8 miles of hiking • 1000' elevation gain •
Planned to hike Hunchback Mountain but it rained so hard that I decided to drive further east. Started at Frog Lake Snowpark. I didn't take snowshoes because didn't plan for snow hiking, but the trail was tracked very well and the snow was firm, so I almost never postholed - it was as easy as regular hiking. Lots of snow, some signs were just a few inches above it, and some were almost buried. It snowed lightly most of the day, with a few sun breaks. From PCT I went right to Lower Twin Lake, then the Upper Lake, but then snowshoe tracks ended so I followed somebody's ski tracks around the Upper Lake. Then it's hard to say by the map (which I didn't take as well; I snapped a photo of simplified map at the trailhead) but I probably missed the "short" shortcut trail and hiked the long one. It took more time than expected to re-join the PCT, and at some point I almost turned around. I finally hit the PCT 1.5 miles from Barlow Pass, and turned left. The trail was poorly tracked from this point, with lots of small ups and downs, and some steep side-hilling. In about 40 minutes I hit the lower junction where I left the PCT on the way there; from this point it was easy going back to the car. Not a lot of views on this hike besides the lakes (Sullivan map also shows Palmateer Point which I missed), but the trail was mostly good and the snowed-in forest is nice to hike in.
