18 AUG - Climbing Black Butte in Sisters, OR

Tim and Valerie West invited us to stay with them at a beautiful lodge in Black Butte Ranch. We arrived yesterday afternoon. We had a nice evening with them and, of course, we went to bed early because of the time zone difference.

Today, we awoke at 6:30 AM so we decided to head-out on another adventure! Anne-Marie and I climbed Black Butte which is just outside of Sisters, OR. Per the park information, the peak is 4900 ft. It took us 1.5 hrs of steady climbing to reach the top. We were there for about 1/2 hour and then it took us 45 minutes to make it back to the car. We definitely go a work-out today!

This is about 1/2 way up. You can see Black Butte Ranch in the valley. In the background are 2 of the Sisters mountains, Faith and Charity. Hope is the 3rd sister and is hidden behind Faith.

Landscape shots are OK but I like for people to be able to see that Anne-Marie or I were really there!

Here is Anne-Marie reaching the top. The 2 sign posts were like goal posts.

Like I said, we really did make the top. We were a little cranky, hot and sweaty on the way-up but we got the job done. This is the sign at the top.

Here I am next to a couple markers at the top of the trail. They were kind of like goal posts for our journey. This is my first hiking expedition ever!

Here is me with Mt. Hood in the background.

I guess that I'm a ham.

Here is Anne-Marie with Mt. Hood on the background.

This is a new cabin that was built for the fire watchers in 1979. Mt. Hood and Three Finger Jack are in the background.

Here are Faith, Charity and Broken Top Mountains. This my first time to ever see mountains in the US. I have seen the mountains in southern Germany but I've never been to a part of the US where there are snow-capped mountains.

We have a picture of Anne-Marie peaking into someone's yard in Phoenix through a hole in their fence. We thought that we would recapture that pic here. There was nothing in the old look-out tower. It was just being used for storage.

This is a little chipmunk that greeted us. It had NO fear of us. It came within about 3 ft of us.

It was so serene at the top. It is a very nice place to reflect on the beauty of nature.

Here is a picture of Black Butte Ranch and Faith Mountain.

Faith and Hope Mountains with the long-range lens.

This is a close-up of Three Fingered Jack.

I think that these are the Cascade Mountains. Many of the snow-capped peaks are named after Presidents. There was Washington, Jefferson and Adams that we saw.

These are some beautiful flowers that we saw all over the mountain.

Here is Anne-Marie starting the trek down the mountain.

Apparently, there was a fire recently.

On the way up, I didn't realize how steep the hill-side was. I only noticed on the way down.

Here I am at the bottom of the trail. Woo hoo!