Hebo Lake Loop Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Hebo Lake Trailhead
- End point: Hebo Lake Picnic Shelter
- Hike Type: Loop
- Distance: 0.4 miles
- Elevation gain: 10 feet
- High Point: 1,655 feet
- Difficulty: Easy
- Seasons: All year
- Family Friendly: Yes
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: Yes
Contents |
Hike Description
Hebo Lake is a small two-acre reservoir on the slopes of Mount Hebo, one of the wettest areas in the very wet Coast Range. The lake has four ADA fishing platforms and, since it is well-stocked with rainbow trout, attracts family fishing excursions in the spring and summer months. The road into the lake is closed from mid-November to mid April, necessitating an extra 0.2-mile walk in. The short Hebo Lake Loop Trail #1311 hugs the lake shore and can be done at the beginning or end of a Mount Hebo Hike.
Starting from the Hebo Lake Trailhead, also the western terminus of the Pioneer Indian Trail (see the Mount Hebo Hike), one can go clockwise around the lake. Walk back along the access road and then head right on the gravel Hebo Lake Trail #1311 that surrounds the lake. Douglas-firs and salmonberry thickets complement the red alders that reflect in the dark waters. Cross the first of several boardwalks in a salmonberry/alder grove and pass a skunk-cabbage swamp. On the east side of the lake is a grassy rise with a stone and shingle picnic shelter constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1937. The Hebo Lake Campground sits east of the lake in leafy surrounds.
The forest surrounding Hebo Lake was part of one of the first replanting projects of the brand-new U.S. Forest Service in 1912. Devastating fires had swept the slopes of Mt. Hebo in the mid-19th and early 20th centuries and reduced much magnificent old growth to ashes. The Plantation Trail, off of FR 14 on the way to Hebo Lake, was developed to showcase this historic planting effort. Little remains of this trail today: the trailhead information sign has disappeared and the tread itself is overgrown by brush and obscured by blowdown.
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- Mt. Hebo Area Trails (USFS)
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Siuslaw National Forest
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- Dogs on leash
- Northwest Forest Pass (or America the Beautiful Pass) or $5 day-use fee required mid-April to mid-November
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Hebo Lake Loop Hike
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Hebo Lake Loop Hike
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- 100 Hikes/Travel Guide: Oregon Coast & Coast Range by William L. Sullivan
- Oregon Campgrounds Hiking Guide by Rhonda & George Ostertag
- 75 Hikes in Oregon’s Coast Range & Siskiyous by Rhonda & George Ostertag
- Siuslaw Forest Hikes by Irene Lilja & Dick Lilja
- Oregon Hiking by Sean Patrick Hill
More Links
- Hebo Lake Loop Trail #1311 (USFS)
- Hebo Lake Campground (USFS)
- Grant's Getaways - Cascade Head, Hebo Lake (Grant's Getaways)
- "Hebo Lake full of memories and trout" (Statesman Journal)
Contributors
- bobcat (creator)