South Sister Ascent to the Glacial Lake

Sunday morning we headed out from the trail head at Devils Lake with the goal of reaching the summit of South Sister by about noon.  We started our ascent at 7:30am.  Sometime the night previous, Adam, Jen, and Tammy joined our encampment.  All of us struck up the trail together.  Even before we got to the first plateau, we were encountering snow in the ravines and gullies.

Our objective is sighted.

Moraine Lake and Mount Bachelor in the background.

Walking up the superhighway of a trail toward the summit.  It’s almost absurd how many people climb South Sister on a nice day.

Getting closer but still so far away.

Coming off up the plain and now starting to ascend the south flank of South Sister.

Click through the image above to see the panorama in a larger size.

Lots of snow fields.  We crossed about four or so snow fields during the ascent.

Above treeline.  Broken Top is just visible on the left and Mount Bachelor is on the right.

Lots of snow for this late in the year.  Click on the image above to go to a larger version of the panorama.

 

 

Devils Lake at Night

Last Saturday, Dmitri and I went out to Devils Lake to spend the night in preparation for our South Sister summit attempt.  Click through the image above for the full panorama effect.

We setup our camp in the woods across the road from the trail head.  The main campground was already full and we didn’t feel like being around so many people anyway.

There was a creek just below our camp.

I don’t think anyone will be camping in the lake.

Dmitri drinking a beerski.

A 360 degree panorama from the top of a lava flow near Devils Lake.  Mount Bachelor is to the right of center with snow on the top.  The fading rays of light on the far left side of the photo are in the direction of Devils Lake.

 

Dmitri and me up on the lava flow.  I climbed up there wearing flipflops while Dmitri had proper shoes.  It’s impressive that I didn’t slice my feet open on those rocks.

 

My bivy sack setup.  The air was very dry at Devils Lake.  No condensation on the inside this time.  I used some sticks to prop up the tie-down ropes a bit.  That seemed to help, too.

 

 

Old Growth Trail, Soap Creek, and Sushi with Melissa

Melissa and I went on a hike yesterday through the patch of old growth forest that the College of Forestry has built a trail through

 

 

Yeah, that’s a tree.

We stopped by the pond full of newts.

And then went on a drive down Soap Creek.  It’s gorgeous out there this time of year.

 

Afterward we went for some sushi.  The rainbow roll was my favorite on this sushi boat.