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A solo cross country circumnavigation of South Sister in early summer

1. Early section of the trail up to the PCT

2. The last well marked trail junction

3. Wikiup Plain, Le Cont Crater and South Sister

4. Untrammeled Wilderness, looking across Wikiup Plain in early Spring from the PCT

5. Looking South across the Plain at the remaining snows of winter

6. First Creek and good water on the PCT
 

7. Just after crossing the Creek
 

8. Middle Sister from the PCT in July

9. Middle Sister from Hinton Meadow
 

10. First camp at Separation Creek, last trail for two days
 

11. Separation Creek under the Spring snows
 

12. Separation Creek in the morning
 

13. The Husband peak
 

14. Middle Sister

15. Middle Sister and the first Chambers Lake

16. South Sister and the second Chambers Lake
 

17. South Sister and the first view of Camp Lake from the ridge
 

18. The steep slide down to Camp Lake
 

19. Camp Lake all to myself!
 

20. Beautiful Camp Lake and South Sister

21. At the base of the east ridge above Camp Lake, looking back at Middle and North Sister

22. Looking North to Mount Hood and Mount Jefferson

 

23. Approaching Brokentop to the South East
 

24. Avoiding a huge Cornice
 

25. Middle Sister and North Sister from the moraines on the east side of South Sister

26. Looking South East to Brokentop and Mt Bachelor

27. Looking West at South Sister

28. First view of Green Lakes and the trail once again

29. The North West Ridge of Brokentop, climbing to the summit pinnacle
 

30. The most northerly of the Green Lakes
 

31. The largest Green Lake, not a soul to be seen

32. South Sister from my campsite, showing alternate route to the summit, from the saddle up the skyline ridge

33. Brokentop from my campsite

34. Hike out on the trail next to (Spring) Fall Creek

35. The largest waterfall on Fall Creek, running full in the spring

Scott Jochim saving the Trail Head GPS waypoint at the start of his solo cross country, early Spring adventure.
Copyright© 2010 by Scott Jochim. All Rights Reserved.

Three Sisters Wilderness
July 16 to 18, 2010
The plan for this trip was to hike around the South Sister starting from Devil's Lake, along the PCT, then through Chambers Lakes, out to Green Lakes and finally out the Fall Creek trail to the Green Lakes trailhead.

I started from the Devil's Lake trailhead at about 10am. The trail was perfectly clear of all snow until crossing the Wikiup Plain, near Le Conte Crater. At that point the trail was mostly snow-covered but clearings were frequent enough that it wasn't hard to follow the trail. After the Wikiup Plain snow became more common. The slope that leads down to the crossing of Mesa Creek was completely covered but the meadow about 100 meters directly North of the crossing was clear so I was able to pick up the trail again. From there the higher sections of the trail were mostly snow-free while low lying areas and clearings tended to be snow-covered. By the time I got to Hinton Meadow the trail was completely lost and I relied on landmarks and the map to find my way. By this time the snow had become fairly soft due to the clear, warm weather, so my progress slowed quite a bit. By about 5:30 pm I'd reached Separation Creek and settled on camp there.

The next morning I started out around 6 am. Still in the shade, the snow was crisp and solid so I was able to move quickly with crampons. Once in the sunshine, the snow softened rapidly.

From Camp Lake, except for the initial ascending ridge, I traveled without crampons. Heading South from Camp Lake I arrived at my Green Lakes campsite between 5 and 6 pm.

The third day was clear and sunny, just like the previous two days. I started started hiking out around 11 am along the Fall Creek trail. Snow was intermittent for about the first hour of travel.

My GPS data shows that the route was 24.4 miles long with an elevation gain and loss of about 2,250feet.
--Scott Jochim
Copyright© 2010 by Scott Jochim. All Rights Reserved.

A description of Scott's actual route in July 2010:

(Click to enlarge)

Hello Bob-
"Thanks so much for posting the pictures! After all the time I've spent on your site, looking at reports and pictures from other people its a bit of a thrill to see mine there now."
--Scott & Chris

    WARNING - *DISCLAIMER!*
Mountain climbing has inherent dangers that can, only in part, be mitigated

Read more . . .
Photos of a South Sister solo cross country circumnavigation in early summer
Photos of a cross country circumnavigation of South Sister in September

  BROKEN TOP
Broken Top north side, with Z21 TV
Broken Top winter summit with Eric Hoffman
Climbing to the summit of Broken Top 
Climbing Broken Top with Eric Seyler  
Todd Lake, a gateway to Broken Top 
Broken Top circumnavigation  
Climbing Broken Top in the winter