as most of you know, my neighbor rob and i went snow camping this weekend…or tried. we got up saturday morning and finished organizing our gear to get on the road by 7ish. rob woke up feeling a little funky. that should have been our first clue, but we were determined. the drive to sisters was gorgeous. as soon as we headed west out of salem, we just went up. around 1000 feet the snow patches started and by the time we were at the highest points(around 4500 feet), the snow was a good 6-9 feet above the car.
anyway, we got to sisters and were blown away with the views. the three sisters are just east of this small town and it sits almost within their shadow. not to mention mt. jefferson, mt. washington, and three fingered jack; three other pointed jagged peaks within 30 miles. after having lunch we drove back into the forest towards the park, edging closer to the peaks. by this time, rob is in a funk and not so sure about the rest of the trip, however he was willing to fight. so we parked the car, slapped our packs and skis on and headed up through the forest. this took some serious effort from both of us, not forgetting that rob was feeling low anyways. we found a spot to set-up camp and he decided to crash for a bit while i took off my pack and went for a spin around the area. breath-taking. by the time i got back, the sun was soon setting along with our energy levels. i dug a kitchen out in the snow and cooked up some dinner all the while going back and forth with rob on whether or not we should go home. temperatures dropped very quickly as soon as the sun was west of the mountains. (it should be mentioned that if i were in robs position, i would have wimped out before we left that morning. this is how bad he wanted to be out there!) his lungs were hacking and the aches were setting in. now that the moon was in full form over us, the sky was unbelievable. it had been a very long time since i had seen a sky quite like that.
finally, we decided that it would have been quite possibly the worst night of both of our lives if we were to stay out there. despite the sun being down, we struck camp, packed up, and started our way back down. not a cloud in the sky, the stars staring us down, and the moon giving light, making everything around us a beautiful blue. despite the fact that the sun had been down for 2 hours, everything was plain as day. we safetly made it back to the car and drove the 3 1/2 hours back home.
i would do it 10 times over, just for the drive, the views and the experience hauling a pack with cross-country skis. i had a great time and we’re both still glad we came back that night.
as for the rest of the weekend, deeann and i were able to get out for our own little adventure. since i still had the skis rented from rei and rob & lauren had a set of skis dee could borrow, we decided to go up towards mt. hood for a little go around. again, the drive was beautiful with that giant that just kept getting bigger and bigger.
about an hour later we found ourselves surrounded by snow and ski parks. we took about 3 1/2 hours around government camp and enjoyed the beautiful weather. temps were in the 50s up in the mountains and in the 60s down in portland. just an absolutely perfect weekend! this was deeanns first time on cross-country skis and she did a great job. only a couple spills(no more than me!) and a bunch of laughs. we’ll be out there again very soon.
Great story and pictures. The drive time had to be worth the memories. The vision from your story was fantastic. doog