Context
My first year of college down in Los Angeles, California had just ended, and I returned to my home in Salem, Oregon for the summer.
Throughout the summer, I spent the weekdays working at Subway and doing in-home caregiving for seniors. At one point, I had a couple college friends fly in to visit me and I had the pleasure of showing them around my home state. I also went on a family cruise to Alaska which was an incredible experience that I’m grateful for. That being said, most weeks were spent working.
But then, there were the weekends.
Every weekend, I did a day trip somewhere. One weekend, my buddy and I went to Lincoln City. When we arrived, we decided then, to drive South along Highway 101 into California and back up I-5 to Salem in a day. It was just one of many fun weekends we had, and I loved the feeling of doing whatever I wanted simply because I could. Eventually though, we started to run out of ideas.
It was a Friday night. I just finished work for the week, and I was calling my buddy at 11pm. I was desperately thinking of something to do for the weekend ahead of us. Despite having lived in Oregon my entire life, I came up with the totally genius idea to Google, “best things to do in Oregon.” Perhaps it was a reasonable idea, but at the time, making that search made me feel like some clueless tourist with a nonexistent itinerary. After browsing a few websites, I came across something that actually caught my attention. A hike that would allow you to summit the third tallest mountain in Oregon—South Sister. I looked into it more and found that it was non-technical. It was “simply” a hard hike. I was shocked.
As mentioned, I grew up in Oregon. The mountains around my state have always been iconic to me, and I’ve always enjoyed seeing them. But I never once thought to summit them. It simply never crossed my mind. As a result, learning that you could do a hike and stand on top of one of the Sisters was absolutely insane to me. I was sold.
My friend was down as well, and that night, we packed our bags. Four hours later, we left Salem and arrived to the trailhead at 7am the next day.
The Hike
I’m going to summarize this because knowing myself, detailing this day will turn into a novel.
Started hike at 8am. Got obliterated by mosquitos through tree line. Absolutely brutal trek. Very hot day. Got destroyed by the elevation gain. Every step was difficult and laborious. Very slow pace. Constantly out of breath. Finally reached tear drop lake. Highest elevation lake in Oregon. Had dumb idea and dove head first into silty water. Hit rock underwater. Muscle in my nose was visible. Forehead got scraped and entire torso was bleeding. Got bandaged and continued up. The scree crushed me. Summited at 4pm. Was on summit of South Sister surrounded by an afternoon thunderstorm. Lightning everywhere. It started to rain. We retreated back down. My legs were in pain from the downhill. Slipped on inclined snow fields and ate rocks. Got destroyed by the mosquitos again. Back to parking lot at 8pm. My legs were jello and shaking. Was almost incapable of standing. Covered in bites, clothing drenched in sweat, body covered in dirt and blood. Physically, mentally, and spiritually destroyed. Original plans to drive three hours home changed. Risk of falling asleep while driving was real concern. Decided to get hotel room, and then returned home the following morning.
My buddy and I talked. We agreed that it was the most difficult thing we had ever done. No questions. We made countless stupid mistakes. It completely destroyed us. We didn’t want anything to do with mountains ever again. It was the truth at the time.
Retrospection
Time had passed, and I returned to Los Angeles for my second year of college. Between the motions of classes and college life, I found myself reflecting a lot. I often thought back to the summer. I was grateful for all the fun experiences I had. Grateful my friends visited Oregon, my cruise to Alaska, and the endless day trips I got to do over the weekends. But for whatever reason, the one thing I couldn’t remove from the forefront of my mind was South Sister.
I spent a lot of time thinking about why I couldn’t stop thinking about South Sister. There was something about it that was occupying my mental real estate in an abnormally significant way. I wish I could find the words to describe how much I thought about it. I knew it was something different because I felt a desperate need to find an answer. I started to become curious about other mountains. I learned that what I experienced was only the tip of the iceberg. I researched mountains more and became fascinated. I couldn’t believe it was one of the most incredible and challenging experiences of my life, and I had only done one of the easiest mountains possible. I literally experienced landscapes and terrain that were anything but Earthly. How could other mountains possibly get better? I looked back at pictures and videos and relived those moments through a sense of self-vicariousness. I imagined being on the mountain, surrounded by rock that was so red it could pass as Martian. I saw myself figuring out where the path was because for once, I wasn’t on a carefully maintained trail. I relived the moments of pain and suffering. All the dumb mistakes and choices I made that day. The views from a perspective I had never thought to seek out before. Being so high that I could almost touch the clouds above me. The coldest rain drops I had ever felt as thunder boomed from every direction. My face bleeding as I physically pushed myself beyond any place I had ever been before. Never in my life had I experienced such a raw adventure.
It sounds so ridiculous and cringy to type out, but truthfully, it almost became an issue. It constantly distracted me from school work. I couldn’t stop learning about it and seeking out the knowledge to take on greater challenges. I wanted to see how far I could take myself. Countless hours studying the art of spending time in the mountains. Not a single day ever passed that I didn’t think of the next chance I would have to get back on a mountain.
Today
My time on South Sister changed my life. What started as a hopeful way to occupy a summer weekend years ago has now become an obsession that has taken me places I could have never dreamed of. It has taught me things about myself that cause me to question how I could have lived my life any other way. It has made me grateful for life outside the mountains, and for the health and opportunity to do what truly makes me happy.
I know I’ll never stop climbing, and I continue to constantly introspect about my experiences in the mountains. I truly believe it gives meaning to my life in a way nothing else can.
I wrote this because I wanted to document my memories and how I view my experiences so I can look back on it years from now. I also think there is a lot of value in sharing personal experiences and being honest about moments in your life. I think anyone can learn anything from anyone, and I’m excited to continuing reflecting and documenting experiences for myself and others who may be interested.
Preesh.
