I don’t think it comes as a surprise to anyone who has read this blog more than a few times that Mia and I absolutely love Sisters, OR. We go there a couple times a year for anything from a weekend to a week. The views of the Three Sisters are quite stunning. Especially from one of our preferred rental houses in Tollgate.

I’ve longed to summit South Sister which tops out at 10,363′ in elevation. It is a demanding, but straightforward, hike with no special equipment required (other than common sense and fitness). It would also be the tallest peak I have summited on foot. I’ve been over 10K in elevation on my bike during the San Juan Trips, driving to the top of Pikes Peak in Colorado and over Independence Pass, also in Colorado.

It was easy to get Prosser to commit, and Colby was all in too. John and I left work on Friday in the middle of the afternoon for the drive down to Devils Lake TH along the Cascades Lakes Highway outside of Bend, OR. Colby would meet us down there about two(ish) hours later.

The three of us set a wakeup time of 5AM with hopes of being on the move by 5:30AM. We wanted to get moving in the cooler temperatures. I’m also a big fan of “the quicker we get going, the quicker we finish” approach.

I would best describe the hike in three parts, each approximately two miles long each.

First two miles:

The first two miles are a steady climb with a couple steeper sections to wake you up. There is nothing overly hard about this section and it is predominantly in the forest and offers abundant shade.

Middle two miles

The middle two(ish) miles are a chance to recuperate a bit. They are kinda flat and kinda rolling. You also are in the open from here on out. There is very little shade after this. The views are spectacular. I think I spent most of the time with my head on a swivel.

The final two miles (ouch)

The final two+ miles are just a solid grind. The wind was gusting from the northwest at this point plus, the temps and the wind combined for a good evaporative effect from here onwards. I did throw on a long sleeve sunshirt for the remainder of the ascent.

The views from here just keep getting better and better. Mount Bachelor being the most prominent peak behind us.

I can once again attest to the fact that once I go over 9,000′ in elevation, I start to feel it. I was getting a mild headache and definitely felt like each breath was not quite as helpful as I wished.

I think the last mile and a half took us just over an hour. I spent a lot of time staring at my toes for this stretch. It would be, take a few dozen steps, rest, look up for the best line, repeat.

It was pretty neat at the summit. I got to look down towards Three Creeks lakes and Broken Top knowing that Mia and I have hiked down there. Somewhere off to the northeast was the rental house we like with the views of this peak.

Being on the east side of the summit rocks provided a superb windbreak. The sun felt good and warm from this vantage point.

I believe we hit the summit a little past 10AM after the 5:30AM start. We passed a few people already coming down (heard them start around 3AM while in the van) as we headed up. What was more amazing was the number of people coming up as we were heading back to the trailhead. I gotta say that a couple of the folks we saw had me concerned about them making it back prior to sunset. The footwear choices of some people were insane too. Running sneakers! For crying out loud people, did you even research the trail conditions before setting out? Don’t even get me started about the lack of backpacks/water we saw with some groups.

The hike down was by far the longest time I have ever spent just going downhill. Definitely having hiking poles was a big help. The summit to the flatish area seemed to take a lot longer than we expected. We did stop to allow uphill hikers to go by quite a few times which probably didn’t help. It was nice to hit that rolling to flat section though. Once we got back in the trees and shade we all got kind of quiet as we just put our heads down and got to business. Eventually we made it back to the parking lot about 2:00PM.

This was definitely a hard day of hiking. We still finished the roundtrip excursion in under eight and half hours total with around six hours of actual moving time. We spent about an hour just hanging out at the summit and enjoying the views.

Now the question is “what is next”? Adams, St Helens? Got to figure that one out. Before that though I need to work on my cycling fitness before heading back to NH in August for a long weekend of mountain biking.

Thanks for reading,
-Pete