October 11-12, Elk Lake to South Sister loop

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We started at Elk Lake. Red: Day one, Blue: Day two. 

It was a nice (?) hike. Short, only about 22 miles total.
It started early Friday morning as we woke to frost on the van windows—30 degrees. BRRRRRR! There was only one other car in the parking lot as we hit the trail about 8. The trail was mostly up, nothing major, just never ending. As I look back on it, I don’t recall anything bad about Friday’s hike. We made good time, no major aches or pains and we reached our goal of the So. Sister junction early. Since my attitude was such that… “if you’re going to make me climb that stupid mountain tomorrow we might as well get as far up today as we can!” (I might have been just a little grouchy...) So, we hiked up about ½ mile and the  breeze started picking up a little and it started to rain. Jeff scouted a campsite while I took photos of the mountains. (The only ones we got due to the weather!) It was so cold. We huddled in the sleeping bag, shivering for at least 2 hours trying to get warm. By then the wind and rain had gotten serious. We settled in for the night waiting for the 20% chance of rain to stop.

Apparently, it was another misguided weather report as the winds really picked up but we still hoped it would all blow over (pardon the pun) during the night and we’d climb the Sister in the morning. Not.  The wind would rock the tent and I feared it blowing over or collapsing. Our packs are so lightweight that I began to have nightmares that they blew over the edge. It blew so hard it pulled up a tent stake so Jeff kept getting flapped in the face by the tent side. But we didn’t want to venture out to try to re-stake it though! Needless to say, we didn’t sleep much. We spent the night wondering what time it was and wishing it would hurry up and be over. It was the first time I remember wishing morning would hurry and get here so we could get the heck off the mountain! We broke camp in the rain and wind at daybreak—6:30 ish and literally threw things in the pack. Once up, we tried to see the mountains or lake but couldn’t see 20 feet due to the fog. Needless to say, I wasn’t about to try going up So. Sister in those conditions but you know what, we got about ¼ mile down the trail and two kids were on their way up! They were foolish—shorts, light jackets, no packs. Foolish, foolish. Those are the kind of people we look for in Search and Rescue. 

All in all, we were pleased with how our gear stood the test. They took a beating, but remained standing.

We left camp about 8:30 and made good time coming off the mountain. The Devil’s Lake trail looked pretty nasty on the map and though it was very, VERY steep, it was excellent trail. I’m very glad we were going down, not up! Once off that trail, the rest of the 6 miles of the day were pretty uneventful.

Frosty footprints as we start out Friday morning.

Early views of the mountains. Forecasts for rain? No way...

Our destination--South Sister

Last hike's location, Diamond Peak

Mt. Thielsen, we'll get to you yet!

Lakes---can't remember which ones.

Mt. Bachelor

Broken Top. Notice the clouds...

Keep an eye on the clouds in the rest of the photos....

South Sister getting closer

And closer

The red stuff is sort of a vine, not a flower.

Stuck up So. Sister with her head in the clouds.

Clouds forming over Mt. Bachelor

Wickiup Plains with So. Sister

Middle Sister in heavy cloud cover

Funky clouds should have given us some indication of what the night would bring.

The clouds looming over Broken Top

South Sister is in there...somewhere.

What an amazing difference. They didn't improve with daylight either! It was fogged in all day. We couldn't even see it from the highway viewpoints.

One of my fave photos. Moraine Lake with Broken Top. I've always wanted to know what the view was from up here. I wasn't disappointed.

Less than an hour passed between these videos...

First glimpse of the infamous Devil's Lake trail.

Real rain remnants. The brush got us as wet as the rain.

Trees blocking the path. Fortunately, there was a trail around them.

You just never know where you'll find a survey marker!

I've been collecting feathers, but this little 1" baby would get lost in my pocket.

Cool bubble don't ya think?

Dinner at Izzy’s and home. Another good hike! Now to unpack (yuck!) and clean up gear. This was probably our last "big" hike for the season. Sigh. Until next April... :-)

We still love hiking!
Jeff-n-Sue