It was a rainy and overcast day so I didn’t plan anything with the group, but I still wanted to hit the trail. Since I hadn’t made plans, I had to pick a route I already knew so I started looking at some obvious choices in Mt Hood. Then I realized that it has been a long time I haven’t hike from Barlow Pass in a long time. This mostly because we use that railhead when there’s snow. It’s rare when we go in the summer. One option was to do the off trail to Ghost Ridge but I knew there were going to be no views from up there so instead, I opted to hike the PCT down to Lower Twin Lakes and then make my way around massing by Upper Twin Lakes and Palmateer Point. I got to an empty trailhead where I only saw another car. Once on the trail, under a faint mist I hiked in complete solitude and silence. I couldn’t hear birds, wind or water. It was quite peaceful. The ground was humid and had that recognizable wet smell. AS expected, I didn’t get any views to I just hiked on until I found the junction to the Lower Twin Lakes. When I got there, I had the choice to just check it out and continue on but instead, decided to walk around the lake, just for the fun of it. The views all around were the same. A very opaque and muted green surface and grey skies. I noticed the water level much lower than what it should be and a lot of erosion in different areas. One particular place that was completely flattened out was near the junction with the rog Lake trail. In that area, a rope was hanging from the tree and the clear marks of many people swinging on it to land on the lake. Can’t imagine how that would have looked on a busy weekend. After that, I continued on the trail towards Upper Twin Lakes, o that section I saw the only person I saw the entire day, another solitary hiker. I got to the second lake and though about going around. Instead I stopped, grabbed something to it and then continued around until I got to the Palmateer cutoff. One advantage of hiking this in the summer is that you can actually see the trail and don’t have to guess as you navigate on snow. The trail to Palmateer Point was easy to follow just until the point you get to the bare top. There are several foot paths going up thee so it’s difficult to see which one is the official one. Trying to to leave a mark, I picked the rockiest one and made certain to step only on hard surfaces. There were a lot of marks of less carful hikers though. At the top I didn’t get the welcoming view of Mt Hood, but I knew where it was. I didn’t stay there long so then I found my way down taking a connector trail to the PCY and back to the trailhead.
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