Buck Peak from Lost Lake Hike

Overview

This hike takes in a variety of natural settings. On the crowded shores of Lost Lake, you'll hike under tall old growth, pass lush bogs, and get a stunning view of Mount Hood. Heading up the Huckleberry Mountain Trail, you'll leave the crowds behind and, using the Pacific Crest Trail, enjoy a four-mile ridge crest saunter to the top of Buck Peak, the site of an old lookout and the highest point in Multnomah County. From this viewpoint, you can get views north to Mount Adams and Mount Rainier as well as south to Mount Jefferson. Lost Lake sparkles in its dark green forest mantle below. Note that once you begin your ascent on the Huckleberry Mountain Trail, you'll be inside the Bull Run Watershed, which means you have to stick to the trails. Those doing this as a backpack will probably want to camp at Salvation Spring, just north of the Pacific Crest-Huckleberry Mountain Trail Junction. From the parking for the North Day Use Area, take steps down toward Lost Lake. A viewing platform offers you the Instagram vista across the lake to Mount Hood. (Lost Lake is said to be the most photographed lake in Oregon, and most of the photos are from this spot!) Turn left when you reach the Lakeshore Trail in order to begin a clockwise loop. You'll cross the Lake Branch, Lost Lake's outlet creek, on a pedestrian bridge, and pass some picnic tables and the boat rental shed, across the road from the general store. The Lakeshore Trail then passes picnic sites and reaches a small parking area. Follow this paved section through a thicket of Sitka alder, willow, and thimbleberry to cross the boat launch. Soon you'll be following an extensive boardwalk system along the east shore of the lake, with periodic fishing piers that are accessible for disabled visitors. Other trails lead up to campsites, which are no longer right along the lake shore. Throughout this section, the trail is flanked by old growth western red-cedar, Douglas-fir and western hemlock, with a few silver and noble fir mixed in. Pass the junction with the Old Growth

Trail Stats

Photos

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