Berkeley Park — Friday, Jul. 21, 2023

Hit the Sunrise parking lot at 5:30am. Lot was about 1/4 full. Very little foot traffic going up to the intersection of Berkely Park, Freemont Lookout, and Burroughs intersection. Mostly people hiking back down from watching the sunrise at Freemont. Once I hit the intersection I had the hike into Berkely Park all to myself. Didn't see any wildlife until I started to descend into the greener area of the valley. There I was greeted by a pretty vocal pika and a group of about 5 marmots that were very entertaining and quite amenable to posing for the camera. Wildflowers were out and numerous. Trail lower down in the valley was muddy in places. Nice gentle breeze & I didn't even have to break out the bug spray as I didn't encounter a single bug the whole hike. No signs of the Berkeley bear but I did see a lot of deer tracks on the trail. First time doing the Berkely Park hike as I've always opted for Burroughs & Freemont but this was a nice lush green wooded hike that offers a bit of everything. I will definitely be back. On the way out of the park at 10am, the parking lot was about 2/3rds full. At the park entrance there was one ranger booth open and a line of about 40 vehicles waiting to enter the park.