September 17 - Kelly Cleman

An all-female group of 7 decided to gamble that the smoke wouldn't be too bad and to head up to Santiam Pass to do the Berley Lakes hike. When we got to the trailhead, it was a bit smokey, but it looked like the skies were clearing to the north and that the wind was in our favour. We set off at a slow pace to avoid breathing smoke too deeply and soon we felt a fresh breeze on our face and we started to get some good views of Three Fingered Jack. We made it to the turnoff for Berley Lakes and were quickly on the shores of Lower Berley Lake snapping pictures of the lake with said mountain in the background. We then headed to the Upper Lake and found some nice rocks to sit and enjoy lunch and to take more photographs. There were a few people camping at the lake and several folks fishing. We started heading back towards the trailhead and noticed that the smoke was picking up and the wind was now coming from the south. It got bad enough that a few of us decided to don masks to avoid breathing in too much smoke. We were appreciative that we got pretty clear air up to and at the lake.