{"id":37519,"date":"2025-08-02T17:21:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T17:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goatbells.blog\/?p=37519"},"modified":"2025-08-02T17:21:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T17:21:21","slug":"lake-hopping-t-storm-dodging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goatbells.blog\/?p=37519","title":{"rendered":"Lake Hopping & T-storm Dodging"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Well folks, the original post for So Sister adventure was destroyed … and rather that try to recreate the same thing, I’ll do another one \ud83d\ude42<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For planning purposes leading up to this trip (July 28-31), weather reports from at least 5 services conflicted and contradicted each other; I’ve never seen such inconsistency in weather reporting in all my hiking plans. Bad weather was to be expected and a full ‘wet \/ cold weather’ gear kit put together for several days hiking So Sis and Broken Top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day 1 – July 28<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Started at Devils Lake TH and then to Moraine Lake and through Greenlakes to No-Name Lake atop Broken Top. Thunderstorms started forming so rather than head further east (T-storm land), I decided to return to Greenlakes for the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The highlight was surely No-Name Lake atop Broken Top. There were out of towners there and many groups on the way – solitude is hard there. But, absolutely beautiful and a good walk over the snow to get there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At Greenlakes, the T-storms rumbled in the east, the wind blew hard, but the rain didn’t come. Regardless, it was not a restful night sleeping with the wind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day 2 – July 29<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Up early to go north to Golden Lake trail and then return via PCT to Reese Lake for the night. I contemplated going over the Camp Lake cut-over, but chose not to (proved to be the pragmatic path). Both So Sis and No Sis caught the sunrise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Back around Moraine Lake under blue skies and then over the “wikiup plains” to Mesa Creek and Middle Sister appears just as I arrived at Reese Lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Arriving at Reese Lake around 1pm, the T-storms were building but still to the south. I quickly pitched tent and headed up to Chambers Lakes. At the ridge above Chambers, the snow down to the lakes was more challenging that I wanted to do with those storms coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The storm hit as I was coming down. I had to hide under a tree and my Gossamer umbrella as the rain and hail (1\/4″) fell for 10 minutes. After it stopped, a quiet walk back to Reese Lake and Meadow where I was joined by a terrific father and sons team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day 3 – July 30<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early start going NOBO on PCT to Linton Meadows Tr. Last year’s burn did not reach the meadow! Thank goodness for small favors! Sunrise, however, was brilliant with a complex sky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Headed SOBO on PCT back to Moraine Lake for the night, after stopping at Reese and thanking that group for their great company last night. Arriving at Moraine early pm, I quickly set up tent at favorite site #20, ate lunch, and decided to hoof up So Sis while the sun was shining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I went up to 7500′ and turned around as the storm clouds were building. I remained at Moraine and just watched the storms roll off to the east or west, leaving me dry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I talked to my partner at home and said: “if rain first thing, right home; if no rain first thing, then up So Sis” … <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day 4 – July 31<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday morning was grey and dark, but no rain. Another party with headlamps left around 4:45, and I was right behind them leaving Moraine to So Sis climbers trail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Sis climbers trail is in great condition – best I’ve seen. The rain, however, was surely coming eventually. The sky put on one heck of a show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Even the skies to the east (Broken Top) were heavy and threatening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I played leap-frog with a group of 6 young Bend folks who laughed and joked the whole time. I went up to 8600′ where the boulders start below the first lake – that section is not fun with a full pack, so I headed back down to Moraine (where I had left my sunglasses).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lupin Paradise<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lupins are my wildflower indicator – if they are blooming top to bottom, then ‘perfect’ … well this week was beyond that! They also smelled like florist shops everytime I walked through a meadow. Butterflies liked the lupins too – they were everywhere!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Closing thoughts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.5 days backpacking around So Sister and Broken Top hard to beat. The weather was challenging every day, but I never got wet and never put on a rain jacket. People I met were just amazing! Spending time more than 1 mile away from trailheads is definitely where the more interesting people hang out!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, 3 women and 4-5 girls of theirs out backpacking and camping for 7 days! I met them on their last day at Moraine and had an absolutely wonderful engagement with 1 mom and her daughter – they were amazing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data Geek Cellar<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To preserve my sanity, I’m not recreating all this :). Basically, 75 miles and >11,000 of elevation gain on my feet. My camera took ~300 photos. My heart sang and my spirit soared with So Sis, and even the humans were fantastic … how could I ask for a better adventure? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good enough!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your heart’s set on seeing the actual tracks, go here https:\/\/www.gaiagps.com\/datasummary\/tracks<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well folks, the original post for So Sister adventure was destroyed … and rather that try to recreate the same thing, I’ll do another one \ud83d\ude42 For planning purposes leading up to this trip (July 28-31), weather reports from at least 5 services conflicted and contradicted each other; I’ve never seen such inconsistency in weather…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[18,55,56],"class_list":["post-37519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-backpacking","tag-3-sisters-wilderness","tag-broken-top","tag-south-sister"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/goatbells.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/DSCN1369-1.jpg?fit=2048%2C1536&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goatbells.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goatbells.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goatbells.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goatbells.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goatbells.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37519"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/goatbells.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37551,"href":"https:\/\/goatbells.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37519\/revisions\/37551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goatbells.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goatbells.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goatbells.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goatbells.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}