Broken Top 2-4-18

Deb and I both had a rare three day weekend together. It took until Friday to figure out what the weather was going to do, and where it was going to do it. With a 40 percent chance of rain and the words “partly sunny” in the weekend forecast, we decided to head up to Broken Top. Our plan was to hike in from Dutchman Flat sno-park to a camp at the base of the south ridge of Broken Top, camp for the night, and attempt to summit the south summit of Broken Top (Point 9094), drop down to Cayuse Crater, then back to camp for the night and walk out the next morning.
Instead, we headed out from Dutchman Flat Sno-Park and slogged our way to camp. Set up camp, melted snow, and ate dinner…then enjoyed the evenings color show on the surrounding mountains. We were at the base of Broken Top…such a beautiful chunk of volcano. South Sister, Mount Bachelor and Ball Butte were also within view. The next morning we woke up to a thick blanket of fog…could barely see Broken Top let alone the ridge we were going to climb. I’ve done this route before so we had a track to get us going in the right direction. After climbing about 1200’, the fog was just too dense, making it hard to see the drop-off on the eastern side of the ridge. And with the wind howling at our side, we decided to call it our turnaround spot (8100’). We descended back to camp and decided to pack up and slog back to the car.
Even though we missed the summit, it was still a fun two days outside…and a warm night with Deb.

As we leave the Dutchman Sno-Park… South Sister, Middle Sister, North Sister, and Broken Top on the right…