Santiam Pass Trail leads to Berley and Santiam Lakes

Here's a hike that offers some options. This trail, from the summit of Santiam Pass, offers a seven-mile round-trip to the Berley Lakes, with the alternate possibility of adding on Santiam Lake for a round trip totaling 11 miles.

The lakes themselves escaped the 2003 B&B fire, but the first part of the trail route was seriously affected by the blaze. Still, the regenerating forest presents a beauty of its own. The burn is actually quite green, now, with young trees - especially lodgepole pine - and wildflowers popping up everywhere. Some areas were completely carpeted with lupine.

A disadvantage, of course, to hiking the burns is the lack of shade; and, now that the summer heat is upon us, that is a planning factor in any hike. With that in mind, we were up at the crack of dawn to take advantage of the cooler morning hours. Regardless, always remember to pack - and drink - plenty of water.

Another caution to remember is to avoid the burn areas on windy days. The burned snags have been dead for eight years now, and they are coming down with increasing frequency.

The route to the Berley Lakes and on to Santiam Lake involves some moderate ups and downs; but, overall, there is not a great deal of elevation change. The elevation generally stays within a couple hundred feet of the 5,000-foot level. The first mile-and-a-half is largely free of blowdown; although once the Santiam Lake Trail splits off from the PCT there are a numerous downed trees to negotiate. Overall, the trail is in pretty good condition, except in snowy areas.

Just as the lingering snowpack delayed hikers in the high country this year, the mosquitos have experienced a similar delay. As a result, mosquito conditions are more like what might normally be encountered in July. In a word: bad. Be sure to have and use insect repellent.

The trail begins at the Santiam Pass Pacific Crest Trailhead. There are multiple trail junctions at the beginning of this stretch, but there is good signage to keep you on the right route. Follow the PCT north for a little over a mile and a half. A low marshy spot has a pond and a number of smaller trees that escaped the conflagration.

Two rocky promontories appear ahead and the Santiam Lake Trail splits off to the northwest (left) and passes between them. Take it. Almost as soon as you pass over that little ridge, the number of survivor trees increases to as many as ten percent in some spots. A couple of ponds and a small unnamed lake appear on the left a short distance beyond the trail junction. We saw numerous young frogs and toads on the trail. After the ponds, there is a broken trail sign, a trail to the southwest, and a campfire ring in the middle of the trail. Ignore the other trail and continue north.

Over the next 1.5 miles, survivor trees increase dramatically, to the point where, eventually, the forest is unaffected by the fire. This area is part of a large peninsula of untouched green forest that reaches into the heart of the burn. This green area includes beautiful forest and meadows and extends all the way beyond Santiam and Duffy Lakes.

Lower Berley Lake is 2.1 miles from the PCT fork and is not visible from the trail; it lies about 200 yards to the left after the trail emerges from the forest into an open area. The faint trail to the lake is marked by a stone cairn and arrow. If you reach a Volkswagen-sized boulder on the right edge of the trail, you've gone a little too far. Upper Berley Lake is another 300 yards to the northwest.

Santiam Lake is 1.9 miles beyond Lower Berley Lake. Two weeks ago, heavy snow still covered significant parts of this trail. At one point, a quarter mile of the trail was buried, although it was easy to follow along that portion. A half mile south of Santiam Lake, however, in the vicinity of a small unnamed lake, the trail disappeared entirely under deep snow. This is a north-facing section in dense forest, and safely finding the route through this area was extremely time consuming.

Twice we nearly gave up on reaching our destination but eventually found a path that led to a huge open meadow northeast of the small lake. At the meadow, the snow disappeared and the trail was clear all the way to Santiam Lake. Santiam Lake is part of the system that forms the headwaters of the North Santiam River, which follows Highway 20 west and feeds into Detroit Reservoir.

A hiker we met at the lake had come in from the north and said that the trail in from Duffy Lake was clear.  We had been turned back by heavy snow on that route late last month.

We decided to return to Lower Berley Lake for our lunch break, since we wanted to make sure we found our way out before we stopped. Retracing our way back south across the snow to the main trail proved to be the most difficult feat of the day, even though we had carefully marked our route with surveyor's tape.

After lunch, our return was uneventful; but, due to the delays over the snow fields, our return was much later than we planned. A hike that should have taken 5-6 hours took us 8.5. We had hoped to avoid the heat of the day, but it was pretty hot by the time we returned; and we could see thunder clouds forming to the south.

To reach this hike, simply head west from Sisters on Highway 20 for 20 miles. Two signs marking the PCT trailhead are on the right. This is a fee-use area, so a forest pass or daily fee permit is required. A self-serve kiosk and pay station is located in the parking lot. Free wilderness permits are also required and may be obtained at the trailhead.