South Sister

Yes, I knew that I wanted to hike the South Sister at some point. Yes, I hadn't planned anything for Labor Day weekend. And yes, I was still feeling pretty satisfied after summiting Diamond Peak earlier this month and then going out to Colorado to hit a 14er. I thought it would be a real stretch trying to squeeze in another hike on my to-do list this summer, but heck, it was a three-day weekend after all...

E and I arrived at the Devils Lake TH shortly after 8:30am on Sunday, September 2, after a 2 hour drive from Eugene. As anticipated, the parking lot was already overflowing with cars and hikers alike. I maneuvered my little hatchback into a spot on the side of the road, strapped on our gear, and we were on our way up the South Sisters Climbers Trail by 9am. A bubbling brook led the way just a few hundred yards from the trailhead. The first portion of the trail climbs steadily through a hemlock forest via a series of switchbacks. It was way past wildflower season, so the elephants heads that I had hoped to see were no where in sight. Just the quiet shuffle of our footsteps and trekking poles tapping against the dirt.

Shortly after a large rock wall, the trail emerges onto the edge of an vast, open, sandy area. From the research I had done, this area was the remnant of a glacier that used to cover the entire valley. When the glacier receded/melted, it left this vast "moraine". Here, Broken Top and South Sister came into view. I had seen Broken Top many times from my car, but never this close. We even noticed a rock formation on the western slope that resembled an eagle spreading its wings (you know, like random cloud formations). The South Sister approach view, on the other hand, was totally not what I had expected. The only views and pictures I've ever recall seeing of South Sister were usually snow-topped and almost always with the Middle and North Sisters in tow. The peak I saw on that day was quite bare, with several glaciers dotting the higher elevations, and topped with red cinder like Diamond Peak. I caught myself thinking: "boy, this wasn't quite what I had thought South Sister would look like up close..."

We trekked across the plateau, pausing for occasional pictures and gawking time. The moraine was relatively level for the most part. The sky was this deep dark blue color that was almost purple. I kept on finding myself admiring the scenery. It was kind of like high desert, but with a different kind of isolation. Almost as if I was on a different planet. Not quite sure how to describe it. An occasional wind-gnarled trees stood watch over the landscape.

At the far end of the plateau, we left the moraine and began to ascend a small talus slope, about 2.3 miles from the summit. About a third of the way up the slope, E stops abruptly. Being the more experienced hiker of the two, I figured that perhaps the trail was not well-marked in this area and she didn't know where to proceed. As it turns out, E just discovered that she has a profound fear of heights! Her legs had froze and she was starting to panic. As a fellow acrophobic, I knew the exact feeling she was describing to me. I was somewhat surprised since I figured that if acrophobia was going to be a problem, I would have been the first one to know about it. Instead, I found myself in unfamiliar territory as I encouraged my hiking partner to take deep breaths and re-assured her that I would not let her fall. Step by step, I continued to encourage E and reassure her safety. A few minutes later, we were at the top of the small ridge celebrating her success.

We continued on the talus slope, which was marked with an array of volcanic rocks and rock piles to the west and a diminishing treeline to the east. At a small saddle that overlooked a grayish-green pool below the glacier terminus, we stopped to refuel before attempting the next portion of steep cinder scree. Ground squirrels ran amok here looking for handouts. The wind was blowing at a pretty good rate here, so we zipped up windbreakers and put on gloves before moving on.

The ascent up the red scree was challenging because the slope seemed to go on forever. It was quite the calf workout, steadily sucking away the strength in my calves all the way up. I tripped several times from what I am guessing was fatigue in my leg muscles. The wind was blowing harder too, at times, whipping my own hair against my face. Other times, it would blow so hard that I felt like it was going to blow me off course, if not off the slope completely. E admitted that she was beginning to understand why I had made her carry heavy jacket and warm clothing up the trail, even though the temperature was easily in the 80's at the lower elevations. As we trudged up the mountain, descending hikers kept on telling us we were almost there. It was one of those things where everyone cheered each other on because they've all experienced and know what you were going through. At this point, it was difficult to gauge the distance to the summit because we could only see the edge of the false summit, which we would come to find out was the edge of the crater rim.

WOW! The South Sister summit consists of a wide crater rim adorned with black lava rocks and a 1/4 mile wide glacier in the middle with a steep drop on the west edge. The actual summit is a rock formation at the north end of the crater rim, immediately across from where the cinder trail had emerged. There must've been at least 100 other hikers bunkered down in the lava rock "half-igloos" that dotted the crater rim, shielding themselves from the wind. More gawking ensued before we trekked around the crater's east rim, the easier of the two approaches to the summit.

Summit views were awesome! Middle Sister, North Sister, and Mt Jefferson were visible to the north. Although it was a cloudless day, smoke from a nearby wildfire had obscured potential views of Mt Hood and Mt Adams to the farther north. We were many hundreds of feet above Broken Top and the backside of Mt Bachelor's ski runs. Bend and La Pine were visible below in the distance to the east. Diamond Peak, Cowhorn Mtn, and Mt Thielsen were also visible to the south along with the multitude of lakes that lie below along Cascade Lakes Highway. Although I am deathly afraid of heights, I found myself gravitating to the top of the summit rock to pose for a picture just to experience the exhilaration of being up there. There wasn't a summit register to leave my mark, but it was still a very rewarding ascent, which took about 5 hours.

We spent about 30 minutes on the summit before beginning our descent. Trekking across the glacier on the way back was simply amazing! A blue-green pool had formed where part of the glacier had began to melt. As the sunlight struck the water's surface, it made the pool glitter in all directions. I have walked on a glacier before, but this one was even more beautiful.

Though much easier cardio-wise, the rest of the descent was made a bit challenging because my toes were being smashed against the toe box of my boots all the way down. My bruised heel injury from softball earlier this summer also decided to make a cameo appearance, making additional rest time necessary throughout the descent. Nonetheless, we were back at the trailhead 3.5 hours later.