Daniel Thompson: South Sister Hike

One question I always had about hiking was what were people's motivations for it? Well a few months ago I went on a hike to climb to the summit of South Sister in the state of Oregon. The mountain is a little over 10,000 ft with the trail climbing 4,900 ft in 3 miles. The hike was very difficult as much of the trail consists of unstable volcanic rock that constantly slides out from under your feet. However, the difficulty was well worth it because the view on the snowy summit was amazing. I could see Mt. Hood in the north and the outline of another mountain I didn't recognize behind it. To the west there were many forests and farmlands in the high desert. Beyond the obvious, the hike was helpful in that it allowed me to clear my mind. This was helped by the difficulty of the trail, since I was more concerned with putting one foot in front of the other to think about anything else. The hike helped me understand that some people do hiking for peace of mind among other reasons I'm still trying to understand.

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