After arriving at the airport, we all hopped into the van and enjoyed an awe-inspiring drive up through some clouds to our campsite at Trillium Lake. After sipping some hot cocoa, we fell asleep to the rain drumming on our tents. Oh, Oregon… But not to fear, as Nikkie flipped everyone some mind-blowing chocolate chip pancakes in the morning. The gourmet grub extravaganza continued that night as Alice (aka Grillmaster) treated us all to some mouth watering bacon avocado hamburgers – YUM! To close out our front country experience, we grilled smores over a fire and played an epic game of ‘Mafia’ before turning it in to dreams of the Three Sisters Wilderness.
Day Three saw us charging headlong into the backcountry, as we winded beneath towering pines draped with Spanish moss. We camped at the placid Sister Mirrors Lake, complete with a reflection of the trees across the pristine body of water (bullfrogs provided the nights lullaby). Cassidy was our fearless leader for the next day, marshalling the troops at the crack of dawn for a hearty breakfast before we hit the trail, where Annie’s songs and word games kept us hooting and cackling all day. We hiked across snow to the base of the looming South Sister, which stood swathed in cloud sashes. Camping on a ridgeline, Jack instigated a pizza pita pocket feast. Next on the agenda? SUMMIT DAY.
Sidney was our leader of the day, and she led a spirited hike up the trail. Where we basked like lizards on huge rocks and soaked in the scene – Oregon’s mountains beyond mountains, a veritable Land Before Time. The way down saw Coby ski-sliding down the mountain trail; that night we camped just above Moraine Lake, flanked by Rock Mesa and the jutting Broken Top Mountain. Truly, this was ‘Big Huge Day.’
Hiking the South Sister has gotten us super pumped to hit Smith Rocks for three days of rock climbing! Team ‘Woogly-Woogly,’ over and out!
