15 Jul Day 83 – North Sister

At mile 1983.7. Hiked 11.7 miles today.

A short day into Bend was surprisingly hard. There was a somewhat steep climb through gravelly lava where baby steps were needed to keep from losing traction and sliding back.

View looking back, this shows  short switchbacks at the top of a steep climb up the  lava flow.

At the end of the morning there was a walk through lava rubble that I will resumed tomorrow after resupply in Bend.

Once again, mosquitoes didn’t allow me to take breaks where I would have liked. While on top of a lava ridge with a brisk wind I paused to enjoy the views and for a break , but the mosquitoes were blowing  in on the wind and making landings on flesh. Too bad, because I would have liked to move through this beautiful area more slowly to  soak up the views.

While still in the Obsidian Limited Entry Area where I continued to see large obsidian such as this conglomerate boulder.

In the early morning I could see Mt Washington, sharper peak on left, Three Fingered Jack, immediately right of Washington, and  Mt Jefferson (large volcano on right) before sunrise. Jefferson got the higher peak named after him. 🙂

North Sister in the early morning.

I walked through many lava features and landscapes. This shows a large flow and a rubble mountain bordering and almost enclosing a flat expanse traversed by the trail.

This rubble mountain looked like it belonged on another planet.

Some views of North Sisters.

Here are lava formations I liked. The 

I liked how this lava rubble hill had a round spot of snow making it look like a target.

This is the lava rock observatory at McKenzie Pass near where the PCT crosses highway 20.