South Sister, Oregon

Meet the patients we climbed for on South Sister, Oregon!

We climbed for Matt

South Sister Peak, Cascades, Oregon

The South Sister is the 3rd highest peak in Oregon, July 2025. Our original goal was Mt. Hood, but due to the warm season, the upper mountain was closed the week prior, due to rock fall, crevasses opening and the conditions were unsafe. So we rapidly pivoted to another worthy objective for patients we were climbing for.

The Three Sisters are three volcanoes and are part of the cascade range. The official names are North 4th highest, Middle 5th highest and South Sister 3rd highest, but they have also been affectionately referred to as Faith, Hope and Charity.

This peak is ~5,000 feet of elevation gain on a 12 mile round trip hike by mountain streams, pristine forests, alpine flowers, glacier fed lakes to a summit with views across the entire state of Oregon to both Washington and California on a clear day.

When we started the mosquitoes were terrible, attacking on all sides

After a few miles we rose into an alpine meadow

We stopped for a photo, but the mosquitoes were still aggressive and so we hurried off

We stopped by this incredible tree to eat breakfast, but again the mosquitoes convinced us to stay for only a few minutes

We made it to the glacier and Hudson put on his crampons for the first time

Here comes Hudson up the glacier with Mt. Bachelor in the background

Hudson nearing the summit with Teardrop Lake, the highest lake in Oregon

We made it to the summit 10,358 feet above sea level! Teardrop Lake in the background

Climb4KC medal next to the summit marker

Another view of Teardrop Lake, you don't want to slip on that ice and fall in that lake!

Looking north to Middle and South Sister. If you look very carefully, you can see Mt. Jefferson, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams, Mt. Rainer, Mt. Washington. Rainer is 250 miles away!

This is the caldera on the summit of the South Sister

Lewis Glacier Lake. We went swimming and it was really cold

On the way down we glissaded down (i.e. sliding down the glacier on your back side). A mountain climbing must do

Crystal clear stream near the end of the hike

After the climb we went to get some food and saw the last Blockbuster in the world in Bend Oregon! We just had to stop

Just before getting back to the car, we crossed under the road and struck a pose

We made a quick stop by Cannon Beach with the trusty water bottle in hand!

The sun was setting on our trip to Oregon

Trip Report

This was Hudson’s first bigger climb defined by more than 5000 of elevation gain in one day. Though not technically as difficult as Mt. Hood, and not quite as high, I don’t think we could have had a better view from the summit. We calculated that we could see for about 250 miles in both directions, therefore, from the middle of the Washington to Northern California.

The start of the climb was next to Devils lake. I know why it is called that, there were so many mosquitoes, that it was torture! We had to climb nearly 2/3rds of the way to the summit to get above tree line and catch a wind to blow away the pests. We literally didn’t stop for more than a few minutes for the first several hours because we would immediately be surrounded by those biting bugs. If we kept moving, then they couldn’t seem to keep up.

Once we got to the lake formed by the Lewis Glacier the bugs thinned out, but then the grade of the trail went up significantly. This last part was difficult hiking, but the views just kept getting better and better. To the south we could see Broken Peak and Mt. Bachelor in the near distance and Devil’s Lake far below.

We made it to the summit caldera and could see what to me appeared to be a blue eye in the middle of the snowfield. It gave me the chills to think of slipping on the ice and sliding into that abyss. Once you hit the water, there’s no saving you. The glacier water would immediately knock the air out of you and the rim of the abyss, would just break away as you frantically tried to get out of the frigid water. We focused on our footsteps until we could get back on the solid rock.

At last we reached the summit and I have to say that in terms on clarity and distance, I don’t think I’ve seen a finer view! There were a few other climbers on the summit. We chatted and then ate lunch and talked. We focused on the patients we climbed for. We snapped some photos with them and the medals and after an hour on the top, headed back down.

Going down is always so much faster and we even glissaded and took a dip in the glacier water. It gave me an instant headache, but it passed just like brain freezes always do, but this was my first external brain freeze. The last of the trail was hot and dusty, but at last we made it down. We celebrated with 5 Guys shakes and Dot’s pretzels.