5/6 Friday. Met at Gateway at 6pm. Drove to Twin Pillar north trail head. Around Warm Spring, the sun was setting behind puffy clouds over the Cascade Range. Very colorful. Jefferson was half in the clouds, Ollalie Butte was clear, with snow still on top, Hood off to the north side. When we got into Madras, it was dark already. After a stop at Thriftway, we continued. Turned north on Main St at Prineville. Google map led me on a detour. I was laughed at believing in Google map. After the junction of FS27 and 2745, the road deteriorates. Keep right, continue on 27, luckily only for about half mile. Turn to Brigham Spring CG. There were puddles on the road, and our drivers stopped in front of a bigger puddle, as it was about 10pm, unable to discern how deep it was. We were just a few yards off the big meadow, picnic tables and a privy of the campground, but I didn't know. We camped where we stopped :( A few of us chatted and waited for meteors. The stars wasn't very bright, maybe clouds. I didn't go to sleep until midnight.
5/7 Saturday. Woke up around 6am. However others were taking their time. Glad that I brought my Kindle. I was able to dry my tent, pack, and wait at the meadow for the rest to finish their morning chore. We walked ~2 miles east on a dirt road, saw 2 trucks coming our way. After the sign of some land claim, we walked right (south) to the Wild Cat trail. Soon entering the wilderness boundary, as well as the burn zone. By then, it was already almost 11am. 
The trail is gentle. Burnt trees. Not very scenic. We are around 5000'. So the air isn't too hot, despite of a very sunny weekend. Lots of small desert parsley. Balsamroot was beginning to flower. Lupine was still budding. Some larkspur, clover, paintbrush. Maybe in a week or so it would be much better for flowers, but also would be hot. Saw Stein Pillar from afar in less than an hour. One hiker in our group, J, is very slow and he talks incessantly, dragging our progress. I caught a tick at lunch. Also got a bite, but not sure by whom.
At the junction of Belknap and Wildcat (9+ miles from the car), our leader decided to stop early for the day. He and I went along to look for a spring on his GPS map, and we found it just 10 minutes in. I came back to fetch the rest, and by then, J, has caught up. So at 5pm, we already setup our tents. I ate my dinner of smoked fish and a bolete mushroom found on the trail. Washed a bit, filtered water. 
During which time, the 2nd group (4 people) walked by. At 6:20, I walked about 1.5 mile to the established campsite by Mill Creek to meet that group, since I've backpacked with 3 of them before. It was all downhill. Passed a grove of larch-looking trees. Got some invaluable info on New Zealand. Coming back is no fun, all uphill. The sun was setting, quite colorful but with thick clouds, giving me excuse to pause. When I returned to our camp, my teammates had started a camp fire, arranged logs to sit on. Quite nice. Stars were always nice, no moon.
5/8 Sunday. Packed out by 9:20am. At Mill Creek, turn north along the creek: that's the Twin Pillar trail. 
Right at the Twin Pillar, there's a cairn at its north foot. There, you need to turn sharp left, and go north. However, many other trail like paths lead me stray. On a significant portion of this loop, the trail is quite faint: easy to get lost. With the map and direction, pretty soon we realized that we were lost. However, it took awhile to find the real trail. Then, all is quite easy. Towards the end of the trail is a bit muddy. One or two easy creek crossing. From the trip reports I read earlier, I had brought another pair of shoes just to cross creek, which turned out to be useless.
On our drive out, now in day light, we could see the lush meadows and farmland along FR 26. It was quite pretty, in fact nicer than the wilderness we just hiked through. Looks like the fire only burned inside the wilderness boundary. Maybe due to the fire, with broken logs, very few people come out here. I can see why. I don't think I'll return in foreseeable future. But, sure, I'm glad that I came and spent 2 days in the nature.
