<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/29875658108/in/album-72157699250999914" title="Little Hiker at Winchester Mountain"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/940/29875658108_ffd7796e57_b.jpg" alt="Little Hiker at Winchester Mountain"/></a> - [Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/albums/72157699250999914/) m trying to resist the temptation this year to drag my family into the mountains for backpacking (which honestly I think is not that great with a 3 year old who we can barely carry and can't walk far yet). Car camping is kind of nice because you can bring good food, toys, and books. So, after our previous Hart's Pass trip, I looked for other scenic car camping sites and picked Twin Lakes at Mt Baker (if you have other tips please PM me!)  Where Hart's Pass is a well-maintained but exposed road, the road to Twin Lakes is the opposite in both respects: not maintained (as far as I can tell) and fairly safe, except for your car. There are currently 3 really deep gullies in the road that are hard to pass. We made it up in our 4WD Ford Escape, but I wouldn't recommend anything with less clearance or 2WD. I also did lose a piece of plastic when I took one of the gullies wrong. Various people who come there more often commented that the road is particularly bad this year. The parking area was virtually exclusively trucks. On the bright side, it does make for a slightly less busy car camping area. It was busy enough though to still have all the typical abuse. I'm starting to realize that being a forest ranger might not be that much fun. There were probably a dozen groups camped at the lakes.  The campsites all have campfire rings. I'm not a campfire fan, but obviously kids love it, and I don't want to a party pooper all the time. I searched in advance on whether campfires are still allowed, and it seemed so, although this information is really much harder to find than it should be. I suspect many people will try less hard to find out.  I wish government layers would submit this info to a nice central website. Anyway, despite my best efforts a hiker did come over in the morning to point out a fire ban he claimed, but I'm pretty sure he was wrong. Campfires are not allowed once you enter the wilderness though.  The area does get abused quite a bit. There are campsites everywhere around the lake and along the trails, and various not entirely official /desirable ones. Of course you get the typical dog poop (yuck - around the lake we're all drinking from!) and garbage issues. On one of our hikes, our peanutbutter sandwiches got eaten by an off-leash dog with essentially no apology. While we were playing in the snow a jeep decided to race up the snow above us in a dangerous way. Jake is now scared of Jeeps. I don't understand how people can be so dumb and/or inconsiderate.  It all sounds a bit negative perhaps, but if you can't backpack and want to camp at a high alpine lake, then this is probably as good as it gets. The area is truly beautiful, with nice short hikes and lots of opportunities to play. It'd just be even nicer without other people.  We did a few short hikes: Winchester (which is in bad shape, but David Inscho and other volunteers are working on it!), Low/High Pass (quick solo), and Skagway Pass (we tried to get to the mines, but should have staid on the road, not the trail that starts at the National Forest boundary). The hike to Winchester was by far my favorite, but High Pass was pretty nice too.  Winchester Mountain is snow-free (if you follow what appears to be the main trail - there are some alternative trails)  For High Pass, on the section towards Low Pass there is one short snowfield left that is not entirely trivial, but I passed it without sticks fine (didn't have Jake with me. I would have wanted sticks if I would be carrying him).