With the warmer weather we had been having, Val and I were itching to go backpacking, so we picked a close to town route that we could easily do as an overnighter. Luck was not in our side as the weather changed and we got a mostly overcast weekend with just a tiny bit of sun when we were already hiking out. We started from the Pansy Lake trailhead meandering thru the woods while we slowly climbed towards Pansy Lake. On the way in, we didn’t stop at Pansy but I did notice the lake looked to be shallower and more like a marsh than a lake from what I remembered. From there we continued on the Mother Lode trail without views until we got to the burnt area further up. I’ve always found burnt areas to be very intriguing. On one side is the sense of desolation as you walk thru black and white tall dead tree trunks, on the other, is the amazement as nature keeps going with new plants and flowers. The views are very contrasting with incredible backgrounds and colorful foregrounds. Along the trail we found both Rhododendrons and Bear Grass in full bloom. Then the trail kind of disappeared below our feet at the same time we got our first view of Upper Twin Lake. We saw several campsites already taken so we walked a bit further and found a nice site next to the lake. Views were a bit limited but with all the fog and clouds, there was not much to see. We took a short walk to the lower Twin Lakes just to check it out and found that half the trail, as you get closer to the lake, is buried under bushes and fallen trees. You pretty much have to make your own way. We did see people heading that way and camping around the lake though so I guess the footpath eventually take you there. That evening we had a small fire to warm up while we had dinner and then hi the sack quite early. The following morning was not much different so we retraced our step back towards the trailhead. We thought for a while taking a detour to climb to the ire lookout to check the scenery but as we were getting closer to the trail junction, we met a couple that was just coming down from there. They told us that the fire lookout was inside the cloud so there was absolutely no views. With that we just decided to continue on towards the trailhead. Towards the end, as we were hiking the last mile or so, the sun finally peeked thru the clouds and illuminate the forest just for a little bit. It was still a relaxing weekend sleeping under the stars.
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