Owyhigh Lakes — Friday, Sep. 5, 2025

Volunteer work at the park was canceled for the day due to poor air quality from the Wildcat Fire, so I hiked up the Owyhigh Lakes trail instead. Wore a good quality mask designed for outdoor activity in smoke. Started from the Sunrise Park road trailhead. The trail is a nice grade with broad footbed in most places, rooty for stretches up higher, and with one big blow-down tree across the trail at about 2 miles up. At that solitary obstruction, I met the only other hiker I would see all day, a volunteer backcountry ranger hauling out a 55 pound bucket of poop from a campground. She had managed to get her load over the log, and appreciated help to get the bucket and pack frame up on her back again. So, I got in a minute of volunteering after all. Ash had fallen onto the trees, shrubs, spiderwebs and trail, and was still drifting down. The meadows at the lakes are already in fall colors with some asters hanging on. I was after huckleberries. Very few to be had on the west slope, so I continued past the lakes and over the crest. At meadows from 4.5 to 5 miles from start, the berries were plentiful, both the lower blue and the taller black varieties. So I now have berries for pancakes this winter. Beautiful meadows. Impressive stands of Alaska Yellow Cedar, including some huge ones. 10.2 miles, 5 hours. Camped at White River and woke to thunder. Lighting and rain beginning as I left.