Twin Lakes via Frog Lake Parking

In my last post, I mentioned the missing hiker Garren Kirk. He has not been found yet. I met his brother, Logan, at the trail head parking area for Twin Lakes/Frog Lake. He and his wife are staying in a trailer and are searching for his brother everyday. The official search was called off on Monday. Nearly 200 people were searching for Garren. Many people have stepped up to continue the search. Some have provided drones to use with HD cameras on board. Check out one of the videos here. They also started a Facebook group so that folks can share their findings of the videos. That is here.  I discussed the areas Logan felt his brother might be. Even though searchers scoured the area, they could not cover every foot. He was up at the Lower Twin Lake yesterday and thought he smelled decomposition of something. He asked if I would check out that area. So I headed off to Lower Twin Lake. I also mentioned that I was familiar with Bird Butte above Upper Twin Lake and that I would climb up there and see if there was anything up there. It snowed the night before, so there was a fresh 1"+ on the ground. I did not see any other hikers or foot prints the entire day. It was very peaceful up there. A light snow was falling from time to time throughout the day. I enjoyed my hike, but was not successful in finding anything related to his brother. I did not smell and decomposition in the area he mentioned either. There are theories of where his brother might have gone. The Sheriff found that his cell pinged a tower on Frog Butte. And the direction was SE of the area where I was. Which could take his brother through Clear Lake and Timothy Lake along the Pacific Crest Trail. That is odd because Garren spoke to the person at the gas station nearby and was asking questions about Twin Lakes. So it is anyone's guess where he went.

A nice soft dusting of snow along the trail. 

 Squirrel tracks where everywhere

Lower Twin Lake

 Lower Twin Lake

 The rope swing at Lower Twin Lake. I doubt anyone will be using that soon. 

 Upper Twin Lake

 Upper Twin Lake

I Stopped for lunch at Upper Twin Lake and the birds were there again. Check them out in the tree. They are brave. They would swoop down and try to land right next to my cooking pot. Spam and Idahoan Instant Potatoes. YUM!

 Where the kids and I camped during the summer. 

 When I got to Bird Butte, I found the marking tape from the search. An eerie feeling. 

A view near the top of Bird Butte.

The route I hiked today. 11 miles, but the Bird Butte climb was tough. Especially in the snow.