Highlights
Difficulty: Moderate
Distance: 5.5 mile loop (or more or less)
Elevation Gain: 200 feet
Season: May to October
Notes: Part of this hike is featured in “Oregon’s Ancient Forests: A hiking guide” – Get the book here!
About this Hike
Clear Lake was created when lava flows from the High Cascades dammed the McKenzie River, approximately 3,000 years ago. The lake’s cold, clear water allows you to see the perfectly preserved tree snags under its 100-foot-deep waters. For the best view of this 3,000 year-old preserved forest deep below the lake’s surface, you can rent a row boat from the small resort.
This 5.5 mile loop around Clear Lake brings hikers past huge springs, lava crossings, and through a beautiful old-growth forest of Douglas-fir and mountain hemlock. Although much of the trail is set back further from the lake itself, you can still catch glimpses of the clear water, Mt. Washington and the tips of the Three Sisters. Although the first mile of the trail can be heavily used, it usually quiets down for the remaining 4.5 miles after it crosses a footbridge over the lake’s outlet (the beginning of the Mckenzie River). 200 yards past the footbridge, turn left onto the Mckenzie River Trail for 0.8 miles to a boat ramp and picnic area. From here, you’ll continue for 1.4 miles to Great Spring and detour around a rushing river. After another 0.5 miles you’ll cross another footbridge over Fish Lake Creek (dry or running underground in the summer) and turn left at the junction. The trail will then take you over a peninsula, around a narrow section of the lake, over Ikenick Creek, and end up back at Clear Lake.
This can be an easy stroll if you don’t do the whole loop. Or, if you park at the Fish Lake Creek trailhead (see below) you’ll add on nearly 2 more miles, but avoid the parking frenzy and fee at the Clear Lake Resort.
Getting There
From Eugene or Springfield, follow OR 126 east up the McKenzie River and follow signs for “Clear Lake Resort and Picnic Area” between mile marker 3 and 4. After turning off of the highway, take a small paved side road for 0.4 miles downhill to reach the picnic area. A parking fee is required here, and it can be very busy in the summer.
An alternative place to park is just past the Clear Lake Resort turn off. Just south of the 2-mile marker on OR 126, at a trail marker, turn right and go a short way up this potholed road to the trailhead parking area. To begin the hike, cross the footbridge over Fish Lake Creek and you’ll reach the Clear Lake Trail in about a mile.
Take Action
Oregon Wild has worked to defend the forests in the headwaters of the McKenzie River for years. While much of the mainstem of the McKenzie is designated a Wild & Scenic River, the River Democracy Act proposal would protect additional headwater streams such as Olallie Creek and Deer Creek as Wild & Scenic Rivers. Take action to support this bill here.
