The Twins – wanderingyuncks

Another warm, sunny forecast coincided with our hiking schedule leaving multiple destinations possible. (My original schedule for the year has been largely replaced by groups of ideas depending on the weather or fire situation.) After considering several different hikes we decided to try out a loop around Charlton and Lily Lakes in the Willamette and Deschutes National Forests.

We parked at what Google labels as the Pct Trailhead located a quarter mile up Forest Road 4290 off Forest Road 5897 aka Waldo Lake Road.

The first part of the loop we were planning passes through the 2022 Cedar Creek Fire scar. One of the trails, the Lily Lake Trail, was severely impacted by both that fire and the 1996 Charlton Fire and no longer shows up on the Forest Service website or updated maps such as CalTopo. Our paper, GPS, and the PCTA online map National Forest System Trails layer all showed the trail alignment, so we hoped that we would be able to use our navigational skills on that section.

Before starting the loop we headed down to Charlton Lake for a first look.

Canada jay

The trail to Charlton Lake from the trailhead crosses the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) after just 250′ then continues to the lake for a total of just a tenth of a mile.

Charlton Lake

Geradine Butte to the left and The Twins (post) to the right.

After visiting the lake we hiked back to the PCT and turned right (north) heading toward the Lily Lake Trail junction.

Fireweed

After 0.4-miles on the PCT the trail crossed FR 4290.

We took it as a good sign that the Lily Lake Trail was listed on the sign at least.

The PCT headed toward Charlton Butte which it would pass to the west. The Cedar Creek fire had burned over this entire section although a few trees were spared here and there.

Pond along the PCT.

Charlton Butte

Pearly everlasting

Trail signs at the Lily Lake Trail junction. From FR 4290 the sign said it was 1.5-miles, the GPS put it at 1.4.

It appeared this sign was set up after the 2022 fire so we took the inclusion of the Lily Lake Trail as another good sign.

We turned right onto the faint but discernable Lily Lake Trail and followed it up a small rise along the base of Charlton Butte gaining a view north of several Cascade Volcanos.

Irish Mountain is the forested peak to the left with Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Washington, The Husband, the Three Sisters, Broken Top, Mt. Bachelor and finally Cultus Mountain.

Zoomed in you can see Three Fingered Jack in front of Mt. Jefferson. Little Roundtop Mountain is the peak between Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Washington.

The Three Sisters

Broken Top and Ball Butte

Mt. Bachelor (post) and Kwolh Butte

The flank of Charlton Butte.

The maps that contained the Lily Lake Trail showed it dropping into the basin below then swinging to the NE before arriving at Lily Lake. We quickly lost the tread at the lip of the basin and wound up using our GPS units to stick as close to the trail shown on those as we could.

We found no sign of the trail at all going down the burned hillside. The footing was pretty good, but we had to be careful of holes or areas where the ground was not stable.

As we got closer to the basin the severity of the burn was less which meant more obstacles to navigate.

We continued to use the GPS units as guides and eventually found what appeared to be the former trail tread.

What is left of the Lily Lake Trail coming through the basin.

The Lily Lake Trail heading toward the lake.

Charlton Butte from the trail.

Arriving at Lily Lake just under a mile from the junction with the PCT.

Unlike Charlton Lake where much of the forest around that lake had survived the Cedar Creek Fire, all of the forest surrounding Lily Lake was burned.

The good news was that the trail tread was much more obvious as it passed along the southern end of the lake for a quarter mile.

Mt. Bachelor and Cultus Mountain from the SE end of Lily Lake.

At the end of the lake the trail veered uphill to the SE climbing below a rock outcrop where we were sure there should be a pika or two.

For the next 0.6-miles the trail made a gentle descent through burned forest.

There was some flagging along this stretch of the trail, note the small blue flag ahead along the ground.

The flagging petered out shortly before we arrived at the Charlton Trail Junction.

Arriving at the Charlton Trail Junction.

The trail signs at the junction.

It was at this junction where things got “interesting”. Our GPS map, paper map, and the PCTA Map all showed the Lily Lake Trail arriving at a “4-way” junction.

All three maps showed this trail alignment.

Two things should have caused us to stop and do a little more analysis before continuing on. First there were only three obvious trails at the junction and second this junction was before the meadow shown on the map not near its far end. Instead of immediately picking up on those two discrepancies we took the lefthand fork which did not have a pointer on the trail signs. It was the straighter of the two choices and based on the “4-way” junction shown on the maps we wanted to go straight as the righthand fork would take us on a more direct 2.1-mile route back to Charlton Lake.

The righthand fork

The lefthand fork headed toward the meadow initially which made more sense based on the maps we were using at this point.

After just over 200′ on the lefthand fork we realized something was amiss as we were clearly veering N when we expected to be continuing SE. At that point the fact that it had been a three and not four-way junction suddenly seemed relevant. We returned to the junction and consulted the GPS and PCTA maps and came to our second incorrect conclusion. We assumed that the trail shown on the maps continuing straight through the junction had been lost/abandoned due to the fire and decided to bushwack along the right (south) side of the meadow while trying to stick to the track shown on the GPS as we had done descending to the Lily Lake basin.

The edge of the meadow was very wet, so we had to bow out to stay on dry ground.

Charlton Butte

According to the GPS we crossed over the old trail alignment several times, but we didn’t see anything that looked like tread

We didn’t even see anything when we passed over the spot where the GPS thought the “4-way” junction was supposed to have been. As far as cross-country hiking goes it wasn’t hard, but it was still more work than simply hiking on trail. After three quarters of a mile of bushwacking I was working us back uphill to our right to where the GPS showed the tread and lo and behold there was clear tread.

The Clover Meadow Trail passing through a cut log.

Back on trail!

Had I pulled up the CalTopo map back at the junction things would have made a lot more sense. (It also would have helped if I had realized that the trail we wanted was the Clover Meadow Trail.)

Our wrong turn and cross-country track as shown on the GPS unit.

Our track overlaid onto the CalTopo map. I hadn’t been referring to this map because the Lily Lake Trail wasn’t shown on it, but if we had looked at it at the three-way junction we would most likely have realized that we needed to go right a short distance to a fork and then go left.

It was a lot easier going now that we were on actual trail. This trail was in good shape and clearly used by mountain bikers. We followed the trail for another 1.8 gentle downhill miles to another three-way junction.

The Twins from the trail.

Woodpecker

The trail eventually left the fire scar for good.

Our dislike of mylar balloons grows every time we pack one out of the forest/wilderness. I spotted that unmistakable shiny material and had to detour over to pick it up.

As we continued east the forest changed to lodgepole pine.

The three-way junction ahead near Clover Meadow.

Aside from a Clover Meadow sign the only other signs at the junction were yield signs for users.

We were at the Metolius-Windigo Trail. This multi-use trail is over 100-miles long. The actual distance varies depending on which website you visit, some say it begins at the Head of the Metolius River (post) and ends at Windigo Pass (post), while others show it starting at the Bear Valley Trailhead NE of Three Fingered Jack. Regardless of the actual distance we were only concerned with the 3.5-mile stretch SSW from this junction. We turned right, and in three quarters of a mile recrossed FR 4290.

Charlton Butte

After crossing the road the trail began climbing at times as it needed to gain over 500′ of elevation before reaching the junction with the Charlton Trail.

Round Meadow

Stream flowing into Round Meadow.

The junction with the Charlton Trail.

Heather and I split up at this junction. I stayed on the Metolius-Windigo Trail for another 0.4-miles then took another 0.4-mile trail to Found Lake below Geradine Butte while Heather forked right onto the Charlton Trail and headed for the lake where she planned on taking a relaxing break while she waited for me.

Continuing on the Metolius-Windigo Trail.

Sign for the Found Lake Trail splitting off to the right.

The Twins from a meadow along the Found Lake Trail.

Geradine Butte from the meadow.

Geradine Butte

Found Lake

My second chance of the day to spot a pika was on the rocky hillside along Found Lake. Alas, I wasn’t lucky enough to spot one here either, but I did hear one.

After tagging the lake and unsuccessfully searching for pikas I headed back to the Charlton Lake Trail looking forward to what I was sure would be some downhill. The answer to whether this 1.9-mile stretch of the Charlton Trail was up or down is “yes”. There were several steep climbs broken up by some downhills and flat sections before steeply descending to the lake.

A flat stretch.

Going down

Charlton Lake through the trees.

At the lakeshore I headed left (clockwise) around the lake on the Charlton Trail. There were plenty of good views along the way.

Charlton Butte

Geradine Butte

Geradine Butte and The Twins.

California tortoiseshells doing what butterflies do.

Heather was in her camp chair reading a book when I met back up with her. After a quick break we hiked the final tenth of a mile back to the car so we could change our shoes and get cold drinks out of our cooler. With the detour to Found Lake my hike came in at 13.7-miles with roughly 1500′ of elevation gain.

Had we not gone down to the lake first and gone the wrong way at the confusing junction the loop sans Found Lake would have been a little under 12-miles with around 1400′ of elevation gain. This was a fun loop with nice lakes, a few good views, and some short challenging sections. Of course we’d made it harder on ourselves by needlessly bushwacking when we could have been on the Clover Meadow Trail. Due to the lack of trail between the PCT and Lily Lake you do really need map and navigational skills if you’re going to try it. Happy Trail!

Flickr: Charlton and Lily Lakes

The weather was once again looking promising for the last hike of our mini-vacation so we headed up to Waldo Lake to visit a viewpoint atop The Twins with a side trip to Bobby Lake thrown in. This wasn’t the first time that we had planned on doing the hike The Twins, but the elements hadn’t played nice and we’d changed plans every time before.

We took Highway 58 from Eugene to the Waldo Lake (Forest Road 5897) and followed it for just over 6 miles to the Twin Peaks Trailhead

We set off on the trail which gradually climbed through a fairly open forest of lodgepole pine and mountain hemlock.

We quickly (less than a tenth of a mile from the trailhead) passed our return route, a connector trail with a pointer for Gold Lake.

We stuck to The Twins Trail and in another mile and a half reached a four way junction with the Pacific Crest Trail. A variety of mushrooms could be seen along the trail.

PCT junction.

We continued straight across the PCT climbing steeply at first before becoming more gradual. Here the trail passed through an open forest of mountain hemlock with a couple of ponds and many rock outcrops. It was the type of forest that called for exploration and we both felt like we could have set up camp in the area and stayed relaxed for days.

More cool mushrooms.

First pond

Looking down on the first pond.

Liked the pattern on this shroom.

A smaller pond.

Found a few blooming bleeding heart.

We reached another junction 1.2 miles from the PCT at a sign for Charlton Lake.

This would also be a return trail for us as part of a short loop including the summits of The Twins.

The trail steepened beyond the junction and eventually headed straight up the cinder covered rim around The Twins crater.

Over our shoulder a nice view to the south was unfolding including Maiden and Diamond Peaks, Mt. Thielsen and Mt. Bailey and even Mt. Scott in Crater Lake National Park.

Diamond Peak on the right and Mt. Bailey (post) on the left.

Mt. Scott (post) on the left and Mt. Thielsen (post) behind Howlock Mountain.

Maiden Peak (post) in the center.

Close up of Diamond Peak

As we followed the rim north Waldo Lake could be seen below to the west.

Waldo Mountain Lookout (post) on the far side of Waldo Lake.

At the north summit the view north was spectacular stretching all the way to Mt. Jefferson.
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Rigdon Butte (post) along Waldo Lake

Mt. Jefferson (with Three Fingered Jack in front), Mt. Washington, and The Husband

The Three Sisters

Broken Top

Mt. Bachelor

The Sun was still to the east making that view a little bright and there seemed to be some smoke over the LaPine area but Newberry Crater and Paulina Peak were visible above the smoke with a low water Wickiup Reservoir in the foreground.

To the SE Davis Lake was visible in front of Davis Mountain and Hammer Butte

To the south the taller southern summit blocked some of the view.

As we started down the trail a saddle between the two summits we spotted a marmot.

The marmot on a rock ledge with Crane Prairie Reservoir in the background.

The saddle was forested complete with green grass.

The trail forked on the far side of the saddle where a faint path traversed the hillside below the south summit.

The other fork headed 200′ up to second summit.

The view north was still great from this summit and Waldo Lake was still visible by looking west across the cinder cones crater.

Here though the view to the south was back.
IMG_9413_stitch That’s Bobby Lake below Maiden Peak.

Mt. Yoran near Diamond Peak

Gold Lake

Fuji Mountain (post)

Llao Rock was visible over the right shoulder of Mt. Thielsen from this angle.
The closest rocky peak to the right of the photo is Cowhorn Mountain (post)

We had planned on going back down the way we’d come up and taking the trail around the summit, but from the summit we noticed another user path heading down the back side and meeting up with the loop trail at another saddle.

It didn’t look too steep so we decided to try it out. As we started down we quickly realized that it was quite a bitter steeper than it had seemed but we were able to get down without too much trouble. Lower on the hillside we came across a number of elk tracks.

We turned right onto the trail when we reached the saddle where there was a bit of a view of the Three Sisters and Broken Top.

We completed the 2 mile loop and arrived back at The Twins Trail at the Charlton Lake sign and turned left to head back down to the PCT where we turned left again following the point for Bobby Lake.

We followed the PCT south for 2.5 miles, losing a little elevation along the way and passing a pair of small lakes/ponds just before arriving at a 4-way junction.

Tiny PCT frog.

One of the unnamed lakes.

Trail sign at the 4-way junction.

We turned left and dropped down to Bobby Lake which we reached in just over a quarter mile, but not before being looked over by some grey jays.

A short distance along the lake shore to the right was a large rock feature.
Maiden Peak above the lake.

We made our way over to the rocks and took a nice break where we had some company.
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The Twins

One of several butterflies.

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After the break we returned to the PCT junction and continued straight on the Bobby Lake Trail toward Waldo Lake Road.

Of particular interest to us was a post located about 100 feet from the junction marking the end of the Eugene to Crest Trail. We had done some of that route earlier in the year during our Bunchgrass Ridge hike (post)

We followed the Bobby Lake Trail for a little over one and three quarters of a mile before turning right at a point for The Twins Trail.

Nordic trail sign high on the tree.

A fairly level but not at all straight mile walk back to The Twins Trail followed as did a chance encounter with a toad.

We didn’t see too many people during the hike but we found the trailhead parking area full, counting at least 10 cars plus ours (we had been the only car when we started). The hike came in at 12.1 miles and gained upwards of 2100′ of elevation gain making it a good workout but well worth the effort. Happy Trails!

Flickr: The Twins and Bobby Lake