Backpacking Twin Lakes 

Distance: 16miles

Elevation Gain: 2276 ft EG/2179 EL

Location:  Mt Hood Natl Forest

Type: Loop out/back

Hike Time: 3 days

Drive Time From Gresham: 1hr

Trail Head: Barlow Pass TH on Hwy 35

https://goo.gl/maps/VMXhBFegGgAwHRkP9

Water Sources: Upper, Lower Twin Lakes and Frog Lake.  

Weather: Fri 79/56; Sat 89/61; Sun 92/57

* bring your swimsuits, it’s going to be hot!

Attendance:

Youth – Cheyenne, Mielie, Satine, Audrey, Indiana, Mitchell

Adults – Sam, and Kris

    Another amazing adventure in Scouting! We are still in Phase 1 of our Covid19 pandemic which means masks are still in place and no carpooling allowed, which means parents have to drive their scouts to the trailhead. I'm so happy to say that we have some great parents that are really doing their best to help their scouts have some adventures! Overall this was a great weekend of backpacking. The weather was a little hot, but we did our best to get up early and hit the trail to get those miles done. I was very grateful that most of our hiking was done in the cover of the trees. 

    Friday - We started our hike at 5pm leaving the Barlow Pass Trailhead and catching the PCT to Palmateer Trail. We went up and over Palmateer Point, passing through Palmateer camp named after Jack Palmateer who was a local sheepherder from Wasco County who used this area for grazing in the 1800's.  We arrived at Upper Twin Lake at 730pm which was hard to find, we were able to snag the last campsite available, the good news was the camp was near the lake, the bad news was that we camped close to a small group of people who were building fires with a no fire ban in place. Needless to say, I was not very happy.  Mitchell definitely enjoyed having another boy along, and I enjoyed listening to them talk about shooting stars most of the evening, after we all went to bed. There was a loud owl in the area that made a lot of noise during the night, but I have to admit it was really cool to hear. 

    Saturday - I got up around 530am and enjoyed my coffee before waking the kids up at 7am. They did a great job getting up and hitting the trail by 815am. Due to the challenges of finding a camp spot we decided to set up camp at Lower Twin Lakes as soon as we got there, which was only a mile south. We hiked almost all the way around the lake before finding a spot, and we set up just our tents/hammocks and packed the rest of our stuff up and over Frog Butte. We enjoyed lunch at Frog Lake though it was slammed pack full of people. Thankfully we found a shady spot at the far side of the lake where there were no people. After an hour's lunch, we trekked up the PCT to Lower Twin lake and headed back to camp arriving by 130pm. The kids enjoyed playing in the lake the rest of the afternoon and had a great time bonding aka talking well into the dark. Almost everyone wanted to stay up to see if they could see shooting stars. We were all tired and crashed around 10pm. I woke up to a small rain cloud passing over at 1:15am. Mielie said she woke up to a small rain cloud at 530am. 

    Sunday - I let everyone sleep in. It was surprisingly warm Sunday morning and I had to rinse off in the lake after packing up. We departed around 930am. The kids are getting more efficient at packing up their gear. We hit the trail and breezed through 4.5 miles in 90mins, back to Barlow Pass Trailhead. I was impressed, especially since a few of us took our time. 

    While we were waiting at the trailhead for kids to be picked up two female PCT'ers came through and rested. It was pretty warm at 12noon while we sat there eating our lunch. After everyone was picked up and we grabbed our stuff to leave the two girls asked us if we happened to be going by Timberline Lodge. Completely understanding their need to get out of the heat we offered them a ride up. Turns out they needed to get up there before 2pm in order to get their next shipment of food, so the ride was much needed on their behalf. We talked trail on the way up and about the scouting program. They were really impressed with the opportunities the youth have in Scouting and the Outdoor Program we offer. I offered up my meals that I didn't eat this weekend so they could have some variety and they were very delighted. We bid them fair well and Chey and Mielie were so impressed with all of their achievements. They couldn't believe that they had worked up to 18miles per day. We didn't catch their names but because of COVID they weren't able to start in California and started their adventure in Ashland. They are traveling all the way up to the Canadian border. Since this weekend was supposed to be PCT days in Cascade Locks they would be exactly on schedule to make the Canadian border in a great time. 

Pictures to come soon.