Twin Lakes Loop (BOTW Wilderness) from Elk Lake

[Hagbard Celine]

Thanks for the info Miah, We will definitely go to the first camp then. I agree that sometimes the best pictures are by accident or in my case all of them are! I have a point and click that I barely know how to use soooo....

And bumps for sure next time Karl!

[miah66]

Maybe next year you'll get the Red Buttes Wilderness on your vacation schedule?

Yes, I hope to! Thanks for your recon and answering my questions, I really enjoy your reports! They inspire me to write better ones.

I could be wrong but I don't think the road was closed for logging operations but to fix the road. It was noticeably better (the road to the lower ELC trailhead that is) than it was in years previous, as they filled in all of the car-swallowing potholes and gravel / pavement transitions until the last couple of miles. Hopefully it's open in a couple weeks when I lead a Mazama group there for a 3-day backpack.

Matt, I'm not sure about that either. The road to the lower end of Elk Lake Creek, Forest Road 6380, is impacted by the Jazz Timber Sale, specifically the "Drum unit". The sale was temporarily held up in court by Bark, but they lost the case and logging will proceed. I'm pretty sure the roads are being fixed to accomodate logging trucks for future operations. It's pretty sad as 12 miles of roads that were decommissioned using tax payer money are being reconstructed.

Here is a map of the timber sale, RD 6380 in the lower R corner. Say goodbye to the areas in pink. Looks like they will be cutting right up to the Wilderness Boundary. (Page 7 of second url)

http://bark-out.org/sites/default/files ... 027077.pdf

http://bark-out.org/sites/default/files ... 20Maps.pdf

More info from Bark:

http://bark-out.org/project/visit-jazz-timber-sale

[Swede]

I forgot to mention that the road to that lower trailhead will be closed most of the summer after July 15 for road work. I'll post the link tomorrow.

Do you have any more information about this road closure? I didn't find anything in the Bark links that you posted. Did you get this info from the FS? Would it be only Road 6380 that is closed, or would Road 63 be closed as well (as it was last summer)? This could affect my plans for later in the summer.

Thanks.

[stewvg]

Nice trip report. I did the same loop 2 years ago and had the same trail finding problem in the burnt area... but got lucky and it only took me about 10 minutes to stumble on the trail.

[miah66]

Do you have any more information about this road closure? I didn't find anything in the Bark links that you posted. Did you get this info from the FS? Would it be only Road 6380 that is closed, or would Road 63 be closed as well (as it was last summer)? This could affect my plans for later in the summer.

Thanks.

Upon further search online for information, it seems unlikely that sign I saw was current. It didn't look that old, but I can see that it's possible it was referring to LAST summers road closure. It didn't have a year on it (seems like it obviously should, seeing as how they are not bothering to remove year old signs) Sorry for the confusion.

Nice trip report. I did the same loop 2 years ago and had the same trail finding problem in the burnt area... but got lucky and it only took me about 10 minutes to stumble on the trail.

Yea it's a curious thing! The trails in most areas are flagged in burnt areas, or there is some sort of signage, blaze or marker at EVERY junction...except here there was absolutely NOTHING visible. Granted I could've easily missed it, but I'm always on the lookout for navigation stuff especially in devastated areas like this and I saw nothing. An ugly pink ribbon nearby would do wonders.