Overview
The Twin Sisters Range, which lies to the southwest of Mt Baker in Washington State provides some of the most wonderful scrambling to be had anywhere. The entire range is composed of rock which is actually a fragment of subcontinental mantle which has thrust up through the crust. The rock is extremely rough and provides an overabundance of handholds and footholds to climbers. In fact, the rock is so abrasive that it takes little more than a few hours before a climber's hands may feel like they've handled too much sandpaper. The rock is so solid, sticky, and fun to climb however, that it's absolutely worth the wear and tear on hands and boot soles. At 7000ft, South Twin Sister is the highest peak in the Sisters range.
Getting There
Approaches from the west side of South Twin Sister are made via Dailey Prairie. Getting to Dailey Prairie, however is not as easy as it once was. The network of logging roads which surround the Prairie have been closed to the public to protect a small resident Elk population. The approach is best done on bicycle. Leave your car at the gated bridge which crosses the Middle Fork of the Nooksack River at 48.767 degrees north, 122.039 degrees west; elevation 1200ft. The approach is located on both the Canyon Lake 7.5 USGS Map and the Cavanaugh Creek 7.5 USGS Map. Have both maps with you or spend the day wandering a maze of logging roads. I've heard that the US Forest service sells a very good map of the logging roads in the area, but I have not personally seen such a map. Follow the road for a bit over a mile and look for where the road crosses Galbraith Creek at elevation 2280ft. Since you have a map, you went the correct way at that first fork, didn't you? About a half mile past the creek, at elevation 2596ft (as marked on the Cavanaugh Creek Map) is a less traveled trail branching to the right; follow it. Before you reach Dailey Prairie, at elevation 3006ft, follow the road which branches to the south. At the southeast corner of the logging road loop around the prairie, at about elevation 3200ft a less travelled road continues south . The road is competely washed out where drainage from North Twin Sister crosses it just after a fork in the road. There are a plethora of ways to approach the mountain from here. Any of the logging roads will take you to a dead end at which point you will have to begin bushwacking. Personally I've had the best success (e.g the least amount of bushwacking) by following the logging roads to as close as possible to the point marked elevation 4216 on the Cavanaugh Creek 7.5 USGS Map (48.707 degrees north, 122.017 degrees west). If you're interested in climbing routes on the north of the mountain rather than the west ridge, you will want to leave the logging roads at a lower elevation. If you wish to climb routes south of the west ridge you will want to follow roads farther south before cutting into the forest.
Red Tape
No permits, parking passes, or other legal oddities are required for climbing in the Sisters Range. Although the logging Roads are gated, and locked they are open to the public for non motor vehicle use. There is probably a phone number that one can call to get information about the status of the roads, but I don't know what that number is.
When To Climb
All year long! South Twin is a wonderful climb any time of the year. Typically it is climbed between late may and early October when the road is (mostly) free of snow. In the winter, when snow hasn't been eradicated by typical cascade winter rain, the logging road provides a nice ski approach and descent. As far as weather and seasonal conditions apply: prepare for climbing South Twin Sister as you would prepare for any other 7000ft peak in the north cascades. Be cautious of avalanche conditions in winter.
Images
|
Twin Sisters Range
