Only a three-hour drive from Bend, the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness is an isolated area of rugged peaks, glacier-carved valleys and high-mountain lakes that appear seemingly out of nowhere in the middle of the high desert. The 68,700-acre wilderness area east of John Day in the Malheur National Forest in Grant County is a diverse landscape that includes about 125 miles of trail, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Hikes range from the 2.8-mile round-trip trek to Strawberry Lake to the 20-mile Strawberry Mountain Wilderness Loop. Little Strawberry Lake is 6.8 miles round trip from Strawberry Campground. The summit of 9,042-foot Strawberry Mountain is 12.2 miles round trip from the campground.

— Mark Morical, The Bulletin