The Challenging Ascent to South Sister’s Summit in Oregon

A Beaverton, Oregon resident, William Rehm IV has retail experience working at a comics store and a garden center. An outdoors enthusiast, William Rehm IV enjoys exploring the Three Sisters Wilderness Area and has reached the 10,358-foot South Sister summit twice.

While not requiring technical climbing skills, the trail up the peak is extremely challenging, as it contains an elevation gain of 4,900 feet within only 5.5 miles. Devils Lake Trailhead, which almost immediately veers sharply upward through 1.5 miles of dense forest predominated by mountain hemlock. Arriving at a broad, sandy plateau, the hiker can view South Sister and neighboring Broken Top in full.

The section that follows across open tableland is the easiest, as the trail passes gnarled, wind-scoured tree clusters and takes in views of numerous lakes and mountains. At the Moraine Lake Valley’s upper end, the trail steepens again for 1.2 miles until a sandy saddle is reached, representing the current reach of the Lewis Glacier’s moraine. The small glacier-fed lake here is ideal for filling a water bottle if one has a filter. From here, it is only 0.7 mile of steep progress through cinder scree to reach the lip of a broad, snow-covered crater that has a small lake within it. Mostly frozen over, this represents the highest elevation lake in Oregon.

One aspect of the hike to be aware of is that, while the trail is open from August through mid-October, it should not be attempted unless the weather is exceptionally clear. Even when the weather surrounding is perfect, a cloud on the summit can indicate a fierce blizzard at the top. For those who are considering camping, Lake Moraine is a popular and accessible option.