Twin Peaks via Pacific Crest Trail(edit)

This was my 3rd section of the TRT and my wife’s 1st section. This section was a great introduction to backpacking for her. We began at 12:30 and hiked until 5:00, then set up camp at mile 6 (just past Twin Peaks). It was a great spot with views of the lake, but be careful where you put your tent because there were a lot of Widow-makers there. The next morning we saw more great places where we could have set up camp between mile 6.5-7.0 (especially if you’ve got a hammock setup). As we descended down the mountain I was incredibly grateful to have brought trekking poles for the first time on a hike because they really saved my knees. I will definitely be using trekking poles from now on. At mile 10 we replenished our water at the bridge crossing Ward Creek. From there I was pretty disappointed in the trail because for the next 2.5 miles you are walking on a logging dirt road which is why I knocked this section down to 4-stars. (As an option in the future I may consider parking at Ward Creek Blvd. which would evened out the mileage between day 1 & day 2.) My other complaint about this section is that when we got to Page Meadows we wanted to take a long break somewhere along the TRT that traverses the northern part of the meadow (mile 14-15.5), expecting to have views of the meadow. But there were none, we were back up in the trees with no good options to sit. If I were to do this again, I would take a break right when we first saw the meadow (mile 13.9), or take the Shepherd’s Loop trail at Mile 14. Another better alternative than what we did would be to break off the TRT at mile 13.2 and take the “Page Meadows (Ward Direct)” trail, then reconnect with the TRT before descending into Tahoe City. By sticking on the TRT the way we did, really made us feel like we missed out on the beauty of Page Meadows. All that said, it was still an amazing trip and miles 1-10 definitely made it worth doing.