We don’t go backpacking very often. For those of you who follow my writing and my hikes, this might be hard to believe. But my wife and I work very different work schedules (at least we did, before the pandemic), and getting away for a whole weekend can be a challenge for us. So when we do go backpacking, we try to make it somewhere special. Our only backpacking trip in 2019 was to Camp and Demaris Lakes, in the Three Sisters Wilderness. What a wonderful adventure this was!
Over the course of 2019, I made it a point to try and visit the Mount Jefferson and Three Sisters Wilderness Areas as much as possible. Starting in 2020 (at least, this the plan), many trailheads will require a limited entry permit, and all overnight trips will require a permit. As of this writing the details of this plan are still somewhat fluid, but you can follow along at this link. We wanted to make sure to get one more backpacking trip in the Three Sisters Wilderness before the permit system.
We initially looked into camping off-trail somewhere on the slopes of North Sister before deciding on Demaris Lake. I had never been to Camp Lake and I really wanted to make sure to get there before the permit system, but Demaris Lake looked inviting and not that crowded. This turned out to be the correct decision.
We spent the night before at Three Creek Lake, which was much busier than expected. The following morning we drove back through Sisters and down to the Pole Creek Trailhead, where we started the hike.
North Sister from the Pole Creek Trailhead.
The first few miles of the Pole Creek Trail pass through terrain recovering from the Pole Creek Fire. Indeed, the fire here in 2012 started not far from the trailhead. My buddy Keith was along for this trip, and he remembered the hike in being a “dusty hellscape” when he hiked through on the way to Middle Sister several years before. As it turned out., it wasn’t that bad:
The next few miles through the burn passed by pretty fast, as the trail was not all that difficult. A little over 3 miles from the trailhead, we abruptly left the burn and entered the friendly confines of a high mountain forest.
At 4 miles from the trailhead, the trail crosses the North Fork of Whychus Creek. I was expecting a difficult crossing, but it turned out to be pretty easy:
The trail meets the junction with the Demaris Lake Trail immediately after the crossing. Here, we turned left to hike down to Demaris Lake.
Up to this point we’d seen a lot of other hikers and climbers, but once on the trail down to Demaris Lake we didn’t see anyone. I guess it’s worth pointing out at this point that Demaris Lake does not enjoy the sparkling reputation that Camp Lake and the Chambers Lakes do. Pretty much the only thing I knew about Demaris Lake up to this point was this note in William L. Sullivan’s classic book 100 Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades:
Demaris Lake is a somewhat closer goal. Though less spectacular, this lake is a good choice on days when wind or threatening weather make the Chambers Lakes uninviting. A sign at the North Fork of Whychus Creek indicates the 0.8 mile side trail. Round-trip distance from the Pole Creek Trailhead is 10.8 miles.
When we reached the lake, we found it to be quite pleasant. There was a somewhat obstructed view of South Sister from the head of the lake, and a few mediocre campsites. With a lot of time on our hands, we decided to circle the lake and look for the best campsite possible. We found exactly what we were looking for on the opposite side of the lake, where there is space enough for several tents. We set up camp and then took a nice long lunch. After lunch, it was time to go check out Camp Lake.
We made our way back to the main trail and began the final climb into the Chambers Lakes basin. The views began to open up south towards Broken Top:
North and Middle Sister towered over us, close at hand:
The last half-mile or so to Camp Lake seemed like it took forever, but we finally made it there. It was every bit as beautiful as I had heard:
Camp Lake
As he always does, Keith had to go swim in Camp Lake. I’ve never seen him pass up a chance to swim, and even though I could see snowdrifts on the far end of the lake, I knew he’d go for it.
Keith swimming in Camp Lake. He said it wasn’t as cold as it looked. I don’t believe him.
When he was done with his swim, the three of us went exploring a bit. Camp Lake is located at an elevation of around 7,000 feet so I wasn’t surprised to see snow all over the place still.
This snowbank is the South Fork of Whychus Creek. Keith actually crawled into the snow cave there. He’s a braver man than me!
Camp Lake was busier than I expected. It’s 7.5 miles into the lake, and many folks continue further into the basin. It looked cold and windy up there, and I was glad we were camped at Demaris Lake instead. We had to stop at the lakeshore before we left for more photos:
As we left, the photo lighting kept getting better and better. I have seen some truly spectacular photos of Camp Lake, and I’m sure it would have been amazing to be up there that night. But as I mentioned, it was also crowded, and it would have almost certainly been cold. I think we made the right choice.
Back at Demaris Lake, we had lots of time to explore. As it turned out, Demaris Lake sits in a small basin ringed by cliffs. Just 100 yards or so from our campsite we reached the edge of a cliff. From here, we turned and followed the cliffs a bit to an amazing view of South Sister:
I’m not sure what was blowing over South Sister, whether it was smoke or dust. This was a phenomenal view. We explored the cliffs up here for awhile, looking for a view, any view of the waterfall we could hear in the vicinity. We never found even an obstructed view of the falls. A friend of mine gave me directions for getting to the base of the falls, but that wasn’t in the cards for this evening.
We went back to camp and made dinner, and went to bed early, tired and happy.
The next morning I had every intention of sleeping in. Wendy woke up early, as she always does, and went down to the lakeshore. She came back to let me know that the sunlight was lighting up North Sister, visible across the lake. I hauled myself out of bed to take some photos:
We followed the trail back out to the cliffs, so we could see the morning light illuminate South Sister:
I could have spent a couple of days just exploring this little basin, looking for views and trying to make my way down to the base of the falls here. But as mentioned, we didn’t have any time left. So we packed up camp and hit the trail by 10AM. On our way out we stopped at the lake’s outlet again to marvel at the view of South Sister across the lake:
It was breathtaking. If I’m being honest, I know everyone loves Camp Lake, but I loved Demaris Lake even more. I would absolutely come back here and camp again, with more time to explore the area.
As it turned out, I ended up at the Pole Creek Trailhead again the next weekend…but that’s a different story for a different day.