Middle Sister Summit Attempt with my High School Buddy Jim - Three Sister's Wilderness, Oregon

Attempting to climb Middle Sister with a high school buddy I haven't seen in forever was great fun. Jim and I met up at the trailhead and got a slightly later start than planned.

The day called for a lot of sun with chances of thunderstorms, so we kept our eyes on the sky as we hiked along and caught up on life. As the trail got steeper, the conversation decreased.

We had a first patch of bad weather blow through early in the day, but we ultimately ended up calling the climb above 8,000 feet as weather was changing and we were a bit behind schedule. That ended up being a good call, as a thunderstorm rolled in once we were down lower.

Still, we got over 3,000 feet of ascent and over 14 miles of hiking in. Even with the dark clouds and occasional sprinkles, it was a beautiful day, and a great time with a good friend.

The Middle Sister, at 10,047 ft, is the shortest of the Three Sisters, and but is the middle in terms of difficulty (South Sister being easier and North Sister being much more difficult). If you start at the Pole Creek Trailhead, AllTrails says the hike is 15.4mi in length with 5,049 feet of elevation gain. However, we were at a smidge over 7 miles and about 3,100 feet of gain when we turned around, so figure mileage at somewhere between 16 and 18 miles total.

0:17 - Drive to trailhead
0:39 - Trailhead sunset views
0:51 - Plan for the day
1:29 - Starting the hike
2:42 - Stream crossing
3:11 - 4 mile check in
4:12 - Stream and wrong turn
4:54 - Back on track (that we thought was still wrong)
5:57 - Starting to get steep
7:12 - Great views well above tree line
7:30 - 8,000 feet of elevation
8:40 - Turn around decision
11:11 - Alternate route down
12:13 - Below tree line
14:08 - Thunderstorm rolling in
16:35 - Trailhead in sight
16:52 - Back to the trailhead and car
17:11 - Trip photos

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