8 miles of hiking • 3000' elevation gain • 1 night
After going to Pole Ck TH to visit Middle and North Sister I think 7 times, the last time I was there was in the spring of 2012 for a ski trip. I had not been back since the fire.
Wow, first of all I was saddened to see those lovely ponderosas about a quarter or half mile up the trail all burned to a crisp and blackened. Those were some magnificent trees. Most of the rest of the 'trees' in this area were nothing more than overly dense toothpicks only waiting for a fire like the one that happened.
I knew from looking down the SE ridge when climbing North Sister that Soap Creek originates below the Thayer Glacier moraine lake. On previous climbing trips I'd followed a climbers trail up soap creek but veered off before we got to the headwaters. This time I wanted to explore that area.
I was blown away and would love to go back again. Veritable parkland.
A few highlights: White Lupine (don't see that very often), fantastic groves of White Bark pine trees. Must be very old. Flat area that looks like it was a moraine lake in the past. Has some great camping and fun 'boulders' around it. Layers of North Sister's rock. I can't believe the colors on this mountain and the layering. Deep ocher red, black, brown, tan, tuft, cinders, andesite, hanging electric green moss gardens--quite the geology and visual smorgasbord for a mountain. Then there are the caves, so many--have to wonder how much bird nesting and bat use any of them get. Finally seeing Thayer Glacier moraine lake and playing around where soap creek springs emerge below was wonderful. I wonder if the lake depth corresponds roughly to the spring location or if it is traveling quite a bit underground. I've read it is about 80ft deep.
