After a week of rest with tent zipper and pole repairs, I was anxious to get back on trail- this time in the home of my heart, Oregon! I decided however, it would be more fun with a friend! 

Way back during the first weeks on the trail in Southern California, I met Lisa, now with a trail name Frozen. We had a great time hiking together but she ended up ahead of me in the snow of the San Jacinto Mountains and then I fell further behind when I sprained my ankle and needed to rest.

But during our separate journeys we stayed in touch, and it ended up that for health reasons she got off trail after the Sierras. When I decided to skip up to Oregon, I contacted her to ask if she wanted to come along. She missed life on the trail and had regained some of her strength, so she decided to also skip up and join me.

Since there currently is a lot of fires raging in south-central Oregon, we decided to avoid the trail closures and wildfire smoke by starting a little further to the north at Elk Lake. This start location gave me the chance to introduce her to the heart and soul of the Central Oregon Cascades: Mt Bachelor, the Three Sisters and Broken Top! She kept exclaiming that she had no idea how beautiful it was in Oregon!

 South Sister on a beautiful Oregon summer day!
 Unfortunately, there’s some large burned areas throughout the Wilderness Area.
 First sighting of Middle Sister
 We lunched by this beautiful stream in the Obsidian Limited Use Area.
 Looking out toward North Sister
 It was a beautiful day to climb up over the lava flows at Opie Dildock Pass.
 And then we spent a night at lovely South Matthieu Lake.

Frozen and I had so much fun hiking together again. We’re looking forward to more of Oregon in the days to come!