Lake Lenore Hike

Overview

NOTICE: Trails in this area have been affected by the 2021 Bull Complex Fire and the Bull of the Woods Lookout has burned to the ground. Please check current closures in the Clackamas River Ranger District before planning an outing. Lake Lenore, one of the more remote destinations by trail in the Bull of the Woods Wilderness, nestles below Big Slide Mountain and Knob Peak. Unfortunately, the 2008 Lake Lenore Fire, one of the first such conflagrations to alter the landscape of the wilderness, burned out the lake’s bowl entirely. With fewer visitors and a rapid invasion of fireweed, the trail down to the lake has become a scorched-earth bushwhack. If you don’t want to clamber down the slope, however, the hike in still offers a quick summit of Big Slide Mountain with its 250-mile views up and down the Cascades. You also won’t meet many other hikers along this route, so enjoy the solitude and the feeling of being far away from it all! The Bull of the Woods Trail #550 heads in past the trailhead sign through a thicket of willow and Sitka alder. The trail switchbacks twice in an old clearcut, and there are views north to Thunder Mountain and Baty Butte. Looking back, there’s also a good view of Mount Hood. Step into a ridge forest of silver fir, noble fir, mountain hemlock and some Douglas-fir with a huckleberry/bear grass understory: the trail is getting a little brushier by the year, and it’s best to wear rain pants if it’s wet because of the overhanging huckleberries. Pass the old wilderness permit box. You’ll soon notice a lush meadow with a perennial tarn to the left. Then the trail rises under impressive noble firs. Enter the Bull of the Woods Wilderness, and switchback up the west slope of North Dickey Peak; then hike along the ridge crest. The trail undulates as it makes a traverse. In July, rhododendrons are blooming and Washington lilies brighten a part of the trail here. The trail rises again above tiny Terrace Spring, where you might notice a broken sign on a tree. There are more undulations along the

Trail Stats

Photos

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