Black Butte Hike

From the Willamette valley, we drove up and over the Cascades towards Bend. Detroit, Oregon looks a little difference than Detroit, Michigan! There was still a little snow on the pass, but we dropped down towards Sisters in the sun. After a stop for roadside grilled cheese sandwiches on a nearly-empty logging road, we wound up the side of Black Butte and parked at the trailhead.

Black Butte is a popular hiking spot just west of Sisters. When we got there, there was only one other car in the lot. We caught him a half mile down the trail - and then he blasted past us on his way down!

 

 There was some snow on the trail starting about a mile in. As we come onto the exposed top of the mountain, we were breaking a path through crusty snow. The fire lookout at the top was still frosted, and the yurt was in a 3' deep snow-scoured hollow, but blue skies and peek-a-boo views of the surrounding mountains kept us smiling.

 Before our feet got too wet and the snow-scouring wind nipped us, we slip-slid our way back down the hill. Before long, we were back on pine needles and arrived at the Rav4 Adventure-mobile. Dad had provided us with a couple of Henry Weinhards a few days before our trip, which we had completely forgotten in the cooler until we rummiged through it for drinks after our hike. Thanks, Dad, for the post-hike sugar boost! It got us into Bend, where we had a proper dinner at Deschutes...