Today (6-27), 12 hikers visited two old friends high up in Mt. Charleston, the South and North Sisters. It was a glorious day with perfect temperatures and enough clouds to give the sky character. I believe this to be one of the best hikes in Mt. Charleston. It has a little of everything: some steep ascents for cardio; some exposure to keep you awake, and it's a loop route.
We started at Old Mills Campground and followed the trail about 0.25 miles before heading north up the slope to the first saddle. From there we followed a ridgeline to the class 3 chute that leads to the summit of the South Sister. Everyone handled the chute with ease.
We then watched our step as we traversed the exposed ridge to a tricky down climb. Luckily I had cairn the next part of the hike last year and we had no problem finding our way off the ridge to the saddle between the Sisters. This year we followed the original route up the north ridge to the summit of the North Sister. I had not done this route in years!
After taking a short break we descended the extremely loose north slope down to yet another saddle (that's the third saddle if you are counting) and then we followed a drainage to the road. The descent is very fast, taking less than 90 minutes.
I just published a slide show of the Buckskin Gulch/Paria Canyon Backpack we did earlier this month. Click here to view.
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