I canceled my planned outing for the weekend backpack on Thursday because the rain had pushed into Saturday night. So I signed up Olga's South Sister sunset trip on Friday. Since no one else was going with her, she altered her plan slightly to accommodate my 10am meeting at work on Monday. 9/23, Sunday. Sunny. 9:30am, She picked me up at Gateway, and drove to Devil's Lake TH after a lunch stop at Subway in Bend. A 3rd person, signed up this morning, but didn't show up until ~2pm, half an hour late. Luckily my phone had 2 bars at the trailhead, so I was able to call him. The outhouse was out of toilet paper.
We started hiking out ~2:15pm. Me with my overnight backpack, since I packed a lot of clothes and stove to cook dinner at the summit. A ranger caught sight of my big pack, and called us as we crossed the road. He asked if we needed a permit, as it ran out in box, which he was going to resupply.
The trail goes up steadily in the trees. We broke out of woods in ~50 minutes: now we could see our destination. 1 hour from the TH, a few steps east, gave me this lovely view of Moraine Lake and Broken Top. See my last year's blog for this same hike in July - looks quite different.
Olga is much faster than me (she hiked around the entire Timberline trail, ~41 miles, in a single day just a couple of weeks ago), I'm faster than William, who's a lot younger. We kept each other insight -- not so easy in the dark. Met many people coming down. 
I was surprised that a few in orange vest going up passed me. Didn't think anyone would climb later than we did. It turned out to be a rescue mission. Someone sprained his knee just below Lewis Glacier. They carried that guy down that steep rocky slope! Slowly. I watched this careful process, partially stuck on the slope just east of them. Somehow I got off trail above my last campsite. That wasted maybe 15 minutes, slowly inching up as rocks fell under each step.
Too bad, the pond under Lewis Glacier was already in the shade when I arrived ~5:20. A father-and-son walked up from the pond. They turned back down from here. The dad asked us if we wanted any water. He was pouring out from a large (maybe 5L) container, mostly full. I brought with me 2L, and had about 1.25 left. So I filled an extra 0.5L. Planning to cook hot tea for everyone while waiting for the sunset. It's about 9000' here.
I'm slower than I hoped: took me 1.5 hour to get to the crater. 
Towards the crater, bits of ice shining in the setting sun. Our shadow cast a long impression to the east.
I managed to circle around the crater to the top rocks before the sunset at 7:07pm, but didn't have time to cook and eat. William didn't get here after sunset. Can see the lights in Bend and Mt Bachelor ski area. Olga got cold, so we headed back down. Here's a photo of her where I shot from the summit rocks. The red color on the horizon lingered for a long time. I was able to this photo with my phone at 7:45pm.
The color stayed past 8pm. 
1-day-shy-of-full-moon hung high on the east. Despite of the bright moon, it's surprising difficult to see one another, except for my white jacket. However, I quickly got overheat in my down jacket, and then we had to use headlamp to signal William who was lagging behind. On the steep upper slopes, it's useful to have the light on to see the rocks. Once on the flat section, it's a bliss to walk without headlamp. Quiet, not cold. Of course, need head light as soon as we get into trees. Back at the car ~10:35pm.Olga and I drove north to camp for the night on the way home. William drove back to Bend.
9/24, Monday. We arrived at Haystack West Shore campground just past midnight. There were about 2 cars and 2 RVs by the reservoir. 2 outhouses. The one I used was clean, and full of toilet paper. The place is more for RVs: big parking spot, small/none tent space, picnic table, fire ring. Only when I was typing up this blog, I realized that we, and the other vehicles camped at the day use area. We saw one other tent. Moonlight was enough to get around. I pitched my tent on gravel, not very flat. Stakes were difficult to drive in. Luckily, not much wind. My feet got cold setting up camp, should have worn my hiking boots. So didn't sleep well.
Up before sunrise (~7am). Not much a sunrise. The view would be better on the east shore, just a few miles further. A bit cold. Frost on car and on my tent fly. I put on all my layers. 39°F when we drove out shortly after 7:30am. Saw smoke near Hood. Otherwise a sunny and warm day. Olga managed to drop me off at my office at 10:03am. Amazing. A great adventure with a perfect end.I laid out my tent to dry at work.
