[pct-l] Twin Lakes (Pygmy needs trail info)

[msarahm at cox.net]

I walked from Tuolumne to Twin Lakes on the Sierra High Route a couple years ago, returning to Tuolumne via Glen Aulin.  Glen Aulin was the only place with bear boxes,  and it was the only place we needed them, though a mouse got some of a partner's food at heck-whatever-that-last-canyon-at-the-pass-south-of-twin-lakes-is-called (Spuller?, Spiller?).

We camped in the aforementioned pass for two nights, and day hiked down to Twin Lakes.  They had a little store and a large RV park.  It was funny to walk through the RV park after several days off trail and realize that at the end of our hike, we would tell our friends we spent a week out camping.  All those folks in the RVs with satellite televsion would go home at the end of their trips and tell their friends the same thing (not to dis those folks; they were friendly and nice.  It's just a different kind of camping).

The area is beautiful.  It snowed quite a bit on our last day in mid-September.  If it were a little warmer, I would happily have spent a few days exploring swimming holes near Glen Aulin.

If you go across Tioga Pass, don't forget to eat a gourmet dinner at the gas station at the east end of the Tioga Pass road.  A gas station is an unlikely place for gourmet food and fine wine, but that only adds to the entertainment value of the experience.

Sarah