South Sister was by far the most physically and mentally challenging hike I've ever done! It pushed me to the absolute max in so many ways. We did it, but I would say even after hiking 5 other mountains leading up to her, I still wasn't prepared enough for all that she had to offer.

The trail began with a little foot bridge over a creek just past the parking lot, crosses the cascade lakes highway, and then it was like being released into the wild. At the crack of dawn, we could see the top of our mountain peaking over the treeline, like an invitation. The sky was clear and blue, and the air was crisp and a little on the chilly side.

A few miles up we came across what looked like the wilderness's version of a big intersection, each with seemingly endless adventure opportunities. We had a couple of easy miles where we could clock pretty good pace. It only took us three hours to get to the base of the false summit (just below teardrop pool). The views were amazing the entire way and we were feeling very optimistic.

The first part of the ascent met us with some rocks to climb through. There were steps craved in, which were helpful on the way up. The more we climbed the trickier it got to find a safe way up (none of us were rock climbers). It had also gotten quite windy at about this point. It was tough, but we made it and had a pretty view of teardrop pool, as well as Broken Top just to the right.

And then….there she was! The actual summit in all her intimidating glory!

We sat for a rest, put our coats on, and tried to tell ourselves that we were still feeling optimistic about this venture.

Prior to this hike, a friend had told about what she called the red hill of doom. As I looked up the to see the little narrow trail that zig zagged it's way up the west ridge, I now knew exactly what she meant!

We knew we still had the hardest part ahead of us, and we also knew we were going to be racing against daylight on the way down, so our rest break was over and it was time to keep moving.

At first the red trail wasn't so bad, but definitely significantly steeper… then steeper… and steeper still. There were many switchbacks and plenty of nice sitting rocks to take little breaks. And then there were fewer and fewer, and eventually no more sitting rocks.

“It just keeps going,” said our lead hiker. We knew we were so close, but also so weary. One of our members was also really struggling with the elevation (once we got above 10,000ft). Since none of us had ever done this before, we were not in a hurry, we were more concerned with staying safe and making it in one piece. That being said, we were quite literally the slowest ones on the mountain that day! And for us that was okay.

There's something about pushing past those quitting points that is such an emotional process. You feel like you're up against a solid wall and can't go any further, but then you keep putting one foot in front of the other… just a little further! I found myself often looking down just under the brim of my Six Pack of Peaks hat and pushing through, instead looking up at where I still needed to get to. I sung my theme phrase to myself, “you can do more than you think,” and focused on just a step at a time.

Finally, I looked up and saw my hiking companions disappear over the rim, that had to be it! I staggered up over the rim myself and almost had no words. We did it!

The views were breathtaking, and the fact of where we were standing was almost surreal. Mt Bachelor looked so small, Broken Top looked tempting, and everything else was just gorgeous!

What's more is that I was standing on the third highest peak in Oregon…on my birthday! My hiking companions surprised me with cupcakes and a very sweet gift, and we celebrated at the top together for a little while. We also did a funny little video for my son (age 3) of the “We did it,” song from Dora the Explorer and had a good laugh about it.

We were not looking forward to the way down, but it took us hours longer to reach the top than we had anticipated, so in the back of our minds we knew we weren't making it back to the car before dark. What was crucial now was getting off the summit and off the rocks before dark!

Sure enough the way down was a bit terrifying. The steep red trail was also loose and slides were frequent. The sheer drop off the cliff to our left kept us even more motivated to watch our step…each and every grueling step!

The red hill of doom; how accurate that was for the downhill portion in particular. No talking, no laughing, just silent concentration on every step, and at least one of us thinking, “maybe this was not a good idea.”

At one point we knew we were all thinking the same thing. That beautiful little teardrop pool…and the rocks we had to climb to reach it.

When you're muscles are fatigued from the summit you just conquered, traversing down rocks is not something to look forward to. The hiking poles I had were not much help for this part, so I threw them down to the bottom and climbed down backwards.

We did get off the rocks safely, but we weren't out of danger just yet. There were still some rocky switchbacks to get through and the sun was now setting.

Fatigue, body aches, and sore knees and toes were sinking in and we still had a long ways to go. Weariness was heavy on our faces, but I couldn't have asked for better companions to endure this with! We kept moving.

At last, at dusk, we hit the nice smooth path, and boy did we book it! And that is just amazing! That we went from completely exhausted to a sudden burst of energy and eagerness to get back to the car. We made it back to Moraine lake in twilight, but to our dread we then looked at our map. Still four miles to go!

We went as far as we could see in the dark and then finally turned on our flashlights. The last four miles were still good trail, except for all the trees roots we had to step down through.

Some sweet sounds to hear in the dark when you're exhausted are the sound on the creek and the sound of the highway!

When we reached the highway, we took about three seconds to appreciate the beautiful stars. Moving on. Finally the little footbridge. Then the parking lot, and I have never been so happy to see my Kia!

In all honesty, I definitely cried in a few places on this hike. Tears of joy, tears of fear, and tears of pure dread. Lots of personal emotional barriers were pushed through as I thought about how I wasn't where I wanted to be fitness wise in spite of how hard I've worked at it. Seeing senior citizens passing us on the way up and down (granted very, very fit seniors), and then feeling regret for my friend's sakes for being so slow and ending up in the wilderness in the dark. I have orthopedic and other health issues, so I had some pain tears too.

One of the things I was thinking about on the way down was this: We strive so hard for the mountain top experience, but forget about the work it takes to get back down to the valley. The way down is hard…extremely hard, even painful, but necessary. We can't just stay where we are, we have to keep going until we get to where we need to be, even when it feels unreachable.

South Sister, I will be thinking about you for a long, long time now!

CHALLENGE COMPLETE! 🎉