This is a trail I had been looking at for a while, partly because I hadn't heard of anyone trying it previously, partly because I could do it from our doorsteps in three sisters. I knew there was a trail down the other side, making it an interesting point-to-point adventure. Alltrails indicated that there was a route through, so after finishing work at 5 PM I set off.

Starting at the Highline, the trail is great and one I know well, as SE route of Grassi Knob is another great hike right from our doorsteps. Rather than taking the trail up through the trees towards Grassi Knob, I cross over the indicator log and keep going in that direction. The trail was reasonably well defined through the trees, although I ended up getting off course a few times. I kept my phone on hand for verifying my route throughout the day.

Passing through the canyon between an unnamed peak (left) and Ship's Prow Peak (right).

After a while, the trail meets with a rocky creek, marked clearly with a cairn, which I suspect is an indicator for folks coming in the other direction. The rocky creek was slow-moving, but the occasional cairn indicated that I was heading in the correct direction.

Eventually, my creek met up with another creekbed. After verifying on my map that this was my turn, I followed it to the right and upwards. It wasn't an overly steep climb, just a moderately defined route, but I knew I just had to head upwards. There was one steep cliffy section of the creek where I strayed off to the right up a loose dirt slope to work my way around. At the top of this steep section is where I ran into trouble.

My map indicated that there was a route through the trees and shrubs to my left, but there wasn't one to be found. The satellite photo appears like a small patch of trees and grass but this wasn't the case. I found myself fighting my way through dense trees and what looked like avalanche debris from prior years. There was no clear route and it was challenging going. I was wearing shorts because it was a hot day, but I'd absolutely recommend better clothing. Gaiters, pants, long sleeve shirt. I'd put it in the BW3 category.

On this map, the route up the slope looks like light brush and grass. It's actually dense trees and downed trees.

After fighting my way through the brush, I climbed a slope up to the top of the three sisters' pass. I called Emily and asked for a pickup from the other side, as I had originally considered backtracking, but there was no way I wanted to fight my way through that bush again.

From this point, I had to gain elevation above the rocky band to the right before dropping down into the pass.

I reached the top of the pass right at 7 PM, with lots of daylight left to descend.

"Faith". The big sister.

Descending down the creek to the Smith-Dorrien was easy enough, as there's a well-defined trail the whole way. The only challenge was avoiding the creek through a narrow passage after I had mistakenly stayed too low rather than staying high.

I should have stayed high and to the left on my descent here.

Fortunately, I didn't have to hitchhike my way home. Emily showed up only a couple of minutes after I arrived at the trailhead to pick me up at around 7:45 PM.

A boreal toad I spotted at the creek near the Smith Dorrien.