Hiking South Sister

Oregonians familiar with the state know of the Three Sisters. Towering 5,000 feet overhead, with a total height of 10,363 feet, the South Sister is the highest of the three... and paradoxically the easiest to climb. (Though "easiest" in this context is like saying it's easier to survive a nuclear war than a hydrogen holocaust).

Starting from Devil's Lake--a tranquil body of water on the south side of the Cascade Lakes Highway--our hiking group started up the incline. For some reason, it seemed like a brilliant idea for me to load my backpack with 30 pounds of camera equipment, food, water, and enough layers of clothing to survive the aforementioned hydrogen holocaust. More on that later... (the weight, not the holocaust)

The trail to the top is 5 miles in length with an elevation gain of 5,000 feet. Not bad, eh? What's a 20% grade, you say?

Well...

Calculating an average grade is all well and good, but nobody told me that 4,000 feet of that elevation gain is condensed into the final two miles. Better make that a 40% grade...

Ouch...

Now, keep in mind that this isn't a nice happy stroll up a somewhat steep asphalt path. No. This beaut of a path--which looks more like a cross-country jaunt across Mars--consists of hundreds of switchbacks with a thick coating of scree. For the uninitiated, South Sister scree consists of loose pebble-to-fist-sized rocks with the consistency of pumice (okay, they are pumice). Climbing scree isn't a terribly rewarding experience. It's reminiscent of climbing up a sand dune... a sand dune with lots of sharp, abrasive rocks just waiting for the next victim to fall onto them. (I kid you not; the Red Cross doesn't have it this good).

Once I had managed to stagger to the top, I was faced with another choice. Right or left? You see, the trail to the top first hits a false summit. The real summit is on the opposite--North--side of the caldera. Figures.

Anyway, it turns out that my choice of direction--left--wasn't exactly the best choice. While hikers headed clockwise around the caldera are greeted with a nice friendly hiking trail that even toddlers would approve of, hikers headed counter-clockwise around the caldera get to try their hand at rock climbing. Yay!

I wish I could say I get a thrill out of making things difficult for myself. The truth is that oxygen deprivation at 10,000 feet makes the human brain a bit slower than one might suspect. Rock climbing was fun and all, but the thrill was finally stumbling to the top of the real summit and taking a look down... waaaayy down. A step back or three felt like the best choice just then for long-term health and prosperity.

All in all, the hike to the top was a trip I'll not soon forget. Especially those moments such as discovering that my 8-pound tripod was useless because I'd forgotten an allen wrench, or running out of water 2/3rds of the way to the summit, or....

Ah yes... memories... priceless.

Keep smiling,
- Daniel