Answering the Mountains' Call: Fourth of July Weekend Backpacking

FRIDAY

After 1.5 miles of steady uphill from the trailhead, we got our first view of South Sister. On the right edge of the trail past Dad, is a junction sign. We headed right toward Moraine Lake.

Mom hiking toward Moraine Lake with Broken Top on the horizon.

South Sister about 1/2 a mile from Moraine Lake.

Looking back across Moraine Lake. These are the marshy streams at the outlet of the lake, but Moraine Lake itself is much deeper than just a marsh.

The trail comes up at the low-point to the right of the rounded knob on the horizon.

The sun has set and we are still climbing. We probably should not have left home at 3pm as that lead to a 6pm start, but it was fun to spend an extra night in the mountains.

We camped on a ridge above Moraine Lake. We had crossed two or three small snowfields on the way up, but there wasn't much snow to be found this year.

Mom leading the way toward our campsite.

An evening view of Broken Top. It was much darker out than it appears in the picture.

SATURDAY

South Sister on Saturday morning.

Looking south along the ridge we climbed up yesterday. The white peak just right of center is Diamond Peak. From here, we also saw the three main climbs on the Waldo 100K course: Maiden Peak, the Twins, and Mt. Fuji.

Mom and Dad on the horizon just before the descent down to Green Lakes.

Green Lakes with Broken Top in the background. For the first time ever, there was no snow in the Green Lakes basin. On the descent down to Green Lakes, we had to spend a lot more time on the rocks than in past years. Most of the time we can glissade almost the entire descent unless the snow is too hard and we have to be a little careful about going too fast.

A moth on the snow. I saw three moths this trip. They are a little over 1 inch long, and we thought that they were hummingbird moths.

A crevasse at the foot of a rock outcropping on the way down to Green Lakes.

Looking across the snowfield toward the lava flow on our way down to Green Lakes. Typically much more of this area is covered with snow.

Looking back up toward South Sister on the way down to Green Lakes. The summit of South Sister sits behind the red outcropping to the right of center on the horizon.

South Sister from Green Lakes. The top of South Sister sits behind the high point red outcropping in the center of the picture. We descended down to Green Lakes from the left of the snow-covered grey point in the left of the picture.

Paintbrush and heather along Green Lakes. This year we waded through the outlet of Green Lakes. We were worried it would be a cold crossing for the morning, but the water temperature was pretty mild.

Paintbrush along Green Lakes. Looks like I got my camera focused on the stalk of the flower as opposed to the flower itself. There were quite a few paintbrush out along the lakes and streams we passed.

After making our way to the far side of Green Lakes, we headed up the climbers trail toward the summit of Broken Top. After climbing through some barren meadows, the trail catches the ridge to the left of the peak and follows it to the top.

Looking out across the Gold Lake basin from the ridge on Broken Top.

North Sister on the horizon. From here we could see Three Fingered Jack, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Hood, and Mt. Adams to the north of North Sister. In the foreground, Gold Lake is at the right edge of the green meadow on the left side of the picture. There are a few more lakes above Gold Lake hidden in the trees.

Descending down the ridge off Broken Top. This year, we didn't head up toward the summit since we were a little tired from the late arrival yesterday. We ended up getting in the tent a little after 10pm. On the horizon is South, Middle, and North Sister. The climbers trail meets the ridge we are descending at the low point. We continued down the ridge and after a little climbing reaching some easy downhill hiking which lead us to the trail between Gold Lake and Green Lakes.

Middle and North Sister, with the cascade volcanoes lined up to the north. Gold Lake is slightly visible on the right edge of the green meadow below North Sister.

Looking across the lava flows above Green Lakes. Green Lakes is out of view to the left. The rounded knob below the horizon about 1/8 of the way across the picture from the left edge, is the same knob that we hiked past on the first day climbing up to Moraine Lake.

Broken Top. The trail follows this ridge. It doesn't look too promising from below, but there is a defined trail the entire length of the ridge. The summit block requires about 10 feet of climbing. Its not a difficult pitch to climb, but the rocks have some loose scree on them and if you fell, you'd be headed down the mountain.

Mom and Dad making their way back to the top of the ridge. After the climbers trail takes off from the low point, there is not much of a trail along the ridge. With a few big rock outcroppings we found it easier to sidehill around them, then climb back up to the ridge.

Dad with South Sister in the background. All the green plants at Dad's feet had bright purple flowers, but that is not showing up in this picture.

A paintbrush in the rocks. I'm always impressed how plants find a place to grow in any environment.

Some easing hiking at the far end of the ridge. From here its mostly smooth hiking down to the trail.

Green Lakes. Behind us is the spring which leads into upper Green Lake. We stopped here to get water. I'm always impressed at the volume of water flowing out of the hillside.

Looking across Green Lakes basin. Broken top is in the left edge of the picture and Mt. Bachelor is right of center.

Springs feeding into Green Lakes from the base of South Sister. This year, there seemed to be more springs than ever. Its pretty cool to watch the water bubbling out of the ground.

Mt. Bachelor looking across the pumice planes. This is the same stretch of ground where I took a picture of Mom and Dad before we headed down toward Green Lakes.

Paintbrush along a small snowmelt creek.

SUNDAY

Our snowmelt creek froze overnight. Good thing we filled up with water in the Saturday afternoon.

Dad climbing up toward South Sister with Mt. Bachelor over his left shoulder.

South Sister. The trail follows the ridge to the left of the snowfield. There was no snow on the ridge between the lake and the summit. We have always had to cross at least some snow in the past.

The summit of South Sister. Some years we head straight across the snow on the summit and other years we follow the rim. With the new lake at the summit, we had no choice but to follow the rim.

We've been climbing South Sister since 2004. We typically come up in July and September and we have never seen a lake here. Our theory was that the record setting heat wave caused the snow to melt so fast that the ground could not absorb it forming this lake. But it could have been the summer-like temperatures starting in April.

Teardrop pool. Deeper than ever this year, but we've seen this pool a few times before.

Looking down from the summit of South Sister. Broken top is out of view to the right and North and Middle Sister are out of view to the left.

Dad and Mom with Middle and North Sister in the background.

Me with Middle and North Sister in the background. Mom took this picture... I'm not that talented.

Looking down on Broken Top. Maybe my favorite picture from the entire trip.

Middle Sister and North Sister. In addition to Three Fingered Jack, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Hood, and Mt. Adams, we could see Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier.

Two pools on top...cool, but a bit frightening.

This year we hiked all the way around the rim on the summit of South Sister. We took a while on top and scouted out how to head down the backside of South Sister. We found one route which looked promising, but we decided that the descent was going to take too long.

The rocky point below the horizon is The Husband.

The two pools on the summit of South Sister.

A lot has burned to the west of South Sister.

Teardrop Pool with South Sister summit in the background.

Descending down from South Sister on the main trail. In the center of the picture is a blue pool at the base of a snowfield. The pool was so clear that we could see where the edge of the snow stopped below the water. Unfortunately its a little too small to see it clearly in the picture.

Hiking cross country toward Leconte Crater. Leconte Crater is just above Mom's head. Its half tree covered and half open.

South Sister from the plains below.

This tree is partially tipped over, presumably by the wind. The roots that were pulled above the ground were orange and hairy. They looked weird.

Climbing up Leconte Crater.

Looking west from about halfway up Leconte Crater.

Dad leading the way up the trail to the top of Leconte trail. We caught the trail after going cross-country toward the top of the crater. We followed the trail on the way down, but it petered out before reaching the main trail.

A little pool of water in Leconte Crater. South Sister is in the background.

Broken Top from the rim of Leconte Crater.

Leconte Crater. We climbed up the left side.

South Sister. Directly below the summit is a trail leading into a lava field. In years past we've skied to the top of the lava field. There was no skiing this year.