Day 2. Three Sisters Loop 17.7 miles.

Oh what a beautiful mooooooorrrrniiiiing!! 

Oh, what a beautiful day.... I’ve got a beautiful feeling, everything’s going my way. We woke up in our 11/10 campsite and headed out to see what day two had in store! Since we only saw one lake yesterday, one thing was in our mind on this hot, hot day: More alpine lakes to swim in! Luckily, we got to our first right about 10am.

Reese Lake

Ahhhh, nothing like swimming naked in a beautiful, cool lake! I’m telling you, you gotta try it sometime! On the banks of the lake were thousands of butterflies! I tried to get a good picture of one but they move so quick. Brad had better luck.

Photo by Brad

View from the lake

We dried off and continued on the gorgeous day through loads and loads of wildflowers and pleasant streams. The trail stayed forested and meadow-y for most of the morning, until we climbed out of the greenery and crossed a huge dry plain, leaving the PCT and on the LeConte Crater Trail.

Lupine

Teepine

Myself and Nick and Broken Top (Photo From Brad)

We turned onto the Morraine Lake Trail and had our steepest climb of the whole trail! I opted to sit down at the bottom of the climb for a few minutes and have a snack on a log while the others started the climb. After about 5 minutes, I got out my headphones, but on a playlist that Claire made for me while I was on the trail in 2018, and I started charging up the hill!

I passed Nick at come point and when I got to the top where Brad was sitting waiting I gave him a big old hug! Light pack, tired feet, great tunes, and better company! This was the closest I had felt to thru-hiking since I finished the PCT in ‘18, and I’m super thankful to Brad for setting this trip up and inviting me so last minute! Thanks Das! 

Morraine Lake: our climbing reward!

What do you do after a super steep hike in the Central Oregon summer!?! Jump in another alpine lake of course! Morraine Lake was a relief for sore feet and a reprise from sweaty clothes. I took off my hat, sunglasses and shoes, kept on my shorts, shirt and socks, and walked right into the lake! Minutes later I was joined by Brad and Nick and they were eager to jump in as well!

South Sister looms above


Just three dudes in a lake

Boys got burnt! 

Originally we thought we might camp at Morraine Lake, but we knew we only had around 5 miles to the Green Lakes Basin. Even after a half hour snack and eat session, it was only about 4pm! We were crushing miles! We dried it and continued on up the trail. The more miles we do today, they less we have on the last day! 

Volcanic pile

Three dudes on a log crossing

Nick had stared to slow down at this point, and my left ankle made it known to me that everything wasn’t quite 100%. Luckily, we were approaching Green Lakes. With 22 designated sites, we thought certainly we’d have luck finding at least one vacant site. With a positive attitude, we entered the limited camping zone to find a place to set up.

Broken Top behind Green Lakes

More like Blue Lakes!!

So beautiful! 

22 sites, at least one should be empty right?!

Wrong... Very exhausted and increasingly frustrated, Brad and I kept taking little side trips off the main trail to scope the campsites and all of them were occupied! There were also a few that had “Closed for Restoration” signs on them. I know that I’m all fairness the other people got their first, but I think all of us and our 17+ mile destroyed bodies were a little irritated by the fact that a lot of these people had probably set up around noon, and that many people probably only hiked in between1.5-5 miles to get here! 

:(

Nothing like the false hope of seeing a perfect campsite and sign that you assume has a site number on it but you get closer and read this...

But.... but!!! 

Almost died while bush-whacking to find site #21

At least I got a cool picture!

Once we found that all the sites were taken, we realized that we were close to the North end boundary of the restricted camping area. It was getting darker and we were oh so very tired, but realized we had to push just a little... bit... further... to find a legit spot to stay the night. We were glad when we took a spur trail off the North most lake and found a sweet spot to call home for the night!

Not too baaaaaaad!

It’s been a long day, and it’s safe to say that all three of us are hurting a little more than we did last night! Still, I’m glad I’m out here pushing myself physically and seeing all the beauty that surrounds us!

Off to bed, thanks for reading!