Two days after summiting South Sister, Carly and I tackled the next "Sister" to the north. We started our adventure from the Pole Creek trailhead, with the subsequent trail meandering through mainly flat'ish terrain. There is a creek crossing, and after 3 or 4 miles, a large stream is encountered. The large stream is not to be crossed, as this is the point in which earnest vertical ascent begins. Carly and I turned right at the large stream and began heading up the eastern slopes of Middle Sister. After the first mile of ascent, we encountered glacial rubble and sections of moraines. The deteriorating route was bearable due to views that increased in grandeur with each step. In particular, our route traversed along the base of Hayden Glacier, which seemed particularly large and crevassed for such a southern latitude. After several hours of trekking across glacial and volcanic rubble as well as performing several snow/ice traverses, we finally arrived at the saddle between Middle and North Sister. We ascended a small glacier atop the saddle, then turned left, eventually encountering another snow field followed by a rocky spine that sat atop the origin of Hayden Glacier.
One last section lay before us...the very steep crux ascent to the summit of Middle Sister, which was characterized by rock that broke off the mountain in our hands with un-nerving regularity. I grabbed one bowling ball size rock that immediately began to slide downhill. I held the rock for about 30 seconds in order to let Carly get out of the way, and then had no choice but to let go. The rock tumbled hundreds of feet down the mountain, and initiated a minor rock slide as it dislodged other rocks. After a few more class 3 sections of loose climbing, things leveled out and we boulder-hopped our way to the highest point on the mountain. The view of South Sister and other volcanoes to our north were fantastic. But rest at the summit was short-lived as we had approximately 8 miles of foot pounding hiking to go before our day was over.
We got through the sketchy down climb off the summit of Middle Sister, which allowed us to relax a bit as the threat of having our heads bashed in from falling rocks was over. And after retracing all of our steps, we finally made it back to my truck at sunset. This was a 12+ hour day, ~17 miles of hiking, and around 5500 feet of vertical. To make maters worse, we got back into Bend at an hour that was too late for a celebration at a brewery. Hamburgers at McDonalds had to make do. Nevertheless, this was a completely satisfying mountain adventure. We encountered a little bit of everything...mountaineering, glaciers, scrambling, route finding across a hostile landscape, incredible views, and the satisfaction that comes from knowing you accomplished something awesome. I'd do it again if the trek out and back wasn't so long...but then again, suffering through the trek was a part of the experience that made the day special.
YouTube video is here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUCHN9E8Oqg]. Google map location is here.
