Two Sweetwater Sisters

[Vaca Russ]

There is a mountain range just north of Bridgeport that has 5 prominent peaks. The three northern most peaks are called East Sister, Middle Sister and South Sister. They really should have been named NORTH Sister, Middle Sister and South Sister.

Last Friday we bagged East Sister and Middle Sister.

We started at the corral just north of East Sister.

There is a stock trail that wraps around the NW side of East Sister to the Little Smith Valley.

This is apparently pretty rough territory for the cattle.

“Sport” said the cause of death was probably disease. I imagine there are still some Pleistoscene Megafauna predators such as the American Lion, Miracinonyx, Saber-toothed Cats, short faced bears and dire wolves back in these hills.

If you read the trail report of Fedak he reports this structure, according to the local rancher, allows him to build the fence without having to dig post holes.

Unlike Fedak we hiked further down the trail before angling off to the NW slope of East Sister.

We proceeded up the gentle slope. This is looking back at Little Smith Valley.

The slope gradually became more and more steep. The ground was primarily composed of grus. This made climbing a little more difficult. Eventually we gained the saddle and just had the final slope to climb to the summit ridge.

This shot is looking back down the steep slope. That is Desert Creek Peak in the distance.

The steepness lessened as we got to the summit ridge. There was a cairn with a stick marking the summit. Unfortunately there is no longer a register that could be found! I know from past reports there was a register.

One summit down, one more (Middle Sister on Sport’s left) to go!

To be continued….

[Vaca Russ]

The southern ridge of East Sister was a little rocky but much easier to traverse than to blast through the thick mountain mahogany on the eastern side.

The southern slope of East Sister is notorious for the thick mountain mahogany one must bushwhack.

We were prepared for this problem but found that good route finding could greatly minimize what could be a horrendous bushwhacking slog.

The vegetation cleared up once down on the saddle between the two peaks.

We climbed the slope angling east to tag the Lyon county high point. This is a picture of me climbing from that Lyon county high point to the “Von Schmidt” high point. There are prominent cairns at both locations, but once again, no registers could be found.

I really like this picture of Sport at the “Von Schmidt” high point cairn. This shot of the southern slope of East Sister shows the route one should take to avoid the mountain mahogany. Travel down the southern ridge to the bald spot over half way down the ridge (at about 5 o’clock from Desert Creek Peak). Then angle down the slope through the thin mahogany to the rocks on the saddle between the peaks.

The northern slope of Middle Sister is clear of the annoying mahogany, but there was a little snow at higher elevations.

Here she is at the summit of Middle Sister between two other Ogul Peaks.

We climbed down from the summit of Middle Sister following the same route taken by Fedak. Here is a shot of western slope East Sister. It is a lot steeper than it looks!

Thanks for reading our report.

-Russ

[brvoyles]

Missed you by a day...I did the same hike on Sunday.

http://brvoyles.smugmug.com/2014/EAST-S ... DLE-SISTER" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Brian

[Vaca Russ]

Missed you by a day...I did the same hike on Sunday.

http://brvoyles.smugmug.com/2014/EAST-S ... DLE-SISTER" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Brian

Hey Brian,

Both of us need to learn what day it is. I just edited my original post. I had originally posted we climbed these peaks on Saturday. We actually climbed them on Friday.

You found a register on Middle Sister? We looked and couldn't find a register. You entered 10/4/14 on the register but made the climb on Sunday.

This is pretty funny...you took a picture at the top of East Sister and your next picture wasn't until you were on the slope of Middle Sister.

What was wrong?? A little bushwhacky???

That mountain mahogany is really something, yes?

You got a flat? That really sucks! Sport's Ridgeline has Michelins, and I guess we were really lucky!

Keep up the good work bagging peaks!!!

-Russ