We hiked the Indian Creek trail to Blankenship Lakes and made a side trip to the south edge of Blankenship Meadow as well. The bow-and-arrow elk hunters were getting in position for Monday's season opening, but all in all, the trail was pretty quiet. There was a lot of horse doots on the trail, of course, but not many people. The easternmost Blankenship Lake is the deepest and has the most rocks around the shore, but there are campsites at each of the lakes, and all of them were empty -- the hunters were all camped near the meadows. However, we were just there for the day, so after a brief dip in the lake, we headed back down the trail.

Never having hiked in the William O., I went in expecting dry, dusty, east-slope scrub. Boy, was I in for a surprise. Little Twin Sisters lake in the fall is simply glorious. Dozens of little points and bays surrounded by brilliantly colored pocket meadows of blueberry bushes aflame. It also has a wide beach of soft white sand and excellent camping. At this time of the year we had the camp entirely to ourselves. A few horses and a handful of hikers during the day. Side trips to Big Twin Sister (0.5 mi), Blankenship meadows+lakes (5mi loop) were lovely -- mostly level strolls through alternating blueberry meadows and forest. Blankenship meadow is unusual: Huge by Cascades standards, but seems to be shrinking fast. Another trip was Tumac Mtn, with fantastic views in all directions, incl Rainier, Adams, White Pass, Goat Rocks, and points east. This was our first overnight trip with the kids (aged 4 and 6) and the first thing out of their mouths as we started back down the trail was: ""When can we come back?"".

No bugs at all. The trails are kind of beat up by the horse traffic, but after a hot dry summer + recent rains to hold down the dust they were neither muddy nor dusty. I imagine that between the mud, dust and the bugs the key to a successful visit to the area is timing, timing, timing.

PS: Not that they bothered us at all, but for those wishing to avoid the horses, they seemed to prefer the Blankenship trail to the Twin Sisters trail by far. Also the camping area at Big Twin Sister seems to be posted ""no stock"".

Started out on Saturday at Deep creek horse camp on a week long trip with three llamas. Packed in to Twin Sisters lakes, a lot of tents at the north end of the first lake so continued to the west end of the lake and set up camp. Mosquitoes were out in full force, but by careful selection of camp site and liberal doses of repellant it was very tolerable. Sunday started out at 10 am on a day hike of about 12 miles. Began at Twin sisters and hiked east on the Sand ridge trail to the junction of Round Lake trail 1105.1. Saw several elk on this section just before the lake, then continued on to Blankenship meadows. Trails were all in good shape. Walked through Blankenship meadows to Pear loop trail, then on up to Pear lake. Did not see anyone else until arrival at Pear lake around noon, where there were several parties of horse riders at the lake enjoying the sunny weather, and very few mosquitoes were present at Pear lake. The fishing was very good but the fish were small here. Continued on to Apple lake, which is very marshy; fishing was similar to Pear lake, lots of small brook trout. Finished up Pear loop, then back on to 1105. Took a left turn at Blankenship lakes trail and stopped for a while at the first lake. The fishing here was slower but the fish were larger, so kept a few for supper. Continued on 1104.1 back to sand Ridge trail. There were numerous side trails around the Blankenship lakes which led to camp sites, difficult at times to find the main trail. Finally got on track and headed back to camp at Twin sisters, arriving around 6pm. First photo is Pear Lake, second photo is Apple lake.