Signboard along the Twin Lakes trail - just before it starts climbing.  Click in image for a view of the informational signboard.

Images (.JPG format):

• IMG03924 - Gordon, Elaine and Ron near the Twin Lakes Dam.
  
• IMG03925 - Mike, just above Twin Lakes.
  
• IMG03926 - Elaine, with Twin Lakes and and Millicent in the background.
  
• IMG03928 - Gordon, telling Mike about the "apology for being helpful."  Similar is #3927
  
• IMG03944 - The obligatory group picture:  Sorry for the blur - I didn't have it focused very well, I guess...  L->R:  Gordon, Clint, Ron, Elaine and Mike.
  

DSCN6617 - Ron, Gordon and Clint at the Twin Lakes Dam.
DSCN6619 - Mike, near the Twin Lakes Dam.
DSCN6620 - Clint, Taking a picture of Elaine and Co.  (This was taken within seconds of #3924, above.)
DSCN6626 - Clint, Ron, Mike and Gordon near the junction where the trail descends to Lake Solitude.

• The elevation profile of the hike - This shows the ups and downs of the trail. 
  
• A detailed map with the GPS track of the hike (plus surrounding landmarks, 523k)
  

This is a composite of several smaller pictures.  Please note that due to size, it may not display properly on some browsers and you may need to use an image viewer like Irfanview to view it properly and zoom in on some of the details.  Note that details (exposure, time, location, etc.) are noted in file's EXIF "Comments" field.

• Twin Lakes Pano- A wide-angle shot from the saddle where the trail drops toward Lake Solitude., looking (mostly) into the Lake Catherine Cirque.  This image, composed of 15 individual images, encompasses somewhat over 150 degrees of view.  (This is a half-sized version:  1692k .JPG. )  Here is the full-sized version:  (3600k .JPG)
  

Being that we have lost a lot of daylight since the solstice, the hikes have been getting shorter as of late.  On this day, we were joined by Elaine, Ron's wife, for the first time in many years.  Owing to past knee problems - many of which have been remedied by a replacement - she has only fairly recently been able to hike once again.  Being that this was a relatively short hike and in familiar territory, she decided to try.

On the way up the canyon, it couldn't seem to make up its mind as to whether it should rain or not.  This indecision was still apparent even after starting the hike:  At about the time that we broke out of the trees (near where the trail that passes the New York Tunnel joins the trail going up to Twin Lakes dam) it started to sprinkle heavily enough that several of the party donned jackets - but some did not.  Fortunately, the rain was light enough that it only dampened things slightly and, by the time we reached the dam, it has pretty much stopped.

It's only been a bit more than a month since our last visit to Twin Lakes on 7/19 and we noticed immediately that the spillway was no longer spilling.  Gordon, who had been there just his past Monday (8/21) noted that even as recently as that, the spillway had been overflowing:  Now, the water was at 4 feet or so below the spillway line, the drain valve on the reservoir apparently having been recently opened.  Enough water had been released that tip the large rocky outcrop visible in one of the "old" pictures shown on the 7/19 page is just starting to break the lake's surface.  Perhaps further lowering of the lake will allow a better recreation of that original picture...

We continued onwards and upwards, stopping at the saddle dividing the fork containing Twin Lakes from that with Lake Solitude.  Here, we stopped for a few minutes, taking some pictures, telling stories about past hikes (and lightning storms - see explanation below.)  At about this time, someone in the group noticed a mast on a minor peak toward the west.  Further inspection with mono and binoculars revealed not a simple mast, but a fairly substantial communications shelter and a tower laden with several antennas:  We aren't quite sure which peak that might be... 

Eventually, we continued on our way, pausing briefly to sample some ripe currants growing along the trail, arriving at the "Suck 'N Blow" Mine (a.k.a. the Solitude Tunnel) as twilight was approaching, pausing long enough to check out the cool breeze blowing and to get a group picture.

Along the road/trail on the northwest side of the lake, we could not help to notice that some sort of excavation was in progress:  A narrow trench cut across the trail that could not be easily rounded.  With only minor difficulty, we were able to drop into the trench and then follow it a few 10's of feet to walk out of it on the other side.  In the trench, we noted a severed pipe:  We weren't sure if that was the cause of the need for excavation, or a result...

The rest of the trail down was mostly uneventful:  The first several hundred yards below Lake Solitude are rather steep - downright treacherous when wet.  Fortunately, there had not been enough rain to do more than to slightly pack the soil under our feet.  The only point of concern came at a point where we had to make a few decisions as to whether to turn left or right.  We knew (from past experience) that the wrong "left" choice would either lead us farther down than we really wanted to go while a certain "right" choice would put us on the trail that passes below the New York tunnel, finally joining the Twin Lakes trail halfway to the dam.  As it turns out, we managed to make the correct choices and finally rejoined the Silver Lake trail.

Upon arrival at the vehicles, we decided to try the restaurant at the Silver Lake Lodge.  Although the door indicated a closing time of 9 PM, they seemed happy to serve us even though it was getting close to 9:30.  There, we all had a nice meal and then headed down the canyon.  There was a slight bit of excitement when Mike swung around one of the tighter turns just above the "S Curve" only to find a car on the north (uphill) side of the road, facing the wrong way, with someone sitting on the hood:  We all agreed that there were several things about this that seemed unsafe, so Mike contacted the Sheriff as soon as practical, once we got out of the canyon and back into cell-phone range.

Comments:

• Because all of the images were originally taken stored in raw binary format, they have been down-processed to .JPG for web posting:  If requested, different color/contrast/brightness may be applied and/or higher-quality uncompressed versions may be available for most of these image.
• If you want one (or more) of these images and wish some sort of adjustment (color, brightness, exposure, etc.) please let me know:  All of these image have been processed in some way.
• These images are in chronological order.
• No-one ever said that all of these images (or any of them) were good.  Some of them may have definite focus/exposure "issues."
• EXIF data is present for most of the images, showing time, date, and precise exposure conditions.  Recent versions of Irfanview will show this in the "View->Image Information->EXIF" tab.  Note that cropping/noise reduction required the use of another program which may have removed some/most of this EXIF data.
• Images suffixed with "h" (if any) are half-size.  This was done for images that were somewhat out of focus (due to misfocus or camera/subject movement associated with long shutter times) or those that required some extra noise reduction and had lost some detail anyway.
• All images taken using a Sigma SD-10 camera and were taken using the 18-50mm zoom lens, except as noted in the EXIF data.

Gordon, K7HFV relates:

"On a Wednesday night hike to Twin Lakes, we found ourselves in the midst of a somewhat unexpected rainstorm. We got separated a bit as we scrambled to don everything from ponchos through one-use rain covers to garbage bags. John Parken, KA7GZH, and I ended up in the lead heading toward the turnoff to Lake Solitude. When we were less than 100 feet from the turn, a lightning bolt came down right at the trail junction, with a sound that rivaled a large fireworks display. We were left looking at each other in a dazed fashion. Should we go forward to the spot the lightning had just hit? Should we go back the way we came? Should we run for our lives? Just then an older gentleman appeared in front of us, seemingly from out of nowhere, and said authoritatively,

"'You shouldn't be out on an exposed ridge like this under these conditions.'

"We had to admit that sounded like pretty reasonable advice. We thanked him and he hurried past us down the trail toward Ron, his son Dennis, and the others in our party. We decided to hurry to the turnoff and drop down toward Lake Solitude, which was the quickest way off the ridge. Before we could get that far, however, the gentleman reappeared going the other direction and apologized for having given us advice because we were not part of 'his group.' Apparently he was in charge of a Wasatch Mountain Club hike and had just realized he was already past the end of his party. We found it odd to hear an apology for giving life-saving advice, but we gathered that the advice was now retracted and we were free to get ourselves killed if we so chose."

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Go to the 2006 Wednesday Night Hike page, or main Wednesday Night Hike index page.

Historical info about these lakes was taken from "The Lady in the Ore Bucket" by Charles Keller