Trip Report

Several phone calls after a Middle Sister/North Sister climb cancellation, I found that I had volunteered to lead a Middle Sister climb! Even with a short notice, six of us left Eugene at 10 a.m. Saturday, headed for Arrowhead Lake. This is still one of the great undiscovered base camps, with beautiful views from its cliffy setting. On this trip, however, it seems that a few others also discovered our spot. The crowd was comprised of a flock of Mazamas headed for both Sisters, a group of Boy Scouts on one of their character developing odysseys and assorted others. (Next year we check out the summit camp sites!) No problem, though, there still was enough room in the small (warmer) lake for everyone to get wet.

We left about 6 a.m. Sunday for the summit. About an hour later, Jamie Kiley caught up with us. No, he wasn't left at base camp; he did this the hard way. After working late he was up at 3 a.m., drove to the trailhead, started hiking at 5:45, took the long scenic route by Obsidian Falls and caught up with us part way up the mountain. Some place along the way he said he was a little tired - I wonder why! The north side snow field was fairly small so we just walked around it and right up that puppy. On top the weather was calm so we had a long lunch stay - alone with various climbers, Mazamas, and a friendly "look-alike" type dog that came up the north ridge with a few additional folk. This was indeed a fine day in the mountains, with an exceptional group. After a relaxed pack-up at Arrowhead Lake, we hiked off into the sunset.

Climbers were Jamie Kiley, Kyle Merriam, Susan Szentandrasi, Karin Thompson, Tim Verkler and Ed Lovegren (leader).