I Heart Pacific Northwest

August 10, 2016

backpack: Three Sisters Wilderness – Green Lakes

Three night backpacking trip to the Green Lakes area at the base of South Sister, with day hikes to Broken Top and Golden Lake.

Total mileage for all four days: 27.5 miles with 3,632 ft elevation gain

I forgot my camera on this trip (?!), so these photos were taken with my iPhone, at least until it died on me, then the rest were taken with my friend’s camera. (Thanks, Helen, for coming to my rescue. I didn’t know what to do without a camera in my hands!)

DAY ONE

backpack in to Green Lakes area
5.5 miles with 1,100 ft elevation gain

Since this is a heavy use area, we hiked in on a Sunday afternoon, starting at the Fall Creek trailhead. Judging by how many people that we saw day hiking, and the number of backpackers hiking out, this area is indeed quite crowded on weekends. Our destination is one of the 28 designated campsites in the Green Lakes area.

The trail follows Fall Creek all the way up to the Green Lakes area, and crosses it three times: once on a rustic footbridge with a side railing, and twice on large leveled-off logs above the creek. At two miles in is a junction with the trail to Moraine Lake on South Sister. Moraine Lake is a popular camping destination for hikers summiting South Sister.

The hike in is very scenic, with wildflowers in full bloom along the many creeks and meadows. Eventually, the trail climbs above the creek with views of the creek’s many waterfalls. Several miles in, a large ridge of lava rock appears on the west side of the creek, with large chunks of glossy black obsidian shining in the daylight.

When we entered the Green Lakes area, park ranger Molly provided info on the best campsite for our group. As I talked to her about our Leave No Trace practices, I discovered that she is friends with the park ranger that I met the previous weekend at Jefferson Park… ranger Eric. He complimented us on our clean campsite there, and I couldn’t have been more proud. : )

Broken Top and South Green Lake

South Sister and the Green Lakes

There are three Green Lakes: North Green Lake, Green Lake, and South Green Lake. We setup camp near South Green Lake, which is shaped like a heart. Pumice hills and wooded hills fill the area, with views of South Sister, Broken Top and the top of North Sister.

DAY TWO

day hike on the Broken Top Trail
9 miles with 875 ft elevation gain

From our campsite, we took the Broken Top Trail to the junction with the Crater Trail, which leads to the unnamed glacial lake at the base of Broken Top.

Winding around the base of Cayuse Crater, evidence of the volcanic history of this area was visible all along the trail. The hike went through varying terrain: heavily wooded, to open with pumice hills covered with miniature wildflowers, and through meadows with streams criss-crossing the area.

Views to the south included Mount Bachelor, the Cascade Lakes basin, Diamond Peak, and in the far distance, the northern rim of Crater Lake.

Eventually, Broken Top and Broken Hand dominate the landscape as the trail approaches the base of each.

Once we reached the junction with the Crater trail, half of our group continued on to the unnamed lake at the base of Broken Top while the other, more tired half of our group (including me), turned around and hiked back to camp.

Broken Top

more volcanic rock

yet another stream with wildflowers

DAY THREE

day hike to Golden Lake
7.7 miles with 1,342 ft elevation gain

From our campsite in the Green Lakes area, we took the Green Lakes trail north towards Park Meadow. We didn’t go all the way to Park Meadow, instead, we took an unmarked side trail to Golden Lake.