The plan was: get our lightweight act together, hike the Three Sisters (classic Oregon Cascades loop), get pregnant. That was 2006. Due to a combination of factors the first two things didn't happen. So I've been wanting to do this trip for awhile. Got some group trips, some weekend trips, and a single-night solo under my belt, and this was the year! Timing couldn't have been better. Got the offer for the Cool New Job a week before I planned to leave, and returned five days before it started — that rare window where the financial stresses are melting away but the new responsibility stress hasn't kicked in yet! I started from the north, near the Dee Wright Observatory, going counter-clockwise, with a side trip up between South and Middle Sisters. Appreciation to Jerry Adams for his OregonHikers.org field guide! (Took the trip in late July) Opie Dildock Pass! 
Things were very other-worldly the first day: 
Back into the trees… 
Trimming the tree for Christmas in July 
Just before crossing Wickiup Plains 
The shot, South Sister over Green Lakes. 
Didn't quite get the angle right, but can you tell what I was trying for….? 
"Rainbows are visions, but only illusions" 
I really, really wanted to do the side trip to Camp Lake up between South and Middle Sister. Luckily, my mileage (10,15, 18, 19/day) allowed. 
Using the hammock was awesome. I didn't have to deal with the designated sites at the popular lakes. I was tucked well out of sight. When I overpassed the climbers ("The Ice-Axe Murderers") and they asked "Where are you headed" I could honestly answer "As far as I can go!" 
Oh, and I get a badge for packing out someone else's nasty TP. I get all virtuous on the last day of a trip. I didn't take a photo of that. Luckily the next creek had water. But at least Pole Creek had poles! 
I saved the burnt stuff til last. It was a downer. I was of the mind to stick it at the end in case I didn't complete the trip. At least it was overcast that day so I didn't burn in the burn. I worked to see the beauty. I did a little bit. 
That was my first trip like that, multi-day solo. Time got weird. My body didn't want to sleep or eat, as if it were saying to me "you are not here to eat, you are not here to sleep, you are here to HIKE!" When I got into Sisters for a burger I was shaking and shivery, but very glad to have finally completed this trip!
