Three Creeks Lake near Sisters Oregon

August is the prime month for visiting mountain lakes in the cascades.  The weather is still warm and the water has also warmed up!  This weekend we decided to try Three Creeks Lake at the base of Tam McAuthor Rim.  The last time I was here was for an early season hike in late June of 2012 when there was still a decent amount of snow.  To reach the lake turn south on Elm Street in downtown sisters and drive for about 18 miles until the road ends at the lake - pretty easy.  There are a couple campgrounds there as well and the lake has some nice open beach areas wth shallow wading areas for the kids.

Here are the kids playing in one of the 'three' creeks that flow into the lake.  The water is ice cold!

On the way back through sisters we stopped at the famous sno cap for ice cream.

 


South Sister Summit - Aug 2014

The Three Sisters are a series of Volcanoes near Bend.  South Sister is the highest of the three, closest to Bend and generally the least technical making it idea for those wishing to try a real mountain without technical climbing.  It's still a good hike though at almost 5000 vertical feet of climbing and over 12 miles round trip.  I was up it in 2011 almost to the day and this time doing it again with a group of eager guys from work.  We left the Devils lake trail-head at 7 am.  We made summit in about 4 hours.  It took just over 2 to descend.   Matt brought some ice cold beers for the parking lot when we returned.   It was a little smoky on the way up due to the fires but it cleared up by the way down with a change in wind direction.  Great time but everyone is going to be sore for the next couple days. 

Moonlight Canoe on Sparks Lake

A local outfitting company called Wanderlust tours offers a moonlight canoe in and around the full moon each month during the summer. Kelly and I have been trying to get a trip going like this all summer with some friends and the timing finally worked for the the August full moon.  We went on Saturday August 9 when the moon was at its fullest and it is also at one of the closest points to earth in its orbit making it extra big.    We went with the Hornsbys (Dean and Ceri - Red canoe) and the Bercots (Eric and Shelly - blue canoe).  After canoeing for a while we stopped at a beach and had local craft brews while the moon rose.  Once the moon was up and it was dark we took to the water again.  It was a fantastic evening on the water.

Afternoon at East Lake - Newberry Crater

Last friday I took the kids to Paulina Lake inside Newberry Crater.  This week after Hunters swim meet we went up to East Lake, which is the sister lake inside of Newberry Crater.  (see this picture - the lake on the right side is east lake)

Here is a panorama of the lake from our spot on the beach

We hung out on the beach and also rented a boat for a ride around the lake.  Great fun.

A cool old sign by the boathouse

Paulina - From Lake Shore to Peak

Kelly is gone on a girls weekend in Boise, so I took Friday off and we went up to Newberry Crater for the day.  We rented a small motor boat at Paulina Lake Resort for 2 hours.  A good deal at only $30.  We traveled across the lake to the north side where the Paulina hot springs are located on the shore.  We had the area to ourselves.  The hot springs bubble out of the beach.  

After the lake I wanted to take the kids from the water level to the top of Paulina Peak at just under 8000 ft which is accessible by road.  The kids enjoyed seeing where we had just boated across.  Notice the 'big obsidian flow' a massive lava flow in the greater crater area.  

We ended the day off with a bbq in the back yard.