Camp Lake

Saturday, August 8 – Sunday, August 9, 2020

Greg and I don’t get down to the Three Sisters Wilderness very much. The northern part is closest and is also busy and crowded and burned (the area has been plagued by huge wildfires in recent years). But this weekend we decided to make the long drive from Portland to do a one-nighter at Camp Lake.

After staying in Sisters Friday night we drove to the Pole Creek Trailhead first thing Saturday morning. I knew this was a busy and popular trailhead, but I was still surprised to count 64 cars at 8:15am!

Pole Creek Trailhead

The first half of this hike was through an area burned in the 2012 Pole Creek Fire. When it started in September that year there was a delay in responding to the lightning-caused fire (read more here) and it ended up burning some 26,000 acres, including a huge chunk of forest in the northeast section of the Three Sisters Wilderness. I was on Mt. Hood the day the fire started on September 9 and got this photo. You can see the smoke plume just left of center:

Fire

Anyway, off we set through the burn:

Pole Creek Trail

Pole Creek Trail

After 1.4 miles on the Pole Creek Trail we turned south onto the Green Lakes Trail. The only good thing about hiking through this hot burned landscape was getting views of the peaks:

Heading to Camp Lake

We reached Soap Creek at 2.1 miles and crossed on a little log bridge:

Soap Creek

The monkeyflower like it here:

Soap Creek

Soap Creek

There hadn’t been much fireweed up to this point, surprisingly, but there was a lot at the creek:

Fireweed

At this point was a junction. The Green Lakes Trail continued to the left and the Camp Lake Trail headed to the right:

Trail junction

Finally after 3.7 miles of hiking we reached the edge of the burn and entered the forest:

Camp Lake Trail

We crossed this little unnamed creek:

Creek crossing

At 4.7 miles we reached North Fork Whychus Creek (still called “Squaw” on some maps, even though “Whychus” replaced that name some years ago):

North Fork Whychus Creek

We found some logs to use for crossing:

North Fork Whychus Creek

We passed the side trail to Demaris Lake and kept going. We got glimpses of the mountains through the trees. Middle Sister:

Camp Lake Trail

There were a few fluffy clouds rolling in:

Camp Lake Trail

And then we were more or less above the tree line and there were views in many directions around every corner. Broken Top:

Camp Lake Trail

South and Middle Sister:

Camp Lake Trail

We hiked on, gawking at the views:

Camp Lake Trail

Camp Lake Trail

Camp Lake Trail

There were some nice wildflowers here:

Camp Lake Trail

Camp Lake Trail

Shortly before reaching Camp Lake we passed a “no campfires” sign:

Camp Lake Trail

But as we discovered later, some people are pyromaniacs and had a fire anyway:

Illegal Campfire

There’s another sign at the lake:

No campfires

After 7.1 miles we made it to the lake.

Camp Lake

We crossed the outlet stream to look for a campsite. There was a big snowbank here:

Camp Lake

Camp Lake

We found a small site up in the trees on the hill above the lake:

Our campsite

There was no lake view from our site, but from elsewhere on the hill this was the view:

Camp Lake

Camp Lake

And this view of Middle and North Sister:

Camp Lake Trail

Then we went down to the water to soak our weary feet and filter water:

Camp Lake

Camp Lake

Camp Lake

Camp Lake

We had thought about going and exploring the Chambers Lakes after setting up camp, but decided to relax by the lake instead. We could see people going up the slope on the other side of the lake on their way to those lakes. See the people heading up between the two snow patches? Also, that bottom snow patch looks like a dog with his feet stretched out in front of him with his nose pointing up in the air:

Camp Lake

While Greg relaxed by the lake I walked around to the other side to explore. Looking back across from the other side:

Camp Lake

There were quite a few tents set up right next to the water at the east end of the lake:

Camp Lake

Here is where water flows into Camp Lake:

Camp Lake

This is the unofficial user trail that goes up and over to Chambers Lakes:

Camp Lake

The wind was relentless all afternoon and finally we left our spot by the lake and retreated to our more protected campsite in the trees. We ate dinner, read in the tent for awhile, then went to bed.

We set the alarm to get up and see the stars, and I’m glad we did. The wind had calmed and it was a beautiful clear night:

Stars over South Sister

There was no wind when we got up in the morning and lake reflections were quite nice:

Camp Lake

Camp Lake

Camp Lake

Camp Lake

We enjoyed a leisurely morning by the lake eating our breakfast:

Camp Lake

It took awhile for Greg to get his stuff together, so we didn’t leave camp until 10:30. Then we began the seven mile hike back to the car:

Camp Lake Trail

Camp Lake Trail

Camp Lake Trail

We reached the trailhead at 1:50. I was dragging the last little bit on the hot dusty trail and was very glad to reach the car!

Gaia stats: 14.8 miles, 2,000′ elevation gain