Tam McArthur Rim hike, Sisters, OR

We don’t get tired of the central Oregon outdoors, so despite having been here just a few weeks ago, we returned, this time planning to do some hiking in areas that were still snow bound in June. The one downer is that we hit a bit of a heat wave, with temps in the mid-90s.

We stayed at our favorite motel (more or less) in north Bend. We have actually become friends with the couple who staff the front desk. This morning we made our regular stop at Sister’s Coffee Company before heading out Road 16 (Three Creeks Road) to Three Creeks Lake.

We have hiked around the lakes several times, but only once before have we gone up on the rim. This time we determined to hike farther towards Broken Top. I was hoping to get to the rim of the crater.

I discovered I had left my camera in the motel room, so I had to make do with a small Canon point and shoot. Even so, the haze discouraged me from taking too many shots. However, despite the smoke and haze, we could see the crest of the Cascades all the way north to Mt. Hood.

After hiking past the Tam McArthur Rim, we continued west along a ridge top toward Broken Top. When we hit 4.5 miles, Karen felt she’d reached her turn-around point, and we could see the trail stretch out before us, so we retraced our steps, but perhaps another time we can get closer up to Broken Top.

Links
—Tam McArthur Rim 2009 photo gallery
—Everytrail GPS track for Tam McArthur Rim 2009 hike