Tag: Green Lakes Trail

Park Meadow to Golden Lake – 09/13/2025

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date September 15, 2025
No Comments on Park Meadow to Golden Lake – 09/13/2025

September is one of the trickier months for picking hikes. The transition to Fall has begun meaning most of the wildflowers are done while the Fall colors are just getting started. Rain begins returning (and sometimes snow at higher elevations), but many of the waterfalls are still running low. Finally, wildfire smoke has often been a problem in recent years.

The hike to Park Meadow and Golden Lake seemed a good option as it isn’t a big wildflower hike and there aren’t a lot of plants known for their Fall colors. We had visited the meadow and Golden Lake during a 2014 backpacking loop around the South Sister (post). That visit was enough for us to count having hiked part of Sullivan’s featured hike in his “100 Hike/Travel Guide Central Oregon Cascades” (post), but it meant we’d skipped the five miles of trail between the Park Meadow Trailhead and Park Meadow.

With a forecast of mostly smoke and cloud free skies we made the two-and-a-half-hour drive to the trailhead.

The trail begins across Forest Road 16 from the trailhead at a signboard and wilderness permit box.

Currently for day hikes the only permit currently required is the free self-issued wilderness permit that we filled out at the signboard. For overnight trips a Central Cascades Wilderness Permit is required.

The Park Meadow Trail spends most of its time in the 2012 Pole Creek Fire scar which burned nearly all the trees leaving views of the Three Sisters and Broken Top through the snags. The trail also loses 350′ of elevation for the first 3.9-miles to Wychus Creek.

Junco

Heather spotted three deer on the rise in the distance.

Lupine

At the 0.25-mile mark the trail arrives at junction with the Metolius-Windigo Trail. We stayed straight following the pointer for “JCT. PARK MEADOW TR.”

The Three Sisters on the horizon.

Sparrow

Fireweed

Northwestern rabbit-tabacco

Broken Hand along Tam McArthur Rim (post) on the left with the tip of Broken Top above the hill on the right.

Pearly everlasting

Just over two miles from the trailhead we arrived at an unnamed stream near the second junction with the Metolius-Windigo Trail.

Reflection in the stream.

We again stayed straight continuing on the Park Meadow Trail which soon came to a crossing of Snow Creek at the border of the Three Sisters Wilderness.

Pearly everlasting along Snow Creek.

Paintbrush

Sweet bee on milk kelloggia

We spotted a pair of ravens in the snag tops ahead.

Raven

Penstemon

Broken Top and South Sister (post).

Broken Top

South Sister

Woodpecker from below.

Near the 4-mile mark we arrived at Wychus Creek. At 6000′ this was the lowest elevation of the hike.

From Wychus Creek it is just over a mile to Park Meadow. Shortly before reaching the meadow the trail leaves the fire scar.

Cinquefoil

Aster

Orange sulphur

Entering unburned forest.

South Sister from a pond at the end of Park Meadow.

Red-tailed hawk

Broken Top from Park Meadow

Park Creek crossing.

Park Meadow junction with the Green Lakes Trail.

On our backpacking loop we used the Green Lakes Trail to reach the meadow from the Camp Lake Trail making this junction the point at which we completed Sullivan’s entire featured hike. I arrived here first because Heather and I had split up back at Wychus Creek. She had decided against pushing on to Golden Lake which was another 1.7-miles and 500′ in elevation gain away.

I hiked through the meadow which was filled with alpine gentians and then began to climb through the forest to the unmarked junction with the use trail to Golden Lake.

Alpine gentians

Golden-mantled ground squirrel

Townsend’s solitaire

Small cairn and bandana marking the use trail. This is approximately 1-mile from the junction in Park Meadow.

I veered left up the use trail which quickly leveled out and brought me to Golden Lake in 0.7-miles.

South Sister from the use trail.

Broken Top from the trail. If you look down the trail on the right between the trees, you can see a deer crossing the trail.

While it isn’t an official trail there is no camping allowed within 250′ of Golden Lake. In addition, throughout the Three Sisters Wilderness building, maintaining, attending, or using a fire, campfire, or stove fire above 5700′ is prohibited. Stoves must be fueled with liquid or compressed gas.

The Moon above south sister.

Golden Lake and Broken Top with some September haze. There is a crossing of the outlet that leads to the eastern shore.

The Three Sisters from Golden Lake.

I wasn’t planning on going beyond Golden Lake, but I had left that option open depending on time and how I was feeling. On our backpacking trip we had continued up to a tarn almost a mile (and another 500′) and set up camp. We wound up not staying there though when we got spooked by the sudden arrival of smoke and a visible smoke column on the far side of South Sister. It was a rookie mistake as the fire wound up being over 40-miles away. Now that I was back 11 years later I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to visit the tarn and our almost campsite again. I followed a path along the eastern shore to the outlet creek then headed uphill.

Looking back along the path along the eastern shore.

Uphill along the inlet.

Pink monkeyflower

I believe the purple is an aster, red a paintbrush, and yellow Buek’s groundsel.

Aster and pink monkeyflower

Tilling’s monkeyflower

The creek emerges from springs at the base of a moraine.

The final push to the tarn is a steep climb up a glacial moraine.

The Three Sisters and the creek from the moraine.

The tarn.

Due to the position of the Sun and the smoke getting a good picture of Broken Top from the tarn was impossible.

South and North Sister from the tarn. Middle Sister is behind the clump of trees which is where we had set up our tent in 2014.

I made my way around the tarn and stopped at the 2014 campsite to take a break.

California tortoiseshell

Another attempt at Broken Top.

Fireweed along the smaller tarn.

Campsite

Middle and North Sister from the campsite.

After a snack and a change of socks I headed back down. It was just before 11am when I made my way back down the moraine and then by Golden Lake again.

South Sister

Middle Sister and Prouty Point

North Sister

Arnica and paintbrush near one of the springs feeding the creek.

Alpine speedwell

Lupine

Mushroom

The inlet creek crossing ahead.

I simply retraced my steps from here back to the trailhead. There were a few more wildlife sightings along the way and a few more trail users. The elevation gains after Wychus Creek were a mean trick given it was now warmer while I was heading uphill but there was an occasional cool breeze and it wasn’t too hot of a day to begin with (low 60’s).

Northern flicker

The trails were all in good shape. This was the “worst” obstacle encountered.

Mushroom

Park Creek

Common wood nymph in pearly everlasting.

One of the numerous small uphill sections on the way back to the trailhead.

A little more haze and a couple more clouds on the way back.

Black Crater (post)

Another uphill and more clouds forming overhead.

The post on the right marks the site of the former trailhead. This is approximately 1.2-miles from the current trailhead.

I arrived back at the trailhead a little after 1:30pm and found Heather waiting in her camp chair.

My hike to the tarn above Golden Lake came in at 15.2-miles with 1800′ of cumulative elevation gain. Heather’s to Park Meadow was a little over 10-miles with 800′ of elevation gain.

This was indeed a good time for this hike. There were no mosquitos or yellow jackets to speak of. The former are a problem in July and early August and the latter can get aggressive later in the Fall. While most of the wildflowers had passed there were still some blooming and it wasn’t too hot. The lack of tree cover combined with the uphill on the way back wouldn’t be a lot of fun on a hot summer day. Happy Trails!

Flicker: Park Meadow to Golden Lake

Tags Broken Top, Golden Lake, Green Lakes Trail, hiking, Oregon, park creek, Park Meadow, Park Meadow Trail, Park Meadow Trailhead, Snow Creek, South Sister, Three Sisters Wilderness, Wychus Creek

High Cascades Hiking Oregon Three Sisters Area Trip report

Thayer Glacial Lake – 8/13/2019

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 19, 2019
No Comments on Thayer Glacial Lake – 8/13/2019

For the second hike of our vacation we chose the off-trail scramble to Thayer Glacial Lake. The hike is described in the second edition of Scott Cook’s “Bend, Overall” guidebook. The book is older (ours is updated for 2012) and predates the Pole Creek Fire which happened to take place in 2012. The main change on the hike is that there is a lot of travel through the fire scar so there aren’t a lot of green trees, but there are more views of the mountains.

We had had this hike on our to do list and a recent trip report in a Facebook group prompted us to move it up and do it sooner rather than later. We drove over Santiam Pass to Sisters and took Highway 242 for 1.3 miles to Forest Service Road 15 (Pole Creek Road) where we turned left. We followed FR 15 for 11 bumpy miles to the Pole Creek Trailhead.

We followed the Pole Creek Trail uphill through the burned forest for 1.5 miles to a junction with the Green Lakes Trail crossing the dry bed of Pole Creek not far from the trailhead.
Middle and North Sister

Dry bed of Pole Creek.

Black Crater, Mt. Jefferson, and Black Butte to the north.

Entering the Three Sisters Wilderness.

A few survivors amid the snags.

Green Lakes Trail junction.

We stayed straight at the junction continuing on what was now the Green Lakes Trail. This trail descended a little before arriving at Soap Creek three quarters of a mile from the junction.

Broken Top and the South Sister

Monkeyflower along Soap Creek

On the far side of the creek was a familiar junction, the Camp Lake and Green Lakes Trail junction where we had been on our 2014 loop around the South Sister (post).

Instead of crossing the creek we left the trail here and headed west. This portion of the hike requires off-trail navigational and route finding skills. There was, at times, what appeared to be a user trail but it was faint and prone to disappearing only to reappear in an unexpected place. In general we followed the directions in the guidebook although our routes there and back were quite different (at least for a 1 mile stretch). The instructions were to follow the climbers trail for 2ish miles then head cross country toward a yellow bulge on North Sister. The lack of green trees allowed for a lot more views of North Sister which assisted in keeping us oriented. We used our topographic maps to help us stick to what appeared to be the gentlest terrain and eventually found ourselves looking at the daunting moraine to the left of the yellow bulge.
Soap Creek

View of the North Sister that would not have been there pre-fire.

Soap Creek and the Middle and North Sister

Monkshood

Might be a trail in there, might not.

Decent look at the yellow bulge on North Sister.

Broken Top and South Sister

Soap Creek

Meadow where there was no discernible trail apparent.

Typical cross country obstacles.

Dry creekbed.

20190813_093156 Elephants head

The moraine to the left of the bulge.

We stopped briefly to watch what appeared to be a golden eagle soaring overhead trying to evade a smaller raptor that was annoyed by the larger birds presence.

We wound up a bit further north than intended and had to veer NW to reach the meadows around the springs feeding Soap Creek.

A clump of Monkeyflower

Penstemon

IMG_5989_stitch

After a little over two hours and approximately three miles from where we’d left the Green Lakes Trail we found ourselves resting in the shade of a large rock near the moraine.
Our shady spot.

While we rested by the rock we discussed our planned route up the moraine. The steep loose rock would not be easy and we wanted to try and find the safest route to what was hopefully the lowest point along the moraine. After agreeing on a route and picking a point to aim for we set off on the final three quarters of a mile climb to the rim above Thayer Glacial Lake.

Paintbrush growing on the moraine.

More flowers amid the rocks.

After a couple (dozen) course corrections I passed between a pair of large cinder rocks I dubbed “Thayer Gate” and a few moments later was looking at the lake.

IMG_6049_stitch

While Heather headed down to the lake shore I detoured up along the rim to the south to check out the views.
The yellow bulge, Mt. Hood, Black Crater and Black Butte to the north.

Mt. Hood

Broken Top to the north.

The rim above Thayer Lake.

North Sister and the Thayer Glacier

Heather near some large boulders in the lake.

We explored along the lake looking at the remaining ice, one piece resembled a listing boat, and admiring the textures and colors of the volcano.

The water was frigid but the temperature by the lake was pleasantly cool and we would have liked to have stayed there for hours but we still had to get back so we eventually pulled ourselves away and headed back down the moraine.

We headed toward the springs feeding Soap Creek and kept working our way north trying to stay to the left of the wildflower lined streams.

This proved to be a little trickier than expected as we kept coming upon more springs as we went.

We followed Soap Creek into a narrow canyon which turned out to be a bit of a mistake and had to climb steeply over the north ridge when it became to steep and narrow.

Starting to get too narrow and the topographic map showed it getting more so further downstream.

Climbing out of the gully.

Broken Top and South Sister from the ridge.

We descended the ridge heading NE using our GPS to hook up with our earlier route up. After a couple of ups and downs over smaller ridges we found ourselves in the general area through which we’d come up. We roughly followed our route back to the Green Lakes Trail without much excitement. The one thing that was different was the creeping wire lettuce blossoms which had opened up to the Sun and dotted the ground in places.

We then followed the trails back to the Pole Creek Trailhead which was full of cars. It surprised us a bit being a Tuesday, but it’s one of the stated reasons by the Forest Service for the permit requirements that go into effect in 2020 for many of the trailheads in the Three Sisters, Mt. Washington, and Mt. Jefferson Wilderness areas.

Cook lists the hike as 5 miles one way, but we wound up with 11.5 miles round trip with nearly 3000′ of cumulative elevation gain. The off-trail travel makes it an even harder hike than those state would indicate. All that being said it was worth the effort and we were glad we’d made the trip. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Thayer Glacial Lake

Tags Golden Eagle, Green Lakes Trail, hiking, North Sister, Oregon, pole creek fire, Pole Creek Trail, Pole Creek Trailhead, Soap Creek, Thayer Glacial Lake, Thayer Glacier, Three Sisters Wilderness

High Cascades Hiking Oregon Three Sisters Area Trip report

Green Lakes (Finally!)

If you are familiar with our hiking past you may recall that on 5 previous occasions we had planned to and failed to see the Green Lakes in the Three Sisters Wilderness. Over 20 years since our foolish first attempt we finally made it to the lakes when we could see them. Ironically our visit was prompted by some of the very reasons we had been forced to abandon previous quests to see the lakes. Snow, fires, and the threat of thunderstorms had forced us to cancel our backpacking plans and led us to Central Oregon for a series of vacation day hikes. On Tuesday we headed for the Green Lakes Trailhead, once again attempting to reach the lakes.

The forecast called for overcast skies but there was no threat of thunderstorms and the snow wasn’t scheduled to arrive until later that night. We arrived at the trailhead as the sun was rising. The mountain peaks were fully visible under a high ceiling of clouds.
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We set off on the familiar first 2 miles of the trail along Fall Creek passing its series of waterfalls.
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After passing the trail junction to Moraine Lake we were on unfamiliar trail. We had hiked this section before but it was by headlamp on the way out of the wilderness after mistakenly thinking a fire and started nearby while we were camped at a tarn below Broken Top. We had packed up at dusk and hiked out in the dark missing the lakes and the scenery along the trail. Fall Creek was much calmer along this portion of trail flowing between the trail and a lava flow.
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After hiking another 2 miles the trail entered the southern end of the Green Lakes Basin.
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Several trails shot off in different directions and we veered left toward the day use peninsula of the middle and largest of the three Green Lakes.
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The views from the day use area were great and we watched some ducks enjoying a morning swim on the lake.
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We resumed our hike passing along the east side of the lake heading toward the third and final lake. This lake truly lived up to the Green Lakes name.
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The Green Lakes Trail continues past the lakes climbing .7 miles to a pass between Broken Top and the South Sister before continuing down to Park Meadow. We headed for the pass to check out the views we’d missed on our night hike. We discovered an interesting landscape including some rocks showing the signs of long gone glacier.
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At the pass the views extended down into Central Oregon and north to Mt. Hood.
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After doing a little exploring (and picking up another balloon) we headed back down to the Green Lakes.
The balloon in the trees.
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We were interested in checking out what appeared to be springs feeding into the third Green Lake and followed a path around the north shore only to discover a small “Area closed for restoration” sign less than 10′ from the springs. We couldn’t figure out why the forest service didn’t put a sign where the path split off from the main trail instead of clear back by the spring, but we obeyed the sign and turned around after taking a picture of what we could see.
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It was a little over a mile from the third lake to the first lake which we had skipped earlier when we headed directly to the day use peninsula on the middle lake. We explored the area around the first lake before picking up the Broken Top Trail which came from the east to join the Green Lakes Trail just south of the first lake.
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The Broken Top Trail makes it possible to turn the hike into a loop and we took advantage of this and headed east on the trail.
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The trail had some nice views of Broken Top and also offered glimpses of Mt. Bachelor, Sparks Lake, Cowhorn Mountain, and Diamond Peak.
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After traveling a little over 3 miles on the Broken Top Trail we arrived at a familiar junction.
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The trail from Todd Lake which we had used on our visit to Broken Tops No Name Lake joined on the right and we turned down it for .9 miles to another junction where we turned right again on the Soda Creek Trail.
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We got a bit sidetracked on our way down this trail. We began searching for waterfalls along Crater Creek when we spotted what looked like prime waterfall terrain. After a little off trail exploration we discovered a pair of pretty little falls.
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The falls were a little low on water but looked like they would be really nice with a higher volume of water. Later I discovered there were a couple of other falls in the area along Crater Creek while doing a little research on waterfallsnorthwest.com.

After regaining the trail in a meadow where we startled a pair of deer we began to switchback down toward Soda Creek. Corner Falls was the only fall marked on the map in our guidebook which was located at the corner of the final switchback. It wasn’t quite as impressive as the falls on Crater Creek and we were unable to get a clear view due to another “Area closed” sign at the path leading away from the switchback.
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The trail then gradually descended another 1.3 miles to a crossing of Crater Creek where we found another nice little waterfall.
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The forest turned to drier lodgepole pine and passed through some old lava flows in the final 1.5 miles before popping us out at the Green Lakes Trailhead parking area.
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We had felt a few drops of rain over the final half mile or so of the hike, and as we were changing at the car we began to notice a few small snowflakes mixed in the rain.
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Later when we looked at the GPS information it showed a distance of 19.1 miles for the day. We hadn’t meant to go that far but there is something about the Three Sisters Wilderness that makes it really easy to wander. Happy Trails!

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9319235@N02/albums/72157658424002889

Tags Broken Top, broken top trail, Central Oregon, corner falls, crater creek, Fall Creek, Green Lakes, Green Lakes Trail, hiking, Mt. Bachelor, Mt. Hood, Oregon, soda creek, South Sister, Sparks Lake, Three Sisters Wilderness, Waterfalls

High Cascades Hiking Oregon Three Sisters Area Trip report

South Sister Loop – Day 3

After not being able to fall asleep in the wake of an amazing second day the third day of our backpacking loop started way to early. I woke up just after 5am needing to empty my bladder. Looking out our tent to the East I could see an orange glow through the trees indicating that the Sun was coming, but not for awhile. I threw my headlamp on, grabbed my camera hoping to get a shot of the horizon, and started to walk toward the edge of the plateau that Demaris Lake sits on. I was scanning the forest with my light when I noticed a pair of glowing eyes about 50yds to the left of our tent. They were fairly low to the ground and I couldn’t tell what it was. Since I didn’t know what kind of animal was staring at me I wasn’t sure if I should get big or slowly back away. Not being fully awake my solution was to take a picture using the flash to see if I could figure out what it was. That may not have been the best idea, but when the flash went off I could see that it was a deer that was bedded down.

She got up after I took the picture and began walking along the ridge in front of me so I stopped heading that way and thought I would loop around behind to get my horizon picture. Apparently she didn’t like that because when I looked back in the direction she had been headed she had turned around and was now walking toward me with her head down.

She stopped when she realized I’d spotted her and I backtracked down to the lake shore and tried taking a wider loop around a rocky outcropping to get my picture. I got to good viewpoint and after scanning for the deer I set about trying to get a decent picture.

After taking a few pictures I suddenly had a strange feeling. Glancing to my right there was that crazy deer again staring at me with those glowing eyes. I headed back down to the lake and hurried back to the tent site to grab my poles and wake Heather up thinking that maybe the presence of a second person would deter the stalker deer. It must have because we didn’t see her again and were able to watch the sunrise light up the mountains and trees above the lake.

After a deer free breakfast we returned to the Camp Lake Trail at the North Fork Wychus Creek. A nice little waterfall lay just downstream from the creek crossing.

Soon we entered the area burned during the 2012 Pole Creek Fire.

The forest is only starting to recover from the fire so there wasn’t much to see as we made our way to the Green Lakes Trail and Soda Creek.

We turned right on the Green Lakes Trail and headed south toward Park Meadow. The first section of trail remained in the burn area but we were now headed back toward the mountains so we at least had a view.

After recrossing the North Fork Wychus Creek and then crossing the South Fork Wychus Creek the trail passed between a pair of ponds at the edge of the burn. The large pond on the left was empty while the much smaller pond on the right was filled with ducks.

After leaving the burn area our next marker was the West Fork Park Creek in Red Meadow.

There weren’t many flowers in the meadow but a hawk provided some entertainment as it watched us from a nearby tree.

From there it was just under a mile to our next trail junction located in Park Meadow.

After taking a quick look at Park Creek we continued on the Green Lakes Trail passing through Park Meadow. The meadow was quite large with a good view of both Broken Top and the South Sister. Although it was fairly dry many gentian flowers dotted the ground along with the occasional aster.

We were looking for a side trail about a mile from Park Meadow that would take us to Golden Lake. There was no sign marking the .7 mile trail to the lake but as we made our way toward the lake we did see signs announcing the areas restrictions.

It was easy to see why this was a popular spot.

We hiked around to the far end of the lake and decided to follow the inlet creek up looking for a place to set up our tent far enough from the lake to fit the 250′ restriction. We knew that there were a pair of tarns about a mile up from Golden Lake which we had originally planned on visiting after we had found our camp site and dropped off our gear. We weren’t having much luck finding a site, but the scenery was once again spectacular. Wildflowers lined the creek and the water was as clear as glass. We were headed straight at Broken Top and the South Sister loomed across the creek to our right.

We eventually reached the beginning of the creek as it flowed out from the bottom of a rocky hillside.

We began climbing the hill expecting to find the first tarn at the top.

We were not disappointed.

The water in the tarn was crystal clear and the views extended to Mt. Jefferson to the North.

A path led up another hill to the second tarn. It was quite a bit smaller and there was a hiker with a dog splashing around in it so we headed back down to the first tarn and went about setting up camp. We had found our spot for the night.
Second tarn

South Sister over the first tarn

Our campsite back in the trees on the far side of the tarn.

We had views all around from the site.

The nice part was we had arrived just after 1pm so we had plenty of time to soak our feet (the water was way too cold for anything else) and watch the wildlife that would occasionally stop by the tarn.

We decided to try and turn in early (or at least take a nap) since we didn’t get much sleep the night before so we laid down in the tent around 6pm. Heather fell asleep but I wasn’t having any luck so I got back up shortly after 7pm and took a few more pictures. It had been hazy to north all weekend but I could now make out Mt. Hood in that direction, and rays of sunlight shot through the gap between the South and Middle Sister.
The Three Sisters, Three Fingered Jack, Mt. Jefferson, and Mt. Hood at 7:04pm

Broken Top at 7:07pm

I went back to the tent and laid back down after taking the picture of Broken Top hoping to finally get some sleep. About 20 minutes later I smelled smoke. Thinking it was a campfire I lay there for a minute wondering if someone wasn’t able to follow the restriction on campfires. The smell kept getting strong so I sat up and looked around. Smoke was filling the basin below Broken Top and when I turned around I could see a line of smoke passing between the Sisters. The whole valley below us was full of smoke and it looked like it was rising up from somewhere on the other side of the South Sister.

I woke Heather up and we began discussing what to do. Another hiker came up to the tarn and she was wondering what was going on as well. She had a satellite phone and had managed to talk to a friend in Bend but they didn’t have any knowledge of a fire near the Sisters. There were some fires near Oakridge, OR 40 miles to the South but it didn’t seem possible that this smoke was coming from there. Looking at the smoke column we weren’t sure if we would be able to hike out via Green Lakes since it appeared to be rising from somewhere in that direction so we considered our Plan B evacuation route back through Park Meadow to the Three Creeks Campground. We were also debating on if we should try and stick it out through the night of if we should just pack up and try and get out before it got any worse. We quickly agreed that neither of us would be able to get any sleep under these conditions and if the smoke got any worse it would certainly be unhealthy even if we did manage to fall asleep.

We loaded everything up grabbed our headlamps and started back down toward Golden Lake just after 8:15pm. We were watching the smoke column still unable to decide exactly where it was emanating from when arrived back at Golden Lake. No one had any new news at the lake so we decided to attempt to hike out as originally planned past the Green Lakes as it looked like the smoke was coming from the far side of the South Sister.

This was our first experience with night hiking so we didn’t know exactly what to expect. Our adrenaline was pumping as we began climbing the Green Lakes Trail to its high point above the Green Lakes. To our surprise and relief the smoke lessened as we went. By the time we arrived at the Green Lakes area the sky was full of stars and the smell of smoke had all but vanished.

I managed one picture of the elusive Green Lakes having once again missed seeing them in the light of day.

We were now committed to leaving though so we kept hiking. It turned out to be quite a bit of fun. We missed out on seeing a lot but the sky was beautiful and we spotted some things we would not have seen during the day like toads and the glowing eyes of many deer.

We were fortunate that the Green Lakes Trail is well used and easy to follow. By 11:40pm we had reached the trailhead and our waiting car. There was no sign of fire anywhere around and as it turned out the smoke had come from the Deception Creek Complex of fires near Oakridge. The wind had apparently shifted just right flooding the area with smoke. Although it would have been nice to have spent the night by the tarn and been able to wake up to that view we felt like we made the right choice. Experiencing our first night hike was something to remember and it brought our day 3 total to a nice round 21 miles. It truly was a trip to remember.

Happy (and smoke free) Trails!

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9319235@N02/sets/72157646556478610/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10204873722630030.1073741905.1448521051&type=1

High Cascades Hiking Oregon Three Sisters Area Trip report

South Sister Loop – Day 1

**Note the 2017 Separation and Nash Fires burned a portion of this hike.**

After kicking off our vacation with a visit to Broken Tops no name lake we took a day off and got ready for what we originally planned to be a 4 day backpacking trip around the South Sister in the Three Sisters Wilderness. We wound up finishing the loop in 3 days instead of 4 hiking two 20+ mile days, our first ever over that number. Given the mileage and the amount of places we visited we are going to break this report up into three entries instead of trying to fit it all into one.

The route we were going to take would start and end at the Green Lakes/Soda Creek Trailhead. http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/deschutes/recreation/hiking/recarea/?recid=38870&actid=50
We decided to take a less direct route around the mountain in order to visit some of the places we had yet to see in the wilderness. Below is our GPS track from the trip (The hike to the no name lake is also on the map to the right).

We were excited for this hike for a number of reasons. We had tried to visit the Green Lakes on four previous occasions including our first attempted hike together over 20 years earlier. Snow had turned us back that day and again in 2011, in 2012 it was a forest fire, and in 2013 thunderstorms stymied our plans. The forecast was good this time around and there were no fires in the immediate area as we set off from the trailhead. The sky was blue except for above each of the mountains which were each covered in white clouds.

In 1994 we managed to hike up Fall Creek a little over a mile before being turned back. We both remembered being impressed with the creek and the scenery but couldn’t remember exactly what we had seen. We were quickly reminded of why Fall Creek left such an impression on us. In the first two miles Fall Creek lived up to its name with over a half dozen cascades of varying sizes.

At the two mile mark we took the Moraine Lake Trail to the left and veered away from the creek. After crossing a lava flow and climbing over a ridge we arrived at Moraine Lake. We had been at the lake the year before after climbing the South Sister. It was just as pretty this time around nestled beneath a moraine with a front row view of the South Sister.

After leaving Moraine Lake we headed toward the Wickiup Plains on our way to the Pacific Crest Trail. The clouds were starting to burn off of the mountains as we passed through the plains. Broken Top was behind us with the South Sister on our right and the Wife ahead.

The plains offered an interesting landscape with open views all around.

As we headed North toward the PCT on the Le Conte Trail we were able to see a couple of peaks that are often overlooked due to their proximity to the larger Three Sisters, The Wife at 7054′ and The Husband at 7524′.

We met the PCT and turned right passing the Rock Mesa lava flow and views of the South Sister.

The PCT eventually left the plains and entered more forested terrain crossing several branches of Mesa Creek amid meadows and wildflowers.

We left the PCT when we reached the James Creek Trail. We had planned on camping at Linton Meadows the first night and this trail would eventually lead us there and take us past some other interesting sights. The first of these was the James Creek Shelter which sat at the edge of a meadow made green by James Creek.

Next we passed a small pond where Heather spotted a tadpole.

Flower lined Hinton Creek was next.

Followed by Separation Creek. We may have found some of the tadpoles relatives there.

At a five way trail junction we stayed straight continuing on toward Linton Meadows. The clouds had finally lifted from the mountain tops and here we got our first good look at the Middle Sister.

Another junction awaited just .3 miles later. We had originally planned on staying straight and going directly to Linton Meadows but we were enjoying the scenery so much we decided to take a longer route to the meadows and go past Husband and Eileen Lakes first. The 2.4 mile trail would lead us beneath The Husband, past the two lakes, and back to the far end of Linton Meadows. It was interesting to see The Husband up close. The shape reminded us a lot of Broken Top.

The first lake we reached was Husband Lake. It was a nice lake with views of both the Middle and South Sister.

After a nice break at Husband Lake we continued on toward Eileen Lake. The trail passed a rock slide at the base of The Husband where we were surprised to see some Columbine in bloom.

There was also the cutest little tree attempting to grow out of the side of a boulder.

The North Sister made its first appearance of the day as we continued North.

Eileen Lake was a gem with green shores and great views. There had been several people camped near Husband Lake but for some reason no one was at Eileen Lake. As we made our way around the lake we encountered a large number of tiny frogs. We had to walk very carefully so we didn’t step on any since they were all over on the trail.

We eventually made our way around to the best views from the lake.

We left the lake and the frogs behind and in another .8 miles reached the junction with the James Creek Trail at the edge of Linton Meadows.

Several branches of Linton Creek flow through the meadows creating a large swath of green with the Middle & South Sister providing the backdrop. There were not many flowers left but a couple of patches remained and the sound of the streams roaring down hillside on the far side of the meadows completed the experience.

We headed back South here and found a campsite at the edge of the meadows. We seemed to be the only ones camped in the area which suited us just fine.

After getting camp set up we had one more thing to visit – Linton Springs. There is no official trail to the springs but I had a feeling there might be a way up to them so we set off looking for any signs of a trail that might lead us to them. We managed to find some faint trails and picked our way up the main stream being careful to avoid damaging the plants. As we neared the springs we found a more established path and followed it up to an amazing view.

The springs were truly impressive cascading down from all around the rim of a small bowl.

It was a perfect way to cap off our first day. We had already visited so many diverse and beautiful places we couldn’t wait to see what day 2 had in store when we would return to the PCT and head to the Chambers Lakes between the Middle and South Sister and finally past Camp Lake to Demaris Lake for our second night.

Happy Trails!

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High Cascades Hiking Oregon Three Sisters Area Trip report

Broken Top – No Name Lake

We’re a little behind on our trip reports due to spending too much time hiking 🙂 (If that is possible). After being in Washington for our last couple of trips we headed over to Central Oregon to spend some time in the Three Sisters area. We started off with a day hike to a lake we had really been wanting to visit, a lake with no name but a spectacular view located at 8000′ on the east side of Broken Top.

We set off from Todd Lake as the Sun was rising hoping to beat the crowds up to this increasingly popular spot.

The trail from Todd Lake entered the Three Sisters Wilderness shortly after leaving the lake.

Then Broken Top made an appearance.

It wasn’t the only Cascade Peak visible from the trail.
Mt. Bachelor:

South Sister:

The trail climbed gently as it left the forest and gained better and better views as it passed by and through open meadows.

And across wildflower lined streams.

We spotted several deer grazing in the meadows near the junction with the Green Lakes Trail.

As we gained elevation the views to the south opened up and we could see Diamond Peak, Mt. Thielsen, and Mt. Bailey beyond Mt. Bachelor.

As we worked our way around Broken Top we passed several springs which were the sources of many of the green meadows we’d passed.

It was interesting to note a small section of land that was not included in the Three Sisters Wilderness surrounding Crater Ditch. The ditch channels water from glacial melt-off down into Central Oregon for irrigation purposes and predates the wilderness designation thus remaining outside of the boundary.

After crossing Crater Ditch the trail headed toward Ball Butte and the end of the Green Lakes Trail at road 380.

Shortly after crossing a creek an unofficial trail forked to the left heading between Ball Butte and Broken Top with Broken Hand dead ahead.

We then recrossed the monkeyflower lined creek and followed it up toward the no name lake passing several small but scenic falls.

The trail turned toward Broken Top and continued to climb toward the east side of the mountain. An increasing variety of wildflowers could be seen as we got closer to the lake and many birds were flying about chirping happily.

Finally the path reached a snowfield between two moraines. We climbed the snowfield to find no name lake waiting at the base of Broken Top.

The lake was as beautiful as advertised. The colors of the water and of Broken Top were spectacular.

We were surprised by several things. The lake was larger than we had expected and there was a surprising number of flowers growing on the moraines surrounding the lake.

A path around the right side of the lake led to yet more amazing views. Climbing to a viewpoint revealed mountains from Broken Top to a faint Mt. Hood on the horizon with the lake below behind us.

There was a single tent high up on the rim overlooking the lake but we didn’t see the owner and had had the lake all to ourselves for awhile before another pair of hikers arrived. On our hike out we passed a number of people heading up the trail and were once again glad we chose to get an early start. There is a shorter route to the lake but it involves what has been described as a terrible access road and it would have meant missing out on some great scenery. When we got back to Todd Lake the parking lot was full but the lake and Broken Top remained a peaceful sight and a great way to kick off a vacation.

Happy Trails!

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Tags Ball Butte, Broken Hand, Broken Top, cascade mountains, Central Oregon, Crater Ditch, Diamond Peak, Green Lakes Trail, hiking, Mt. Bachelor, No Name Lake, Oregon, Three Sisters Wilderness, Todd Lake