| A nice Central Oregon hike with my buddies Trip Report |
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| A nice Central Oregon hike with my buddies   | 
| Page Type: Trip Report Lat/Lon: 32.84000°N / 113.91°W Date Climbed/Hiked: Jun 17, 2006 Activities: Hiking Season: Summer | Page By: calebEOC Created/Edited: Jun 18, 2006 / Feb 7, 2007 Object ID: 201136 Hits: 624 Loading... Page Score: 87.92% - 6 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Hiking Black Butte - My MotivationSpring 2006 brought about upheaval in my personal life. I was planning on getting married, and as such was engaged and settling into life. I was helping to raise my fiancee's two awesome little girls and life was seemingly good. That came to an unfortunate end though as my fiancee and I came to a point where our only recourse was to split up. As my relationship was falling apart the realization occurred to me that I lost myself in it, and it was time for a change.
I finally finished school this spring term, and have slowly been gaining a more proactive interest into hiking and mountaineering. I saw an opportunity to go where-ever I wanted, no longer bound by a relationship and the restrictions it placed on my life. So I decided to move to Sisters at the heart of the beautiful Oregon Cascades and to enjoy life at my own pace for a change.
What has made this the most difficult has been my relationship with my ex's twin daughters. The last three years I had grown very close to them, they really enjoy hiking and mountain-biking with me and were just plain fun to be around. Fortunately, I still get a chance to pick them up and take them hiking with me from time to time. This weekend on Black Butte, was one such trip.
Ashley and Victoria, the twins had been wanting to hike Black Crater for some time, we had just fallen short last summer when Ashley had gotten sick with less than a quarter mile to go to the summit. I suggested Black Butte as an alternative this day, as none of us had been up there and I wasnt sure if the snow still on Black Crater would be too much of an obstacle for two 10 year olds. So we left Salem early this morning and made the long trip to Sisters and Black Butte. The weather had broken and sunny skies greeted us as we crossed the Cascades, perfect for hiking; not too hot, and not too windy or chilly. We hit the trailhead around 11:00 AM and made the summit around 12:30, allowing for many breaks as this was the girls first hike of the year over the 4000 feet of Marys Peak. The view was perfect, I could see Mt Adams which I had never seen from Central Oregon before. The chipmunks were on a feeding frenzy which kept the girls entertained while I snapped some pictures and just generally enjoyed being on the summit. A Clark's Nutcracker dropped in to see how we were doing, and some snow on the north side of the old lookout offered a fun respite from the dry sandy summit. Eventually the wind kicked up and we decided to make the slog down and head to Marion Forks Restaurant for some burgers that were surprisingly delicious.
Anyway, it was a nice relaxing trip with my hiking buddies. It will still be a month or two before I complete new job training in Portland and move to Sisters, but based on the trip I made today, I can tell that life is improving and that I am going to love it over here.
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Cascade Volcanoes
