South Sister Climb: A Mountain Revisited

With yet again, another family reunion planned for central Oregon, Todd and I had decided to climb South Sister again. This time however, we would do it at night and be on the summit for sunrise. So, we packed up and headed to the Three Sisters Wilderness. This time we had looked at the map and found the correct trail head. While it was steeper, it provided a much faster route. We set out on the trail around 10:00 PM. I had just purchased a really nice headlamp so I did the route finding. Todd only had an LED headlamp, which is nice, just not for route finding. It was an interesting hike as we kept picking up the reflections of various animal eyes. We stopped several times to identify just what was looking at us. We were very aware of the possible encounter with a mountain lion and moved cautiously. As we climbed out onto Wickiup Plain, we found ourselves enveloped in a sea of fog. We ended up stopping briefly somewhere near Moraine Lake. As we began to climb the mountain, the trail became difficult to follow at times. But as we neared the summit, the sun was just beginning to provide some light easing our ascent.

Looking across at Broken Top at dawn.


Todd nears the top of South Sister.


The author near the top.


Looking back towards the car.


The summit was incredible. The sunrise really was worth the effort to do the climb at night.

Todd and I enjoying our view



Teardrop Pool was really interesting with its vivid blue color


After taking in the views and watching the sunrise, we worked our way down and back to the car. It was a great trip and well worth the effort.

Broken Top