20 miles southeast of John Day, the Strawberry Wilderness has more in common with the Canadian Rockies than Oregon’s high desert, with sparkling alpine lakes and towering glaciated peaks. The Strawberry Lake and Slide Lake trails start at the Strawberry Campground, at the end of FR 6001. Pick up the trailhead near the day-use parking area, register at the signboard, then start up through fir forest 1.4 miles to a fork in the trail that lets you choose your day's reward. Reflection Strawberry Lakes From the fork, take the right trail 0.5 mile to Strawberry Lake At the lake loop T-junction, turn right and cross the dried up outlet to a small beach where the still water of early morning offers mirror-like reflections of the surrounding peaks. The trail rounds the west side of the lake, crossing several inlet streams and passing a couple of nice camp spots, one near a wide lakeside grassy meadow. At the head of the lake, after several more stream crossings, look for a signed trail branching off to the right, and start a steady climb to Strawberry Falls. The cool spray of the 60’ falls is perfect relief on hot summer days. A long switchback then leads to the bridge over the top of the falls and the next junction, where you’ll fork left to Upper Strawberry Lake. Upper Strawberry The trail follows Strawberry Creek a short ways, crosses at a small bridge, then trends east 0.4 mile to Upper Strawberry Lake, a gorgeous alpine lake in an amphitheater of 1,500’ glaciated volcanic rock, with a small meadow on one end, and a large scree slope on the other. Look up to see the Rabbit Ears, a couple of pointed pinnacles at the top of the ridge. Lake access is limited due to heavy brush, but several secluded campsites can be found in the area. Find a nice spot for lunch and enjoy the view before starting back, or pick your tent site for an overnight. On the return trip, retrace your route back to the head of Strawberry Lake and turn right to loop around the other side, finding several more campsites and nice lake access, then back to your starting point. Valley View Slide Lake After forking left at several junctions, the trail emerges into a small meadow, filled with balsamroot and paintbrush near 2.3 miles. On the plateau to the left, find an exposed campsite with views over the John Day Valley and distant Blue Mountains to the north, and Slide Mountain to the east. The trail now forks right and turns south to continue along steep slopes under colorful volcanic rock outcrops and a variety of trailside wildflowers, lupine, forget-me-not, and more paintbrush. (An alternate route forks left and descends into Slide Creek Valley, than ascends to reconnect farther up.) Soon tall, wispy Slide Creek Falls comes into view, cascading over a high rock step near the head of the valley. A wide open viewpoint here offers a nice panorama over the entire valley. Upper Slide After the falls, the trail dives again into the cover of forest for another 0.5 mile before coming to the outlet of Slide Lake, a small alpine lake surrounded by a towering amphitheater of stone. Here, the trail splits into a 1-mile loop around the lake. Several small campsites can be found on the west side of the lake, and look for large patches of pink shooting star on the lakeshore. Near the top of the lake, the trail splits in several directions to more small campsites and to the edge of Upper Slide Lake, a small tarn at the base of a huge talus slope. If you’ve packed for an overnight, drop your gear and get comfy, otherwise, continue around to the east side of the lake to complete the loop, then return by the same route. Image gallery See a GPS track of the Strawberry Lakes trail at Backpacker.com (coming soon!) See a GPS track of the Slide Lakes trail at Backpacker.com (coming soon!)