coming up! And probably two dozen dogs. Oh. My.. Gosh...! Unbelievable.
Our descent was rapid, taking less than three hours. The memories will last forever.
