Jun 25, 2019 — A few weeks ago, we did the more difficult Macks Peak Traverse, and The Sisters Traverse looked quite nice. You could link the two and make a big loop, but we were happy to do Macks and The Sisters as separate hikes.
Starting from the Old Mill Picnic Area within Lee Canyon, we headed up a closed paved road, then continued west on an unmarked trail. After about a half mile of easy walking, the route leaves the main trail and heads up a drainage to the northwest. The social trail continues up, getting progressively more steep, to the west ridge of The Sisters. We followed the ridge and pulled a single Class 3 move for the summit block, making a quick detour to a sub-peak to the south to get a view of Charleston Peak.
The traverse then began, and it was really quite fun. A wide Class 2 knife-edge led north, dropping to the right when it became too steep. Cairns led along the right side of the ridge, where a Class 3 slabby ledge with some respectable exposure marked the crux of the day. The route continued on the left side of the ridge now, rarely touching the crest, and dropped down onto the western slopes of The Sisters - North. We continued side-hilling to the west ridge, pulling an wasy Class 3 move and following the ridge up to the summit.
From the summit of The Sisters - North, we continued southeast down the awful, loose, steep slope and worked over to Black Rock Sister, a small blip that marked the end of the traverse for us. We headed back and took the standard gully, also extremely steep. Maybe taking one of the ridges would have been a better and less-eroding alternative? The gully social trail was hard to follow at times, but it eventually leads back to Lee Canyon Road, which we followed back to the car.
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