My in-laws had been in town for a week, and after the parents had left my sister in law had an extra day with us. She asked to do a hike that would best communicate why we love living and hiking here. I had hiked Black Butte at the same time last year and there was still a bunch of snow on the top, but being a lower snow year I thought it might be clear. A quick stalk of instagram and I figured out that yes, it was clear. With a perfect forecast ahead we decided Black Butte was the perfect candidate.

Helen lives in Michigan so she's not used to climbing mountains as a ‘quick morning out before lunch', but that's what we did! Black Butte can get quite busy so we arrived early and only 2 other cars were there. As we climbed we chatted with two other parties and had the summit to ourselves, but by the time we were heading down we passed quite a few parties.

I've done Black Butte more times than I can count now, and there's a reason for that. It might not be the tallest or most spectacular mountain in central Oregon, but I've found that the smaller mountains often have the best views of the bigger nearby mountains! It doesn't take all day, and if you get there early you can still enjoy nature in peace.