Twin Lakes

Summary | Parking/Trailhead | Trail Description | Supplies | Itinerary

North Twin Lake	South Twin Lake	Clover Creek Cascade
Twin Lakes Trail	Twin Peaks

Summary

The Twin Lakes day hike is a strenuous 13.6 mile roundtrip hike gaining approximately 2,100 feet in elevation. As with most popular national parks trails, this trail is well traveled and very well marked with plenty of signage to tell you exactly where you're at.

You'll notice that there is more than average detail about this hike down in the Trail Description area. That's because there is a lot to see on this hike which should keep the interest of any observant hiker. The hike to Twin Lakes is a wonderland of sights and sounds that makes the trip go faster than virtually any other short hike in our forest.

Parking/Trailhead

The trailhead is located within the Lodgepole campground at Lodgepole Village within Sequoia National Park. The campground entrance is located at the East end of the Village. Pass through the entrance and drive a short way until you reach a large parking lot. The trailhead is closest to the eastern most portion of the the lot. Although you can park anywhere in the lot, the left side of the road at the edge of the Kaweah River is usually the most convenient.

There are food storage boxes a few places throughout the lot. Make sure extra food is placed in these containers instead of your car before you take off. There is also a public restroom near the parking lot where water bottles can filled up local water. So if you used the water tap to fill up before you left home, dump it out and refill here.

Past the east end of the parking lot, cross a road bridge over Kaweah River. Immediately past the bridge to the right is the trailhead for Tokopah Falls. This is NOT the trailhead you want. Walk a bit further until you find the trailhead sign for the Twin Lakes Trail which you'll find directly before the first campsite.

Trail Description

The Twin Lakes trail starts with a strenuous uphill for approximately 1/2 mile and is shaded for the most part until the trail starts to approach the top of the ridge. Just as we pass over the ridge, the trail becomes much easier for a while gently rolling for almost 2 miles.

1.6 miles into the hike we came across the Waksachi trail turn-off which runs off to the left (West) for 1.5 miles. The trail sign also gave us current mileage for our hike to Twin Lakes.

A few 100 yards after the turn-off we passed a small stream that achieved a pretty good score for getting everyone's footwear wet. About 1/4 - 1/2 mile past the first trail-crossing stream we came across a second stream. The location of the second stream marks the beginning of a moderate ascent that continued until we reached Cahoon Gap at 8,645 feet.

2.1 miles into the hike we reached Silliman Creek and another trail sign. From this point we sat and enjoyed the roar of the creek (sounded like a river) while we had fun doing anything we could to keep everyone else in a belly laugh. Not too hard with group like ours. We also had a great view of a meadow-like hill on the opposite side of the stream directly below the trail.

Crossing Silliman Creek this point can be very difficult and can be very wet, if not life threatening, if you don't have a sure foot. When we crossed, the water level was pretty high and we found it easier to move about 10 feet upstream, over a small ridge, where we found a small set of rocks that we could hop across on.

The next hazard is that of crossing over the meadow-like hill I mentioned a bit earlier. You'll notice that this is a very active slide area and has to be re-made into a trail at least once a year.

As we topped the next ridge we started to approach Cahoon Meadow. As this meadow is approached the view of it opens up the closer we got. There is a nice flat area between the trail and the meadow that is worth stopping at just to admire this beautiful meadow. As the trail continues on and upward to Cahoon Gap, there will not be a closer or better view so, even though you might have just taken a break at the Silliman Creek crossing, Cahoon Meadow is worth at least a few pictures.

Cahoon Gap was reached at an elevation of 8,645 feet and 4.2 miles into our hike. This meant that we were in for a nice long downhill to Clover Creek! Wait . . . doesn't that mean the we have to go uphill on the way back? . . . Look at it this way. Climbing to Cahoon Gap on the way back is the only significant uphill on your way downhill. :) On our way back, we only needed to rest once while climbing the opposite side of the Gap so No Worries. Oh . . . there was another trail sign at the top of the Gap.

When we reached Clover Creek we found that the only way to cross was to use a fallen log. On the opposite side of the creek and to the right of the trail there is a small campground with 1 or 2 sites that even has a bear box. What luxury!

Just after passing another small trail-crossing creek we found another much larger campground where there are three very nice sites on the right while the East Fork of Clover Creek runs to the left of the trail. Except for the proximity to the trail, this has to be one of the nicest little camp grounds I have ever stayed at as the noise from the creek provides the backdrop for a perfect night's sleep.

You will also find a bear cable directly behind the first camp sight that looks pretty strong. When we passed it was holding two full sized coolers 20 feet in the air!

At the East end of the campground, there is another trail junction where J.O. Pass heads off to the left 1.9 miles and Twin Lakes continuing on to the right an additional 1.7 miles.

Within about 1 mile of reaching Twin Lakes, the switchbacks start. While on the switchbacks the trail will loop near a beautiful stair-stepped cascade fed directly from the larger of the two Twin Lakes.

Upon reaching the Twin Lakes campground we were immediately greeted by the South Lake's granite amphitheatre. At the time we visited, there were still snow packs on the walls feeding the already full North and South lakes.

To get a good view of Twin Peaks, follow the first stream that crosses the trail after reaching the Twin Lakes area. This stream leads North to the smaller of the "twin" lakes. From the shores of the smaller lake you can capture a fantastic view of Twin Peaks. Obviously, after reaching this area, we learned that neither the lakes or peaks were identical twins.

Supplies

Use the standard Day Hike Checklist for this hike.

Itinerary

The times below are estimates and can vary greatly (i.e., return a lot later) depending on how much time is taken to stop and smell the pine needles.

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