The trailhead begins at Big Lake, a popular camping spot for both ATV and boat owners. The day was warm and somewhat hazy (I didn’t know the Bedrock Fire had already begun down the Fall Creek valley to the west). I passed a tarn and a linear meadow before turning up a slope to get views to double cinder cone of Sand Mountain and its lookout. After passing into the Mt. Washington Wilderness, I got a longer vista to Three Fingered Jack and Mt. Jefferson.
The trail switchbacks down from a saddle and soon enters a shaded slope of montane old growth. Popping out of the old growth, I came to the shore of the first (and smallest) Patjens Lake, more like a pond. The three other Patjens Lakes came in rapid succession. I liked the third lake best, so that’s where I sat and had lunch.
The trail then took a course along a broad depression known as Hidden Valley. There were views back to Mt. Washington through the blackened snags, the air now having cleared up a little. Following the shore of Big Lake, I could see directly across to Hoodoo Butte and Hayrick Butte. The trail splits, with an “unmaintained user trail” with a few logs across taking me directly to the west campground, teeming with humanity on a hot and sunny Sunday, and then the trailhead.