South Sister Birthday Summit

I decided I wanted to hike the South Sister this weekend to celebrate my birthday. We left Friday and drove straight there, set up a tent at Devil's Lake and got up at 5 to begin. The mosquitoes were awful, out at 10:30 pm and still some at 5 am.

The mountain:
I love how the path leads visibly right up to it.


Nice and cool in the morning.



Finally getting somewhere, it doesn't look that far until you find a few people on that ridge. (Hint there are two people in white to the left of center on the trail, click on it to make it larger)


The captivating blue waters of Teardrop Lake


We summited at 10 am, 4 hours and 20 minutes after we started. I definitely took my time going up. Not stopping much, but going slowly.

We made it!


Me at the very highest point.


The paintbrush was so beautiful and in so many different shades of pink and red. I was gawking over it along the way.


We were prepared to camp out another night, but after getting that dusty and sweaty we decided to head home. This is how I spent the rest of my night:



Sunburnt and broken. My knee had been bothering me for 2 weeks or so, but nothing too major. This hike did a doozie on it. So I've been trying to stay off it and keep it iced. I think it will heal up alright...just probably not going to be able to do the Muddy Buddy in 2 weeks. It's not worth more knee pain...I've never really had it before. It sucks.
Overall we had a great trip and I was so thankful we left early in the day. Climbing up at 12 pm looked hot and miserable. And we got to go home and have a relaxed Sunday, the first and last one we will get in a while.