Day 1: Lava Lake Trailhead to Camp Lake Trail

After a leisurely breakfast we drove 20 minutes to the PCT trailhead at the busy Lava Lake campground.  We self-registered and set off on our hike.  At the first split, not even five minutes into the hike, we took a wrong turn which took us through lava fields to the Deewright observatory and then back to the parking lot where we had set off an hour earlier.  Bad signage would turn out to be a recurring theme in the hike; the map inaccuracies did not help either.  The second attempt went better.  We started a gentle climb through the forest, first parallel to the lava fields, and then past the popular North and South Matthieu lakes.  We hit the proper loop at the Scott Pass, turned East, and started a eight mile long up and down section through more forests.  Soon after crossing Alder Creek we entered the “Burn Zone” – a huge swath of forest that had a forest fire some years ago.  This was a very eery area where only leaf-less black stumps remained.  Around the 5pm we reached the split for the trail up to Camp lake.  Although some signs informed us that camping was not allowed in the burn zone, we decided the put up camp in this bleak environment for the night since it was getting late and we didn’t think we would make it up to Camp Lake before dark.  It was a petty that the temporary volunteers at the ranger station in Sisters had not mentioned the burn zone.

Day 2: Camp Lake Trail to Park Meadows + side trip to Camp Lake and Chambers Lakes

We got an early start, packed up camp, and stashed our backpacks at the split.  We started off to Camp Lake with just the essentials – some water, snacks, and jackets.  After about 50 minutes we exited the burn zone and were back in the green forest.  We soon crossed a creek, which turned out to have perfectly good camp spots.  There we more camping spots at the North Fork Squaw crossing at the split for the Demaris Lake some 10 minutes later.  As we continued up, the forest opened up and we crossed some snow field to reach Camp Lake two miles later.  Camp Lake is in a gorgeous setting with clear views of the snow-clad peaks of both North Sister and Middle Sister, both of which are very nearby.  After lunch at the lake, we decided to push on off-trail to the Chambers Lakes.  We started a climb towards a scree bulge South of Camp Lake and soon found a faint trail towards a viewing point high above three of the four Cambers Lakes.  The view was breath-taking – the lakes were filled with ice calving off from a glacier.  There is a fourth Cambers lake behind a more difficult ridge towards the west of Camp Lake; we did not go there.  By the afternoon, we headed back down to the split with the Green Lakes trail where we had left our packs and continued south on the loop.  At the end of the day we set up camp at the beautiful and immensely popular Park Meadows with a great view of Middle Sister.  Although there were many other groups camped there, the meadow is so large that it is not too difficult to find a quiet isolated spot.

Day 3: Park Meadow to South of Green Lake + side trip to Golden Lake

We continued our clock-wise loop, heading south and soon reached the unmarked but obvious side trail towards Golden Lake which another hiker had told us about.  We stashed our backpacks at the split and followed the short trail to Golden Lake which is a beautiful small lake set in a charming large meadow.  We followed another unmarked but once again obvious trail up alongside the waterfall at the far side of Golden Lake towards an exquisite series of unnamed high alpine lakes at the base of Broken Top Mountain with fantastic views of the valley below.  After returning to the split, we continued the loop and soon reached the very popular Green Lakes.  We found a grassy spot at the largest of the three lakes and chilled for a couple of hours eating lunch and reading our Kindles.  Since we wanted some solitude we opted to avoid camping at the overcrowded Moraine Lake and found a nice isolated camping spot at a small creek a couple of hundred feet off the Green Lakes trail.

Day 4: South of Green Lake to Sisters Mirror Lake + side trip to South Sister Summit

We got an early start and continued to Moraine Lake.  This is a popular jumping off point for the climb to the South Sister summit.  Not surprisingly, all of the 22 available camping spots were already taken by the time we got there.  We stashed our backpacks at the start of the trail to the summit and commenced the not so long (only 3.2 miles) but quite steep and arduous trek the summit.  If you do only one side trip, this is the one.  Although the way up is hard work, the views from the top are breathtaking.  The first 2.5 miles are straightforward enough, following long undulating switch-backs through the granite towards a ridge above a small turquoise alpine lake at the base of the glacier.  This is a false summit; the real hard work actually starts here.  You continue over a steep ridge between two glaciers and then enter a long slog through steep loose red pumice gravel.  After about 1.5 hours from the false summit ridge you finally reach the actual final ridge of the summit,  The final couple hundred of feet are the steepest of them all and a real kick in the but.  From here you can either cross the snow field or walk along the rim of the summit to reach the actual peak of South Sister — either way is easy after the long slog up.  Once you reach the summit, the views are out of this world.  You can see most of the loop and the other two Sisters spread out in a feast of panorama at your feet.  We spent an hour or so at the top, enjoying all the view and then head down again.  One the way up, the way down appears to be very daunting because of the steep loose gravel, but it turns out to be much easier than feared (although dusty).  Once back down, we picked up our packs, and continued for another mostly flat 5 miles to Sisters Mirror Lake.  This made for a long 15 mile day.  Sisters Mirror Lake turned out to be a lovely lake.  Unfortunately it was so mosquito infested that we had to take refuge in the tent to avoid being eaten alive.

Day 5: Sisters Mirror Lake to Minnie Scott Spring

When we got up at Sisters Mirror Lake, we packed up and started hiking as quickly as we possibly could.  Breakfast in this mosquito hell was unthinkable.  The route first took us through the forest and then through the lovely open Wickiup plain.  By now we had rounded South Sister and were heading north again.  After an hour or so, by the time we reached the Rock Mesa lava fields, the mosquitos has abated enough to stop for a belated breakfast.  The trail continued gently undulated up and down through a progression of forests and more beautiful flower-filled meadows.  We continued past the James Creek shelter and some time later stopped in Linton Meadows for lunch.  This is one of the larger meadows with particularly nice creeks, flowers, and views of North Sister.  Since we wanted to get some training under our belt for the John Muir Trail (JMT) in September we decided to make it a long 17 mile day and pushed onward and upward to the Opie Dilldock pass.  The pass could not be more different than the lovely meadows from whence we came.  We entered a stark and menacing landscape of lava fields.  The path took us steeply up through immense jumbles of black pumice rock and dead trees.  By 6pm we reached the actual pass.  Whatever you do, do not miss the short side trip to  Collier Cone.  There is split to the right that takes you there.  It is not the steep path up on scree cone in front of you.  Once you reach the view point of Collier Cone, you have a marvelous view of South Sister and the massive Collier Glacier that tumbles down into the large lake below your feet.  We spent a good thirty minutes there and then continued to our final destination for the day: Minnie Scott Spring.  Since there were already a couple of campers at the spring itself, we continued downstream for another 10 minutes to find a more secluded camping spot with a great view of Jefferson mountain.

Day 6: Minnie Scott Spring to Lava Lake Trailhead

The final stretch of the hike was short and straightforward.  Just 7 miles through forests and another lava field to the junction which took us back past the Matthieu Lakes and the Lava Lake trailhead where we had started 6 days before.  We drove back to the town of Sisters where we had huge ice creams and got in the car for the drive to McMinnville.