Upper Twin Lake Backpack

Angie, Cami, Kurt and I backpacked to Upper Twin Lake in late June. Upper Twin Lake (elev 4388') is located in the Mt Hood Wilderness, south of Mt Hood. The trip was ~9.5 miles round trip with ~1500 feet of total elevation gain. We also made a side trip to Palmateer Point (3.4 miles round trip).

Upper Twin Lake is a very nice shallow lake. The lake doesn't hold many fish because it usually freezes solid in the winter. The lake has a partial view of Mt Hood from the very southern end of the lake. There were 3 other groups of backpackers at the lake, but we arrived first and got the best campsite on the east end of the lake.

This was an enjoyable backpack with minimal bugs and almost no snow. It's good to see the mountain snow is finally starting to melt out.

Angie enjoying the afternoon sun at the lake.
Cami, Angie and Kurt
Cami
View of Mt Hood along the trail leading to Palmateer Point. Mt Hood usually doesn't have this much snow in late June, but our cool spring with lots of rain/snow has kept the mountain covered.
Palmateer Point. Elev 4410'
The only wildflower I could find on Palmateer Point!
Cami making a bed in the beargrass.
Cami looking hungry.
Kurt cooking on his new MSR stove.
Angie's bug hat.
Partial view of Mt Hood from Upper Twin Lake. 3 exposure manual blend in Photoshop. 1/20 sec, 1 sec at 1.6 sec at f/16, ISO 100. Not much of a sunset, but I still like the photo.
Moonrise over Upper Twin Lake. 3 exposure manual blend in Photoshop. 1) 5.5 sec at f/16, ISO 100 taken during twilight to maintain some texture in the water/trees/logs.
2) 30 sec at f/4, ISO 200 - 30 minutes later for the stars/sky.
3) 27 sec at f/22, ISO 400 - 45 minutes later for the "moon star".
Early morning at Upper Twin Lake.