Middle Sister and North Sister, Three Sisters Wilderness, Oregon

Middle Sister and North Sister, from South Sister,
Three Sisters Wilderness, Oregon Cascades

I backpacked into the Three Sisters Wilderness from the east side (the easy side) in September of 1989. It was my second trip there. My second solo trip, in fact. I wore a pair of moccasins made out of deer hide that I had brain tanned, the natural way. I don't think I could hike with a full backpack today wearing only soft deerskin mocassins, but I did then. I did change to hiking boots once the trail approached timberline, because from there it was really rocky.

This photo was taken from the base of South Sister, overlooking the lakes where I camped. In the distance are Middle Sister and North Sister, the three volcanic peaks for which the wilderness is named.

Hiking from the east side is "easy" because you get to the high country much quicker than from the west side. From the west you have to hike through many more miles of forest, long and almost flat. Nothing wrong with that, but if you have limited time and yearn to get above timberline and see sights like this, you can't go wrong by starting closer instead of far away.

With the climate change that is going on these days, I wonder how this scene would look at the same time of the year now. I'll bet you would not see any snow fields. Maybe a small remnant glacier or two, but nothing more.