The High Lakes Recreation Area of Santiam State Forest, including popular Rhody Lake, reopened this month after being closed since the 2020 Labor Day Fires.
The mountain lakes northeast of Lyons and Silver Falls State Park were the final recreation locations in the 47,871 acres forest that had remained closed.
“We focused our rebuilding efforts on highly visited recreation areas, like Shellburg Falls and Butte Creek Falls first, then later on less visited areas including High Lakes,” said Joe Offer with the Oregon Department of Forestry…