A surprisingly warm and sunny October weekend. A perfect hike with 3 total strangers in Three Sisters wilderness.Friday. I left home at 8am, was picked up at Sunset TC. Ed, Mike, me met at Sudhir's home near Bridgeport. Sudhir drove us towards Pole Creek TH for Camp Lake. On the way, we stopped at a rest area for toilet before Detroit Lake, 2 stops in Sisters so Sudhir can buy fuel and subway sandwich. TH has 3 small parking areas. All burned trees. Dry and hot. We didn't start hiking until 1pm.
The first hour or more is in burned area. Hot under the sun. Can see the 2 Sisters through charred branches. Dusty until you get to live trees. Most Ponderosa. More or less flat. Quite some horse dropping. Lupine are the main ground cover and one plant with furry seeds. Sparse. Finding a place for bio break is not easy during almost the entire trail. There are a couple of trail junctions (from mile 1.4 to 2.0 is Green Lake trail). All well marked. More posts in and out of Pole Creek burn zone, where no camping or off trail walk is allowed. 
We passed Soap creek then Squaw creek. After Squaw crossing, I took off to see Demaris Lake. Small shallow green. Nice lake. Only 1 mile down hill. View of South Sister and Broken Top. After I came back, I was only able to catch up Sudhir, as he's slow. As I emerged from the forest, better view started. Small grass, dirt flats (were probably dried up ponds). A bit more rocky.
Ed and Mike found a wonderful site east of the lake, view of the mountains. Above us, another smaller site, has more trees for shelter. Sun moved away from my camp at 5:40pm, and it got a bit chilly quickly, but never was very cold. Ed and Sudhir cooked their Mountain House, Mike apparently lives on snack bars. I don't think he owns a stove. We chatted until 9pm, standing. Sudhir has a lot of fun stories, when he was a Scott Master during his son's teenage years. Moon was too bright for the night sky, about 3/4 full. 45F.
Saturday. I got up before 7. Took some photos of sunrise. Better color. The lake is like a mirror. I read waiting for others to get up. The sun didn't shine on our tent until 8:30. Not too cold. We started towards Middle Sister around 9:20. After the visible trail up the rusty iron slope at the west end of the lake, we lost the trail. 
Took a while to come out of the woods. Just pick any rock and walk up. Initially gentler slope, it gets steeper quickly. Piled black grey rocks on ashy and slippery slope. Sudhir said goodbye and went to check out the 2 blue lakes which we could see by then. The rest of us continued till 8800' when Ed decided to head down. Surprisingly, at this elevation, you can still find a white bark pine here and there. It was about 11:30am. I continued. Soon Mike followed. The slope gets somewhat more difficult until the last stretch, which was easy. By the time you can see the red summit, you are almost there. 
At 10047 feet, it's the lowest of the three Sisters. South Sister is the highest at 10358', but the easiest to summit. At the top, 360° view: Jefferson, Hood, Rainier (maybe it was Adams?) to the north, South Sister dominates the south. The whole forest, burned and not. Saw at least 3 very big lakes to the southwest at a distance. Little blue or green ponds dotted the landscape. There's one bright red slope to the west. Not sure what that is. Just enough flat space to take a photo of 3 guys who arrived after us. 1:30pm. Heading down isn't any easier.
I decided to check out the 2 blue lakes seen from the climb. Not bad. There appears to have space for camping by the lake shore, however, it's rather steep to get down to the water level. Happy to be back at the camp, still had enough sun to wash up, and sun my socks. Thin clouds form above us, added a bit color to the setting sun. Seems warmer today. Again, we chatted till 9pm standing up. Sudhir had more stories to tell.Sunday. Packing up and depart. Uneventful. We left ~9:45am. A snack stop at Sisters. I got home ~5pm.
Direction for Pole Creek trailhead (@5300'): I-5 exit 253 (near Salem) for Highway 22 for 80 miles. Continue on Highway 20 for 26 miles to west end of Sisters. Drive West (right) on Highway 242 for ~1.5 miles. Drive South (left) on the Pole Creek road for 11 miles - most good gravel.
