We opted to spend the night at Moraine Lake an do an early morning climb of South Sister, so we set out from Devils Lake on Friday evening and did the short(but steep!) 3 miles to the lake camp sites. It was pretty smoky hiking in and the mountain was shrouded in haze. We stayed optimistic that the morning would be clearer and we enjoyed a peaceful night at camp by the lake. We were up before the sun and were pleasantly surprised to see clear skies and a perfect clear view of the mountain, ready to be conquered. After a quick breakfast and water refill we were on our way. We hiked up out from the lake and met up with the S. Sister Climbers trail. This first stretch of the hike is splendid. The trail rolls gently along over the mostly flat terrain with an unobstructed view of the mountain dominating the field of view. We were in awe of the sight but also feeling a little anxious now that we could fully see the challenge that awaited us. It wasn't too long that gently sloped trail started to steepen and the real climbing began.  The smooth,  single track trail starts to get rocky and though it's never hard to follow a clearly marked and heavily trod path, it does become a bit of a “choose your own adventure” as you wind through the rocks. Fortunately, all of the little paths generally follow the same route up the mountain and flow together.

Both of us had climbed the mountain some years past and generally knew what to expect. Our first objective was to get to the Lewis glacier tarn and have a second breakfast and refill our water. To the new climber, this first stop may appear to be a summit from below. Though it can be disheartening to look up at the red rocky switchbacks and see that the hardest and steepest section still awaits, this is a great spot for a snack break and the blue/green hue of the glacier tarn is mesmerizing. Our filter was acting up and was pumping water one drip at a time and my camel back was completely empty, so rather than waste precious climbing time, I opted to follow the sound of running water above the Lewis Tarn and found a spot where the glacier melt had formed a little creek through the rocks. This water was cold and delicious and I opted to to take the risk of drinking it unfiltered. Though there were no negative consequences, only do this at your own risk, as even high glaciers can contain bacteria, silt, dust, and who knows what else.

Now that we were refreshed with food and water we slung on our packs and started back up the trail. Though its just about a mile in distance, this last 1500 feet of climbing is by far the toughest of the whole hike. The trail is comprised of cinder rocks in loose sand and one step forward is often 2 steps back. Its here that the elevation may also start to be felt and the pace slows significantly as one slogs along up the short but countless switch-backs. To the new S. Sister climber, the “summit” seen from these switch-backs is not the actually summit but, fortunately it is the edge of the big glacier bowl at the top of the mountain and the last, mostly flat hike around the edge of the glacier to the true rocky summit feels like a walk in the park after the steep switch-backs.

After some pictures and a time spent soaking in the incredible views we headed back down. The weary faces we passed while descending the switch-backs was a fresh reminder of what we had just accomplished and we were glad to be the ones heading down. We encountered more and more hikers heading up as we came down, but because there is a network of little sub trails through the rocks, it was easy to navigate and there was room for everyone. We were glad to have poles as it is easy to slip on the loose rocks and sand. We were very thankful to get back to the more level and better defined section of trail.

We finally made it back to Moraine lake and rewarded ourselves by soaking in the cold water. It felt surreal to see the imposing mountain we had just climbed rising above the lake and we were so excited to have met our goal. After packing up camp we completed the last 3 miles back to devils lake and headed home tired, hungry, but so full of pride.