Four in One Cone (including a side trip to the PCT junction) is a 10.6 mile RT hike with 1500 ft altitude gain. The trailhead is accessed off of McKenzie Hwy 242 about 5.6 miles passed the McKenzie Pass. It starts off through a rather scruffy forest of nondescript trees and undergrowth but the views improve when the trail comes out on the view below. Soon the trail crosses a lava field and then continues to follow the field's flank before entering the moon-like landscape beneath the volcanic cones. The the Sisters loom off to one side, the cones to the other. You are in a barren valley with cinder rock everywhere. The trail eventually heads up the side of the cones and from there you see Mt Washington and Jefferson in the distance. While on top the cone ridge you can walk the entire length of the four cones. I decided to take the 0.8 mile trip to a meadow my hiking book said was pretty spectacular. Since it was October, the lupines had finished blooming for the most part, but the meadow was pretty neat just the same. The meadow was in a bowl, one end dominated by North Sister and the other sides were flanked by rocks and hills. Not a soul in sight and no sounds of civilization...the meadow was a perfect lunch spot.
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| coming out of the dry lodgepole pine forest |
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| crossing the lava flow |
rocks of many colors
trail through the lava flow
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| these plants were plentiful and looked like little bits of fire on the lava rocks |
my destination - Four in One Cone
the trail after you leave the lava field wall
North and Middle sister from the cone
view southwest
on top Four in One Cone
Mt Washington, Three Fingered Jack and Mt Jefferson
the trail from the meadow
North Sister from the meadow
North and Middle Sister from the flank of Four in One Cone
Huckleberries
Mushrooms
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