We hiked the Loowit from June Lake to the Ptarmigan trail. The trail to June Lake was in good shape. The Loowit had some over grown sections from which we got a little wet, but we dried out quickly crossing the lava fields. We returned via the Swift Creek ski trail (jct at Chocolate falls) and the Pika ski trail (also a bit overgrown). We thought this might be faster for the return, but decided it probably wasn't as we still had to negotiate a lava field, though it did turn the trip into a loop (or at least a lollipop loop) which is always nice.
We have done several sections of the Loowit but the section from June Lake west to just before Ptarmigan was new to us. We were treated to some nice fall color with much more to come in the coming weeks. The falls at June Lake were running nicely. Chocolate falls was more than a trickle, it was like 2 trickles, well maybe a bit more than that but not much. I don't know what the flow is usually like, but I assume it is low this time of year/especially in a dry year? At any rate, right now you can see how the stream cuts through the rock, like a mini-lava canyon. Neither of us recall ever seeing photos above Chocolate Falls so we were pleasantly surprised at how cool the creek/creek bed was.
We didn't see much wildlife but came across plenty of "evidence" of elk, deer, goats, coyote and even a bear.
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