The informational sign past the bottom of Silver Fork, at the end of the blacktop.
Click on the image for a larger version.

Images (.JPG format):

All pictures for this week's hike were kindly provided by Dennis Jones.  While I'd remembered to bring my camera, I hadn't brought any memory for it...

• DSCN3688 - Clint, standing at the remains of a cabin along the Twin Lakes trail
• DSCN3689 - Chris, Clint, Dale and Ron below the partially-dismantled ski lift.  Also see:  #3694.
• DSCN3695 - Dale, looking at Twin Lakes from the dam.
• DSCN3696 - A view of one of the cirques above Twin Lakes with the half-moon.  A zoomed-in view is #3698.
  
• DSCN3697 - Twin Lakes, from high above, along the trail.
• DSCN3700 - Looking down into Grizzly Gulch at sunset.  A zoomed-in view is #3703.
  
• DSCN3704 - The obligatory group picture, taken at Twin Lakes Pass.  L->R:  Gordon, Dennis, Ron, Mike, Chris, Dale, Clint
  

• None this week
  

• A detailed map with the GPS track of the hike (plus surrounding landmarks, 945k)
• The elevation profile of the hike - This shows the ups and downs of the trail.  (The elevation on the ascent was initially spotty.)
  

Another late monsoon-season hike.  With threats of thunderstorms all day, continuing into the evening, the sky was "partially threatening" as we gathered in the parking lot for the hike.  Because of these threats, we decided to do something that was more traditional in the late season, yet offered the opportunity to avoid serious exposure or "back out" if the weather turned threatening.  After discussing several possibilities (Cardiff Pass, Scott's Hill, to name a few) we decided on Twin Lakes Pass, possibly returning via Lake Solitude (and the "Suck 'n Blow" Mine, so-called because of the cool air that blows out of it during the summer, and its tendency to suck air into it during the winter.)  While we were gathering, we heard from Mike, who announced that because of delays at work, he would be a bit late:  As we were leaving the parking lot, we told him via radio where it was that we were going.

Because the gates of the parking lot at Silver Lake are "officially" closed at 9 PM (although we've never seen them closed before 10, that we can recall) we decided not to tempt fate, so we parked in the area just outside the gate.  Just as we were leaving the parking lot, I stopped to take a picture of the slightly threatening weather - only to notice that I didn't have any memory cards for my camera - and no-one else had any of the right type:  Dennis was then proclaimed as the official photographer of the hike.  As we proceeded along the Silver Lake boardwalk, the weather was still mixed:  A few heavy clouds, but nothing too threatening in sight.

As we headed up the traverse, ascending toward Twin Lakes, we stopped briefly at what had, at one time, been a small cabin.  About 15 years ago, this cabin was still standing, albeit in serious disrepair:  The main reason that we remember it (other than it's one of the few cabins that we pass in that area) is that, coming up this trail, we'd startled a bobcat that had been skulking about near this cabin - one of the very few times that we'd ever seen a bobcat on our hikes.

As we neared Twin Lakes dam, Chris noticed that the terminus of the ski lift just below the dam was partially dismantled, apparently preceded by its towers:  A crane was parked alongside the lift and the pulley/counterweight assembly had already been removed.  Chris opined that this lift hadn't been very popular recently, especially since there were already two other lifts in the Twin Lakes area that went much farther, essentially passing this one by.  At about this time, we saw something else that we hadn't seen too often:  One of the fishermen, having spent some time at Twin Lakes, was seen carrying a fairly large cutthroat trout down the trail.  When we got to the lake, we could see quite a few, also trying their luck.  At about this time, we were also passed by a bow hunter, dressed in camouflage, that wordlessly went past, following the road toward the lift near the top.

At about this time, we heard from Mike:  He'd just parked next to our vehicles and we about to get underway.  After pausing to look for a while at the lake (which was quite a ways below the spillway, but at a believably normal level for this time of year) we resumed our trek.  When we got to the fork in the road, we decided to continue to Twin Lakes pass, reserving the option of following the road down past Lake Solitude for the return trip.  A bit farther along, most of us made the left-hand turn, departing the road and crossing over the ridge to make the final traverse to the pass:  The forward party had already started toward the lift as the trailing party was beginning the crossing, but a quick reminder (and change of course) averted a later search.

Shortly after we got to the pass, Mike appeared in the distance, just having crossed the ridge from the road and beginning the traverse toward the pass.  It took only a few minutes for Mike to cover the rest of the distance and after we were reunited, we were treated to an impressive display of warm colors toward the west, the setting sun illuminating the clouds and mist as we looked into Grizzly Gulch.

After taking the obligatory group picture - and noticing that, in the distance, mother nature also seemed to be using flash photography, we decided to head down.  As we completed the traverse to the the ridge, just before rejoining the road, we could tell that not only was the distant flashing less-distant than before, it was also accompanied by a very light sprinkling.  By the time we got to the junction of the road that descended past Lake Solitude, we decided that we would return the way we came up rather than the longer route via the the lake and the mine:  We were reminded of a portion of that descent - just past Lake Solitude - that becomes very slippery when wet, being lubricated with small rocky ball-bearings and mud.  As it turned out, the precipitation never exceeded a very light sprinkle and no-one ever bothered to put on any proper rain gear.

Everyone returned to the parking lot (with Mike and Gordon bringing down the rear - someone has to remember to take that along...) and we piled into our vehicles and made an uneventful descent of the canyon.  Afterwards, a portion of the group (Gordon, Ron, Dennis and Clint) went to TGI Friday's for an after-hike dime lime.

About the Twin Lakes dam:

According to Keller, construction on the Twin Lakes dam started in April of 1915 and was completed by the end of the season, yielding a reservoir with a capacity of over 300 million gallons (approx. 921 acre-feet) for a cost of $72,000.  In May of 1917, the owner of the George Mining claim demanded a $10,000 payment because it was now partly underwater.  It wasn't until 1919 that this matter was settled for somewhat less - $183.35.

During the 1996 summer season, major renovation was done on the dam (see the pictures from 1996) - no doubt at a cost several orders of magnitude higher than that of the original construction.

Comments about pictures taken by Clint:

• 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.
• 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 images.
• 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 numbered 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.
• If you took some pictures of the hike and send them to me, I'll post them - and give you the blame!
  

Go to the 2007 Wednesday Night Hike page, or main Wednesday Night Hike page or the Wednesday Night Hike Cross-Index page