Solo Backpacking the 50-Mile Three Sisters Loop in 3 Days - with All Trip Info

I made this 50-mile, 3-day 2-night trip alone around the Three Sisters mountains in the Oregon Cascades between July 25 – 27 2023.

It didn’t occur to me at that time to take video, so photos will have to suffice.

I started from Pole Creek Trailhead to the northwest of the Three Sisters, which is the side I live on, but it also let me get what I expected to be the least pleasant section out of the way first.

The area around this trailhead for a few miles north and south has been burned with relatively recent wildfires. The good thing is it clears up the views of the mountains from those trails; the bad thing is that there is a ton of blowdown debris blocking the trail, often places the trail seems to disappear and needs to be relocated, and it’s very dry, hot walking.

Except for a fairly small section on the west side of the mountains that was burned, the remainder of the trail and area was in good shape.

My original plan had been to take 4 days, but I didn’t feel like stopping on day 2… until I was past any place to camp because of a lack of water and had to power through to South Matthieu Lake anyway. It was a very long 22.5 miles—I would have been happy with closer to 15, but it did make for a nice shorter last day, which helped going through the burn area be somewhat less daunting mentally.

The air was somewhat smoky from wildfires in the area, but it seemed to clear up more on days 2 and 3, so the views improved.

—Chapters—
Start - 00:00
Day 1 Start - 00:27 / Info - 02:37
Day 2 Start - 02:48 / Info - 05:49
Day 3 Start - 05:59 / Info - 06:44

Trailhead - 00:27
Golden Lake - 01:19
Green Lakes - 01:55
Moraine Lake - 02:23
Reese Lake - 03:48
Obsidian Falls - 04:29
Sister Springs - 04:34
Opie Dildock Pass - 05:12
South Matthieu Lake - 05:27


—GEAR—
Pack – Osprey Aether 70 - https://amzn.to/49myVRo
Tent – Zpacks Plex Solo - https://zpacks.com/products/plex-solo...
Sleeping Bag – Marmot Tressles 15 - https://amzn.to/3MQmyEw
Sleeping Pad – Klymit Static V2 - https://amzn.to/45gRHqT
Stove – MSR Pocket Rocket - https://amzn.to/3KJ88pd
Water Filter – Sawyer 1 Gal Gravity - https://amzn.to/4azjeYp
Pot/Cup – Timberbrother Titanium - https://amzn.to/4pJGQOB
Shoes – Salomon XA Pro 3D - https://amzn.to/44HqeOZ
Trekking Poles – Trailbuddy - https://amzn.to/4sgnTov


—DAILY NOTES—

Day 1
8:12 - Leave trailhead
8:43 - Green Lakes Tr JCT - 1.5 mi, 2.9 mph
8:59 - River crossing & Camp Lake Trail JCT - bad blowdown starts until near pond
10:40 - Unnamed pond
11:05 - creek then sketchy river crossing
11:25 - Park Meadow Trail JCT - 7.3 mi, 2.3 mph
12:05 - Golden Lake - 8.9 mi, 2.3 mph - stopped to fill water and cook food
12:39 - Resume
1:43 - Biggest Green Lake
2:05 - Broken Top Trail JCT
2:54 - Moraine Lake Trail JCT - 15 mi, 2.4 mph
3:45 - Moraine Lake campsite - 16.58 mi, 2.4 mph

Day 2
7:03 - Break camp and stop to fill water
7:13 - Start out from lake; stop for 5 min to tape right heel blister
7:39 - Sisters Climber trail JCT
8:08 - LeConte Crater Tr JCT - 2.4 mi, 2.6 mph
8:38 - PCT JCT - 3.7 mi, 2.6 mph
9:30 - James Crk Trail JCT - 6.25 mi, 2.7 mph
10:41 - Reese Lake - 9.3 mi, 2.7 mph - stop for water and to cook food
11:19 - Resume
11:47 - Foley Ridge Trail JCT - 10.7 mi, 2.7 mph
12:22 - Linton Meadow Trail JCT - 12.3 mi, 2.7 ph
1:13 - Obsidian Trail JCT - 14.5 mi, 2.7 mph
1:55 - Glacier Way Trail JCT - 15.75 mi, 2.6 mph
3:14 - Top of rock switchbacks just before Opie Dildock pass - 18.1 mi, 2.5 mph
3:45 - Minnie Scott spring - very shallow/small - hard to fill w filter bag; stop for water - 18.9 mi, 2.4 mph
4:15 - Scott Trail JCT - 19.9 mi, 2.4 mph
5:30 - South Matthieu Lake - 22.44 mi, 2.4 mph

Day 3
7:02 - Break camp, fill water. Left filter bag 1/3 full because very little water on route.
7:45 - Green Lakes trail JCT - 2.1 mi, 2.9 mph - easy, clear trail
8:00 - Blowdown on trail starts - 2.75 mi, 2.8 mph
8:45 - Alder Creek - stop to fill water, left some in filter bag - 4.3 mi, 2.6 mph
8:52 - Resume - Trail extremely bad the whole way to pole creek with blowdown. Very slow
11:26 - Pole Creek Trail JCT - 8.94, 2.1 mph
12:06 - Trailhead - 10.41 mi, 2.1 mph - clear trail

#camping #hiking #solohiking #backpacking #solobackpacking #cascades #oregon #oregoncascades

‪@MyOwnFrontier‬ ‪@mikewanders‬ ‪@HarmenHoek‬ ‪@CatalystAthletics‬