We enjoyed a glorious late summer day visiting the lakes and meadows of Indian Heaven.
Pro Advice: Use Forest Road 6507 from the Wind River Highway to reach the trailhead as the washout on Forest Road 65 has not been repaired, and I have heard that it is in even worse condition than last year.
When we arrived at the trailhead, it was 2/3 full (8 vehicles) but we did not encounter many other hikers so we enjoyed the peace and solitude of the wilderness.
We hiked up through the forest to the Indian Heaven plateau just before Rock Lake, passing brief glimpses of Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier through the trees along the way. We checked out Rock Lake, site of late season backpack camps in the 1980s before Indian Heaven became so popular. It provided a great base for exploratory hikes in all directions. Ah, memories. Now we just visit mid-week on day hikes.
The Thomas Lake Trail was in good shape, although the heavy wear from many hikers' boots is evident in eroded areas. Once on the plateau, it is easy to see what sections of trail going from Rock Lake to Blue Lake retain water early in the season by the bypass boot paths through the huckleberry and rosy spiraea plants. The trail could be made more sustainable in those sections by a re-route to higher ground.
Huckleberries themselves were non-existent: either a poor crop due to this year's drought and heat, already picked over by the mobs of visitors over Labor Day weekend, or consumed by wildlife. We did observe American Robins, Townsend's Solitaires and Northern Flickers feeding on the ground in the low huckleberry patches, so they likely were cleaning up the last berries.
I was surprised to observe that the lakes did not seem lower than normal for late summer given this year's drought. I guess Indian Heaven had enough snowpack to fill them full last spring. We observed juvenile Goldeneye ducks catching fish in Rock Lake so it must be deep enough never to dry up and not to freeze solid in the winter.
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