9 miles of hiking • 1500' elevation gain •
What a weird weather day: low 30s and freezing rain in Portland, 31 and a total ice palace in Troutdale, 37 degrees in Sandy, 35 at Government Camp, 41 degrees at the Frog Lake Sno-Park. The forecast called for snow then rain, but it was reversed. It was raining when we started and snowed throughout the tour. Big, white, hamster-sized flakes. Met A LOT (about 25) of snow campers coming out of the Lower Twin Lake basin, apparently a youth group. There was only one set of day-old tracks for the rest of the loop, and nothing in the Palmateer basin.
We did the loop counter-clockwise, deviating from the trail at the pass just after Upper Twin Lake. We tried following the summer trail to Palmateer Point, but lost it in a beautiful meadow and had a hoot route-finding over to the swamp and Palmateer Point. I pity anyone who follows our tracks. No views at Palmateer, but a nice ski through the basin up to the PCT and then back to the trailhead along the this trail.
No wind, beautiful, fast snow, a little rain. A really nice loop.
