Outdoor Adventures with Ancient Brit
PCT 2002 - August 20th
Day 119: Tuesday 20th August
Sisters Mirror Lake – above S. Mattieu Lake
The remaining section of Oregon passes below a succession of big volcanoes, with
elevations between 10,000 and 11,000ft. This was a popular area with walkers and now at
the peak of the walking season I expected the trails and camping spots to become much
more crowded than they had been for the past four months.
It was a cool misty morning and it started raining when I was about to pack up at
6.30, so I delayed until a lull in the weather forty minutes later. I try and avoid packing
up in the rain, as it is then difficult to set up camp again without too much equipment
getting damp.
It rained most of the day and I only got occasional glimpses of the Three Sisters and
other subsidiary volcanoes. It was also rather cold. This was disappointing since the
traverse of the Three Sisters should have been one of the highlights of the Oregon
section of the PCT.
In the morning I passed Le Conte Crater, a small cinder cone from an eruption
about 6,000 years ago. I then passed the end wall of Rock Mesa, a vast steep sided
chaotic jumble of lava extruded 2,000 years ago. Rock Mesa had not yet broken down
sufficiently to become vegetated. I didn’t see the South Sister, which was still a good
cone because it was the youngest of the three main volcanoes and had not been much
affected by glaciation. I got glimpses of the Husband, which is the resistant plug of an
ancient volcano and, before eroding away, would have dominated the area. In the
afternoon the trail crossed Obsidian Falls. The trail had been passing many obsidian
outcrops and splinters of obsidian were scattered over the trail. Obsidian is a natural
black glass, which is harder than window glass, and would have been used by the Indians
for arrowheads, as well as a tool for shaping stone axes and for ornamentation.
I got brief glimpses of the Middle Sister and could see fresh snow on the upper
slopes. The trail wound through a maze of unvegetated lava and below the cinder cones
of subsidiary volcanoes. There was a large lava flow from the Yapoah Crater, which was
only 400 years old.
Marmots were plentiful in this high mountain terrain, as were the almost iridescent
Mountain Blue Birds
It was still raining when I camped at 7pm. By now my right shoe, with several big
holes, was way past the time when it should have thrown away. These were Brasher
boots, which were lightweight walking shoes, rather like trainers, but with a sole
designed for mountain walking. I had worn them from Campo to Walker Pass, then
changed into heavier Karrimor KSB Gore-tex boots for the Sierra Nevada, before
changing back into the Brasher boots at the Seiad Valley. I would have to wait until
Ollalie Resort, four days away, before I could change back into the heavier boots.
Day 119: 20.7 miles 8.20 hours Camp: Above S. Mattieu Lake
Sisters Mirror Lake – above S. Mattieu Lake
The remaining section of Oregon passes below a succession of big volcanoes, with
elevations between 10,000 and 11,000ft. This was a popular area with walkers and now at
the peak of the walking season I expected the trails and camping spots to become much
more crowded than they had been for the past four months.
It was a cool misty morning and it started raining when I was about to pack up at
6.30, so I delayed until a lull in the weather forty minutes later. I try and avoid packing
up in the rain, as it is then difficult to set up camp again without too much equipment
getting damp.
It rained most of the day and I only got occasional glimpses of the Three Sisters and
other subsidiary volcanoes. It was also rather cold. This was disappointing since the
traverse of the Three Sisters should have been one of the highlights of the Oregon
section of the PCT.
In the morning I passed Le Conte Crater, a small cinder cone from an eruption
about 6,000 years ago. I then passed the end wall of Rock Mesa, a vast steep sided
chaotic jumble of lava extruded 2,000 years ago. Rock Mesa had not yet broken down
sufficiently to become vegetated. I didn’t see the South Sister, which was still a good
cone because it was the youngest of the three main volcanoes and had not been much
affected by glaciation. I got glimpses of the Husband, which is the resistant plug of an
ancient volcano and, before eroding away, would have dominated the area. In the
afternoon the trail crossed Obsidian Falls. The trail had been passing many obsidian
outcrops and splinters of obsidian were scattered over the trail. Obsidian is a natural
black glass, which is harder than window glass, and would have been used by the Indians
for arrowheads, as well as a tool for shaping stone axes and for ornamentation.
I got brief glimpses of the Middle Sister and could see fresh snow on the upper
slopes. The trail wound through a maze of unvegetated lava and below the cinder cones
of subsidiary volcanoes. There was a large lava flow from the Yapoah Crater, which was
only 400 years old.
Marmots were plentiful in this high mountain terrain, as were the almost iridescent
Mountain Blue Birds
It was still raining when I camped at 7pm. By now my right shoe, with several big
holes, was way past the time when it should have thrown away. These were Brasher
boots, which were lightweight walking shoes, rather like trainers, but with a sole
designed for mountain walking. I had worn them from Campo to Walker Pass, then
changed into heavier Karrimor KSB Gore-tex boots for the Sierra Nevada, before
changing back into the Brasher boots at the Seiad Valley. I would have to wait until
Ollalie Resort, four days away, before I could change back into the heavier boots.
Day 119: 20.7 miles 8.20 hours Camp: Above S. Mattieu Lake
Rock Mesa across
Wickiup Plain
Wickiup Plain
Middle Sister from
Hinton Creek
Hinton Creek
Obsidian Falls
Lava flow, Sawyer Bar
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