Post by Philip on Sept 19, 2015 14:14:07 GMT -9
Today I popped up and did a loop through the Three Sisters. It really felt like fall up there. The bearberry leaves are bright red and a lot of other alpine plants are getting brown along the margins. A brisk breeze was blowing out of the west and it was downright chilly. It was a good reminder that I need to start packing a puffy.
I parked at the Monashka overlook (aka "Cocaine Hill") and went up the North Sister from there. I avoid that trail all summer, opting for the Virginia Creek access farther out the road because the SE side of the North Sister is just so darn buggy in the summers. It is a quick and efficient way up though, and put me closer to the Pillar Bench trail where I would eventually come out. I went over the top of the N Sister and then just walked the ridge over the Middle and up the South Sister. There I bumped into a young goat by itself. I love how goats start looking like plump balls of eider down starting about now. They get even more fuzzed up in November, of course, but the mange of summer is at least finally erased. I came down the SE side of the South Sister and walked the Pillar Reservoir bench trail back to the road, and walked up the road the last 1/4 mile to the truck. This hike is really nice, offers great views, is close to town, and after you grunt up the North Sister the subsequent elevation changes are really quite modest. Most of the ridges are pretty steep with significant exposure though, so not for the faint of heart of clumsy of foot. I don't know if I would take a dog on this hike that wasn't used to some rock scrambling.
I was incredibly disappointed by the cranberries up there. I think I saw one. Period. Maybe other peaks have more, but it looks like an absolute lowbush famine this year.
Counter-clockwise:
Climbing the N Sister:
Down towards the saddle between the N and Middle Sisters:
Up the Middle Sister:
Climbing the S Sister:
A lone goat on the S Sister:
I parked at the Monashka overlook (aka "Cocaine Hill") and went up the North Sister from there. I avoid that trail all summer, opting for the Virginia Creek access farther out the road because the SE side of the North Sister is just so darn buggy in the summers. It is a quick and efficient way up though, and put me closer to the Pillar Bench trail where I would eventually come out. I went over the top of the N Sister and then just walked the ridge over the Middle and up the South Sister. There I bumped into a young goat by itself. I love how goats start looking like plump balls of eider down starting about now. They get even more fuzzed up in November, of course, but the mange of summer is at least finally erased. I came down the SE side of the South Sister and walked the Pillar Reservoir bench trail back to the road, and walked up the road the last 1/4 mile to the truck. This hike is really nice, offers great views, is close to town, and after you grunt up the North Sister the subsequent elevation changes are really quite modest. Most of the ridges are pretty steep with significant exposure though, so not for the faint of heart of clumsy of foot. I don't know if I would take a dog on this hike that wasn't used to some rock scrambling.
I was incredibly disappointed by the cranberries up there. I think I saw one. Period. Maybe other peaks have more, but it looks like an absolute lowbush famine this year.
Counter-clockwise:
Climbing the N Sister:
Down towards the saddle between the N and Middle Sisters:
Up the Middle Sister:
Climbing the S Sister:
A lone goat on the S Sister: