Summary: Jug and Fryingpan lakes are completely melted out, Twin Sisters lakes are still mostly frozen. Many creek crossings (including a couple of dicey snow bridges), deep lingering snowpack above 5000 ft, some dry campsites.
Trailhead to Jug Lake (via Cowlitz trail): We started from the Soda Spring campground (not to be confused with the nearby Soda Springs campground), which does have an open and toilet-paper-stocked privy. The first two miles were uneventful forest plodding, with a couple of easy creek crossings. At 2.2 miles, however, the outlet stream from Jug Lake - swollen with recent snowmelt- presented a somewhat formidable challenge. After some scouting, I was able to make it across by balancing on a semi-submerged log and jumping to a nearby series of rocks. My dear partner, however, was not so lucky and ended up knee-deep in cool water. After wringing out her socks - and giving me some wounded looks - we preceded up the switchbacking trail to Jug Lake. We encountered our first snow at around 4500 ft, approximately a quarter mile from Jug Lake itself.... it would our constant companion for the next day. The snow makes the trail difficult to follow, but otherwise is well-compacted and does not require flotation or traction.
Jug Lake to Fryingpan Lake: Jug Lake is fully melted out, but not yet buggy, a state of affairs which I assume won't last for more than another week or so. It was hard to find the trail leading up to Fryingpan Lake under all the snow, so we ended up resorting to a bit of cross country navigation, cutting through a mixture of snow, boggy areas, and a few creeks. We reached Little Snow Lake (mostly melted out with some snow still on its banks), pausing briefly before heading out to nearby Fryingpan Lake, which was quite scenic and surprisingly free of ice cover (though still surrounded by a vast area of marshy wetlands). Tons of elk scat and tracks present, but other than some frolicking ducks there was no animal life present (including, thankfully, no mosquitos).
Fryingpan Lake to Twin Sisters Lakes: The snow was at least five feet deep in places, though the trail did occasionally peek through (it resembled a small canal with a few inches of water). As such, we opted to head directly east, shortcutting the PCT and heading straight for Twin Sisters lakes. Lots of tree wells, variable snow quality, postholing, snow-bridge-crossing and other fun early season alpine experiences awaited us, but eventually we arrived at the larger Twin Sister lake. We set up camp on a (frankly gorgeous) dry campsite right along the water, rested for a while, then headed out to scope out the little Twin Sister lake. The trail connecting them did have some bootprints, some of the first we had seen all day. Both Twin Sisters lakes are, as the photos show, almost entirely snow covered.
Twin Sisters Lakes to Trailhead (via Potholes trail): After a relatively pleasant night's rest, we awoke to find our tent covered in a nice layer of dew (courtesy of all that cool lake moisture). The snow was significantly firmer than the previous day, but given the relative flatness of the lake plateau our footing was not that precarious, and as we headed back to the PCT junction the morning sun warmed the snow back to a more malleable level. We took the PCT south for a quarter mile, then meandered along the creek that roughly follows the snow-buried Potholes trail. The trail intersects summit creek, which was a moderately challenging crossing, but we were soon rewarded with a near-complete lack of snowcover. Moving fast on the boggy - but snowfree trail - we noticed our first mosquitoes (around 4000 ft). We soon reached the intersection with Jug Lake trail, and from then on out it was a simple matter of retracing our steps.
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