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Difference between revisions of "Trillium Lake Loop Hike"

From Oregon Hikers Field Guide

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Little [[Trillium Lake]], with [[Mount Hood]] as an incredible backdrop, is one of the more popular day-use and camping destinations in the Mt. Hood National Forest. The roads around the lake are groomed for cross-country skiers in the winter. The lake itself is not natural: the boggy meadows here were submerged by a dam built across Mud Creek in 1960. The Barlow Road section of the Oregon Trail crossed these historic meadows on a cut log causeway, and a pioneer cemetery can still be visited at the Summit Meadows junction. The Trillium Lake Trail circles the lake and affords a visit, via a series of boardwalks, to its less-trafficked west shore. Note that this is one of the concessionaire sites (California Land Management) in the Mt. Hood National Forest, and you will have to pay a fee to park. Northwest Forest Passes are not valid.  
 
Little [[Trillium Lake]], with [[Mount Hood]] as an incredible backdrop, is one of the more popular day-use and camping destinations in the Mt. Hood National Forest. The roads around the lake are groomed for cross-country skiers in the winter. The lake itself is not natural: the boggy meadows here were submerged by a dam built across Mud Creek in 1960. The Barlow Road section of the Oregon Trail crossed these historic meadows on a cut log causeway, and a pioneer cemetery can still be visited at the Summit Meadows junction. The Trillium Lake Trail circles the lake and affords a visit, via a series of boardwalks, to its less-trafficked west shore. Note that this is one of the concessionaire sites (California Land Management) in the Mt. Hood National Forest, and you will have to pay a fee to park. Northwest Forest Passes are not valid.  
  
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From the day-use parking area, a paved trail leads to the shore from below the picnic shelter. Go left along the shore. The picnic area is shaded by mountain hemlock, western red-cedar, western hemlock, and silver fir. Cross a footbridge and then take boardwalk. This leads to the dam wall. A path leads along the shore below the dusty road. On any fair weather day in the summer, you will not have the place to yourself unless you do this walk early in the morning: other day-users will include paddle boarders, windsurfers, canoeists, boaters, inner tubers, kayakers, and swimmers. Mallards sun themselves on the dam rocks. The view of [[Mount Hood]] is a picture postcard scene. After the causeway, the trail leads right below the road into a willow thicket. It’s marked Trillium Lake Trail #761. Take a boardwalk into cedar woods with Engelmann spruce, silver fir, and mountain hemlock. Spurs lead right to the boggy shores. Hike another boardwalk and then pass through a parsnip, mertensia, thimbleberry opening. The path is lined with blooming subalpine daisies in mid-summer. A spur right leads to the lake. The trail winds through spruce-dominated woods and then reaches another boardwalk through willows, alders and then a cotton-grass meadow. [[Mount Hood]] peeks above the trees. Head into mountain hemlock/spruce woods with several little skunk-cabbage bottoms and huckleberry patches. A boardwalk crosses a sedge marsh. At a junction, a boardwalk spur leads right to a sedge swamp. Return to the trail in the woods and keep right at a junction. Another boardwalk winds through a cedar bottom. The human population increases as you near the campground. Spurs lead left to the campground as you keep along the lakeshore. Pass by an inlet covered with pond lilies. Newts drift lazily in the still waters. Walk past an amphitheater and reach the campground boat launch. Go 30 yards to the left and pick up the trail again. There’s yet another boardwalk and then you reach the day-use boat launch (no motor boats allowed). At a junction, turn right on a paved trail to a floating dock that juts out into the lake. After this, go left up past the picnic shelter to day-use parking.  
+
From the day-use parking area, a paved trail leads to the shore from below the picnic shelter. Go left along the shore. The picnic area is shaded by mountain hemlock, western red-cedar, western hemlock, and silver fir. Cross a footbridge and then take boardwalk. This leads to the dam wall. A path leads along the shore below the dusty road. On any fair weather day in the summer, you will not have the place to yourself unless you do this walk early in the morning: other day-users will include paddle boarders, windsurfers, canoeists, boaters, inner tubers, kayakers, and swimmers. Mallards sun themselves on the dam rocks. The view of [[Mount Hood]] is a picture postcard scene. After the causeway, the trail leads right below the road into a willow thicket. It’s marked Trillium Lake Trail #761. Take a boardwalk into cedar woods with Engelmann spruce, silver fir, and mountain hemlock. Spurs lead right to the boggy shores. Hike another boardwalk and then pass through a parsnip, mertensia, thimbleberry opening. The path is lined with blooming subalpine daisies in mid-summer. A spur right leads to the lake. The trail winds through spruce-dominated woods and then reaches another boardwalk through willows, alders and then a cotton-grass meadow. [[Mount Hood]] peeks above the trees. Head into mountain hemlock/spruce woods with several little skunk-cabbage bottoms and huckleberry patches. A boardwalk crosses a sedge marsh. At a junction, a boardwalk spur leads right to a sedge swamp. Return to the trail in the woods and keep right at a junction. Another boardwalk winds through a cedar bottom. The human population increases as you near the campground. Spurs lead left to the campground as you keep along the lakeshore. Pass by [[Pond Lilly Inlet]] with its yellow water lilies. Newts drift lazily in the still waters. Walk past an amphitheater and reach the campground boat launch. Go 30 yards to the left and pick up the trail again. There’s yet another boardwalk and then you reach the day-use boat launch (no motor boats allowed). At a junction, turn right on a paved trail to a floating dock that juts out into the lake. After this, go left up past the picnic shelter to day-use parking.  
  
  
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{{TripReports|{{PAGENAME}}}}
 
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* [http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=9027 West Fork Falls]
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* [http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=19624  Trillium Lake 7/29]
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* [http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=18215 Room with a View at Trillium Lake 2/22-23]
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* [http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=16532  Tamanawas Falls, Trillium Lake 8/2]
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* [http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=14213&view=next  Trillium Lake Overnight Snow Shoe Backpack ~~ Dec. 29 - 30]
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* [http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=15470  Trillium Lake 5/25/13]
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* [http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=14898  Trillium Lake snowshoe/ First snow camp]
 +
* [http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=13908  A Trillium (Lake)Thanksgiving 11/22]
 +
* [http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12897  Elk Meadows / Trillium Lake 8/15]
 +
* [http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12607  Another brutally rough day, Trillium Lake 7/25]
 +
* [http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9028  Trillium Lake]
 +
* [http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=8042  Trillium Lake Trail 6/4]
  
 
{{RelatedDiscussions|{{PAGENAME}}}}
 
{{RelatedDiscussions|{{PAGENAME}}}}
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* [http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=19420  Trillium Lake parking]
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* [http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=16939  Month by month... a year at Trillium Lake]
  
 
=== Guidebooks that cover this hike ===
 
=== Guidebooks that cover this hike ===

Revision as of 15:06, 23 October 2014

The "footbridge" above West Fork Falls (bobcat)
Cascades frog (Rana cascadae), Still Creek (bobcat)
Broad-leaf lupine (Lupinus latifolius), Eastleg Road (bobcat)
West Fork Falls (bobcat)
Trail to West Fork Falls and the loop option (not a GPS track) (bobcat)
  • Start point: Trillium Lake TrailheadRoad.JPG
  • End point: Pond Lily Inlet
  • Trail Log:
  • Hike Type: Loop
  • Distance: 2.0 miles
  • Elevation gain: 10 feet
  • High Point: 3,610 feet
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Seasons: Summer into Fall
  • Family Friendly: Yes
  • Backpackable: No
  • Crowded: Yes

Contents

Description

Little Trillium Lake, with Mount Hood as an incredible backdrop, is one of the more popular day-use and camping destinations in the Mt. Hood National Forest. The roads around the lake are groomed for cross-country skiers in the winter. The lake itself is not natural: the boggy meadows here were submerged by a dam built across Mud Creek in 1960. The Barlow Road section of the Oregon Trail crossed these historic meadows on a cut log causeway, and a pioneer cemetery can still be visited at the Summit Meadows junction. The Trillium Lake Trail circles the lake and affords a visit, via a series of boardwalks, to its less-trafficked west shore. Note that this is one of the concessionaire sites (California Land Management) in the Mt. Hood National Forest, and you will have to pay a fee to park. Northwest Forest Passes are not valid.

From the day-use parking area, a paved trail leads to the shore from below the picnic shelter. Go left along the shore. The picnic area is shaded by mountain hemlock, western red-cedar, western hemlock, and silver fir. Cross a footbridge and then take boardwalk. This leads to the dam wall. A path leads along the shore below the dusty road. On any fair weather day in the summer, you will not have the place to yourself unless you do this walk early in the morning: other day-users will include paddle boarders, windsurfers, canoeists, boaters, inner tubers, kayakers, and swimmers. Mallards sun themselves on the dam rocks. The view of Mount Hood is a picture postcard scene. After the causeway, the trail leads right below the road into a willow thicket. It’s marked Trillium Lake Trail #761. Take a boardwalk into cedar woods with Engelmann spruce, silver fir, and mountain hemlock. Spurs lead right to the boggy shores. Hike another boardwalk and then pass through a parsnip, mertensia, thimbleberry opening. The path is lined with blooming subalpine daisies in mid-summer. A spur right leads to the lake. The trail winds through spruce-dominated woods and then reaches another boardwalk through willows, alders and then a cotton-grass meadow. Mount Hood peeks above the trees. Head into mountain hemlock/spruce woods with several little skunk-cabbage bottoms and huckleberry patches. A boardwalk crosses a sedge marsh. At a junction, a boardwalk spur leads right to a sedge swamp. Return to the trail in the woods and keep right at a junction. Another boardwalk winds through a cedar bottom. The human population increases as you near the campground. Spurs lead left to the campground as you keep along the lakeshore. Pass by Pond Lilly Inlet with its yellow water lilies. Newts drift lazily in the still waters. Walk past an amphitheater and reach the campground boat launch. Go 30 yards to the left and pick up the trail again. There’s yet another boardwalk and then you reach the day-use boat launch (no motor boats allowed). At a junction, turn right on a paved trail to a floating dock that juts out into the lake. After this, go left up past the picnic shelter to day-use parking.


Fees, Regulations, etc.

  • $5 day-use concessionaire fee (Northwest Forest Pass invalid): May 15th - October 1st

Maps

Trip Reports

Related Discussions / Q&A

Guidebooks that cover this hike

  • Afoot & Afield: Portland/Vancouver by Douglas Lorain

More Links


Page Contributors

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