Assault on Middle Sister
Journal entry Monday September 18, 2006. It's a beautiful day in the Willamette Valley as we head out Highway 223 to Central Oregon. Having just rolled in late the night before from the annual Sea Kayak Symposium, my vision is about as well focused as this picture.
But west of the Cascades we drive into broken cloud cover and occasional showers. By the time we reach the trailhead, West of Sisters, we are experiencing a reasonably nice day.
A look around the trailhead. This was at the fringe of a burn in 2005 and some of the burned timber is being taken off. There are signs everywhere warning folks not to harvest wood on their own. Apparently this timber has been sold.
And the sorting of gear begins. We prepare for a glacier crossing and so each of us has crampons, an ice axe, a harness, carabiners, prussic line and helmet.
A couple of hours of hiking takes us up out of the burned area and into high dry country. The climb is gentle up to now and we gain a few hundred feet over a couple of miles. Below Dave and Mike are conferring over the map at first break.
A picture of my pack and trekking poles at first break:
And up we go:
