As a follow-up to my “Grand Canyons of Everywhere” and “Alps of Everywhere” posts, I have ideas for other fun collections of famous places. But first, I have one of a lesser known landmark. And I get to poke fun at my awesome husband in the process while showing off his art (and art from one of our kids, too).
Growing up in Oregon, I assumed that our Three Sisters mountains (also known as Faith, Hope, and Charity, but most frequently North Sister, Middle Sister, and South Sister) were the only ones around. They are big, snow-covered beauties of volcanoes located in a north-south row in the Cascade Range. I’ve hiked to the top of South Sister, which is the third highest mountain in Oregon. Their peaks dominate the skyline of the Bend/Sisters area of Central Oregon, and you can see them from here in the Eugene/Springfield area if you hike to the summits of the buttes and even over Fern Ridge Reservoir west of Eugene. For a closer-up view of them without having to go over the pass, hike to the top of Castle Rock near the town of Rainbow.
Evidently my husband made that same assumption when relatives commissioned him to paint murals of Oregon’s mountains in their businesses. So when he typed in “Three Sisters Mountains” to Google Images to find a picture to base his paintings on, he didn’t stop to question the first image that he got, and happily painted it.
He works in one of those places of business, and one day some Canadians came in as customers. They said, “Oh, you’ve painted our Three Sisters of the Canadian Rockies, eh? They’re a thing of beauty, eh?” He responded that no, these mountains were Oregon’s Three Sisters. To which they probably replied that he was dead wrong and the mountains in the mural are in the Canadian Rockies. (He says nope, they actually just said “Okay, sure then,” because Canadians are always polite.) He looked it up, and they were right. What he painted was nothing like our volcanoes, but they are pretty too! After hearing that story, of course I drove him to Central Oregon so he could see our Three Sisters up close for himself and know firsthand what they look like. He’d been there when he was young but had forgotten.
That got me thinking: are there Three Sisters mountains in other parts of the world, too? Evidently, yes! 10 of them! Here is a listing of all the Three Sisters mountains or peaks that I could find on the world wide web (okay, mainly Wikipedia). There are other Three Sisters features around the world, too, including rock formations, lakes, islands, and even bridges, but I’ll focus on mountains and mountain peaks.
- The Three Sisters volcanoes, in the Cascade Range, Oregon, USA (see photos of actual mountains above)
- The Three Sisters peaks, known as Big Sister, Middle Sister, and Little Sister (also Faith, Charity, Hope), in the Rocky Mountains, Alberta, Canada (see murals claiming to be Oregon, above) – these three peaks in the Canadian Rockies are a popular attraction, and it’s easy to see why.
- Three Sisters mountain of Elk Valley, Rocky Mountains, British Columbia, Canada – this is one mountain with three peaks, but looks stunning in the Wikipedia photo.
- Three Sisters Range, a subrange of the Stikine Range, British Columbia, Canada
- An Triúr Deirféar (Irish for The Three Sisters) peaks, Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry, Ireland
- Three Sisters of Glen Coe are steep ridges on Bidean nam Bian peak, Scottish Highlands, Scotland, UK
- The Three Sisters mountain range, Mojave Desert, California, USA
- The Three Sisters mountain, Temescal Mountains, California, USA
- The Three Sisters mountain range, Siskiyou County, California, USA
- Three Sisters Mountain, with peaks named Rattlesnake, Wildcat, and McBrayer, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Georgia, USA – the best individual names of all of them!
How many (if any) of these have you seen? Are there any that I’ve missed? Please comment below if you want! And here’s a picture that one of our kids drew when she was younger. I try to reference the kids by just their initials for privacy’s sake, but we have two P’s, so she is P2.
The Compass Rose Queen 