South Sister Climb

Another item on the Bucket List checked off! I finally  climbed South Sister!

This past week, I decided to organize a one night girl’s camping trip to Bend with the intention of summiting South Sister.

We headed down to Bend on Thursday afternoon straight to 10 Barrel Brewing. In case I didn’t rave about them enough on my bike ride post, I can’t recommend a better spot for food in Bend. Everyone who we asked where was a good spot for food and beer recommended it. The place was pretty busy for a Thursday but we sat outside and enjoyed a beer out in the sun on their patio. We fueled up with some pizza and the hummus platter (it is HUGE!) and then headed out to look for a campsite.

The trailhead is by Devil’s Lake which has 6 camping spots. We thought it would be a long shot to find a camping spot down there since South Sister is a popular hike and we didn’t get down there until 10 pm-ish. Luckily, we got a spot right down by the pretty green lake water.

Thursday morning, we got a late start. Woke up at 7 am and then had ourselves a hefty little breakfast of oatmeal and some left over pizza. We started the hike around 9:30 am.

The first 1.5 miles are shaded and make for an fairly easy little hike. It was nice and cool in the first part.

It’s not until after you get out of the little forest that you get the first glimpse of South Sister. It was exciting to see it finally but also a little scary thinking of all the climbing we had to do.

The trail then takes you to some gorgeous views of Morraine Lake and Broken Top and also Mt. Bachelor. This part is nice and flat and took us to the bottom of South Sister.

The trail then begins to become steep. We climbed around a mile until a saddle at Lewis Glacier. There was little shade on the climb. The glacier provided us with some cool breezes. We busted out the hiking poles to help with the ascent.

There was a tiny lake at the bottom of Lewis Glacier. We took a little break to check out the lake and glacier and eat to prep for the last mile of climbing.

The last mile was steep! We were climbing on some powdery cinder rock. Hiking poles were a saving grace for this portion of the climb.

The red cinder means we were almost at the top. After that climb, we reached the false summit.

The actual summit lies across the glacier at the top. You can cross this glacier or go around it on a ridge to the right. We went around to get to the summit. In late summer, the glacier melts and Teardrop Pool, Oregon’s highest lake is revealed. We didn’t get so lucky.

We finally reached the summit at 10,358 ft after about 4 hours of climbing.

There were gorgeous views of Middle and North Sister, Mt. Washington, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Hood and even Mt. St. Helens (it’s waaaaay in the back on the left).

The views were amazing but we were exhausted by the time we reached the summit. After an hour, we made our way back around the glacier and started the grueling 6 mile hike down the mountain.

We were STARVING post hike. We headed to Bend and grabbed a quick dinner (and beer of course) and then a couple of red bulls for the long drive back to Portland.

A few things we learned on the climb:

1. Taking sunscreen with you is a pretty good idea. The cool breeze masked our sunburns for the day.
2. Hiking poles were VERY helpful in getting up the steep parts and definitely helpful on the way down. I only slipped and fell once!
3. Wearing high socks on this hike will prevent the powdery rock from getting into your shoes on the way down.
4. South Sister is a LONG climb. We hiked for 9ish hours. Driving for 3 hours post climb was not the most fun part of the trip. Camping another night would have been a little easier on our bodies.
5. Some people say it can get cold at the summit. Although we didn’t add layers, I carried some. It was starting to get a little chilly up there after a while.
6. The glacier at the top is safe to cross but it is the only one. Lewis Glacier has plenty of crevasses for people to fall into. It’s not a good idea to venture onto it for a photo.

This is a trip I would do again. It was a great workout and the views are worth it. I’m thinking a night hike under a full moon with a sunrise on the summit might be in my future.

Happy climbing everyone!!