Three Sisters Wilderness, August 9, 2015

The temperature cooled off, and although cloudy, it appeared it would be a good day for hiking.  Joel has been talking about a hike he did years ago in the Three Sisters Wilderness near Three Creeks Lake.  He said it was up hill (remember he doesn't "do hills") but felt he could give it a stab.  I quizzed him at length about the elevation gain and trail conditions and he replied it was all good.  So off we went heading for Sisters and the road up to the trail head.

The amount of cars at the trail head indicated this must be a very popular and and therefore it couldn't be that difficult.  Right! Yep.  It is steep with lots of switch backs, but Joel was determined to push on.  The Tam McArther Rim Trail  starts right across from Three Creeks Lake and continues up and up and up for about 2 miles with vistas of Three Creeks Lake, Broken Top, Three Sisters, and Adams and Mt. Washington in the distance.  With the skies being overcast and cloudy, it was a challenge to get clear photos.  I am still trying to learn how to use my new Sony a6000 a mirror less DSLR.


Three Creeks Lake near the beginning of the Trail

Joel enjoying one of the level segments of the trail.  I think the mountain in the background is Three Fingered Jack.

In addition to vistas, there were lots of "ghost trees". On of my favorite subjects.

Most of the wildflowers were gone, but there was still some colors reminding that fall is not too far away.

Broken Top

Remenants of forest fires.

The trail leads to the out cropping

 Although the trail is steep, it is very "buffed". Three Creeks Lake is coming into view on the way down.

Its hard to believe the Rim is only 2 miles away.  It seems much farther.

Joel pushed on and, although it took awhile he made it nearly to the top.  Not too bad for having open heart surgery 6 months ago!.

At the end of the trail we hit the lake and soaked our feet for awhile.  Although, Tara was not suppose to go in the water, there was no way to keep her out of it.  Boy did that water feel good on the feet.

I mentioned earlier the road to the trail head was out of Sisters.  Well, Three Creek Brewing is in Sisters, so guess where our stop was on the way back to Thousand Trails.  Yep. Joel rewarded himself and me with a cold brew and dinner. Yummmm.