Ok folks, get out your White Pass Green Trails map and follow along! If you hike in this vicinity, you'll want your map handy to stay on the right trail, or to explore the area without getting lost, as a lot of trails intersect in this area. In a nutshell, here's the route: Starting at White Pass Campground, taking the PCT north to Trail #1156, Dumbbell Lake. Scrambled up Cramer Mountain above the lake to camp on the ridge. Next day, back to the PCT, heading north to Twin Sisters trail #980, to Tumac Mountain trail #44, to Shellrock Lake Trail #1142, Cramer Lake Trail #1106, and finally Dark Meadow trail #1107 back to the PCT and 1.3 miles back to the parking area at White Pass Campground.

Day one, to Cramer Mountain above Dumbbell Lake, was 6.5 to 7 miles, the last 700' in elevation gain being bushwhacking up Cramer Mountain, carrying lots of extra water for me and my dogs. The summit itself didn't offer a good place to camp, but I found a nice flat spot on the ridge on the western shoulder. Great views of Mt Adams, the Goat Rocks, Mt Rainier, and the various peaks east of Chinook Pass. It was also a wonderful reprieve from the mosquitoes! I encountered a large herd of elk while descending the slope the next morning.

Day two, the big loop north to Tumac, etc., was 20.5 miles, with the only significant elevation gain being Tumac Mountain, which was also the only part of the trail not in the shade. Again, great views from the top of Tumac. The bugs, however, were wicked! Very lovely!

All of the descriptions of the hike to Tumac Mountain that I had read approached from the north, but I wanted to start at White Pass. A large part of this hike is in the trees, but there are some splendid views at times, and a lot of time spent in high alpine meadows, skinny trees and lots and lots of lakes. (and lots of mosquitoes!)

The PCT portions are in fairly good shape, with a few areas mucked up by horses, but clear of all blow-downs. The route got quite ""horsey"" on the other trails, but tolerable and clear of blowdowns except the Dark Meadows trail (#1107) which had a lot of trees down. There is a bridge out on trail #1106, just north of Dog Lake, requiring fording the river. The water was not deep, but the rocks could be slick. Day one, I saw one person on a horse, and two day hikers. Day two, I saw no one! The Twin Sisters Lakes are very beautiful and look like a good place to camp (but it looks like it could be a popular horse camp, too). And Tumac Mountain was surprisingly lovely and interesting.

All in all, it was a good time. I would recommend doing this after the mosquitoes have cleared out, though.

Seeking a Classic hike that I hadn't yet done with something for everyone in our party, we chose the Twin Sisters Lakes / Tumac Mountain combination.

After having read the descriptions and WTA reports, I was expecting a miserable, bumpy road leading to an eroded, dung-covered trail through clouds of mosquitoes. In fact, the road was pretty easy (a few rough stretches but much easier than, say, the Bear Creek Mountain in nearby Goat Rocks), the trail has apparently received attention in recent years and much of the braided and eroded stretches have been retired and rerouted, and there were virtually no mosquitoes at all. Horses had definitely been through and left souvenirs, but I've seen much worse.

We took a lunch break at Little Twin Sister Lake (and Dave took a swim in the water, which was relatively warm), then continued to the top of Tumac Mountain. The flowers are past and the blueberries aren't ripe yet, but the views of Mts Aix, Rainier, St Helens, and the Goat Rocks and the numerous lakes around Tumac were rewarding (Adams wasn't visible, probably because of clouds). We could see a small fire on the west side of Spiral Butte, but no sign of the Rattlesnake Peak fire to the northeast. There's a summit register in a tube cabled to one of the former lookout supports.

On the way out, we 86ed a plan to visit the other, larger Twin Sister, for lack of time, but it looked larger and quite appealing from the top of Tumac Mountain.

There were about six cars at the trailhead. We saw a total of five people on the trail and, from the summit of Tumac, about a half dozen folks sunning themselves at one of the Blankenship Lakes.

The trail descriptions note the reclamation of meadows by young trees, and this process is continuing. Much of the trail beyond Twin Sisters Lakes is still in transition, but this is becoming a forest hike, except for the last hundred or so vertical feet to the top of Tumac, which also has young trees edging the summit on three sides.