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9 miles of hiking • 2000' elevation gain •

With such a warm beautiful day we decided to head out toward the Mt. Hood area. Not having hiked to Clear Lake in many years, we decided to park at the Frog Lake parking area and hike this seldom used trail.

Hardly any vehicles at the Frog Lake parking area, which surprised us! So we crossed Hwy 26 on the PCT and then turned left on the Blue Box trail. There was a fallen tree right at the intersection, which will need to be cleared for the through hikers, at some point. This trail was not being maintained and felt more like an animal trail. There were a few fallen trees along the trail, but there is a large amount of Huckleberry growing against the trail. None of the brush or fallen trees were an obstacle, but I wouldn't wear shorts on this trail. We also noticed that there are a huge number of small snags along this trail with very little undergrowth. I wouldn't call this a healthy forest along some of the trail length.

The trail climbs up to a plateau along the first 2 miles, and gains about 550 feet of elevation. The trail loses about 1000 feet of elevation while descending to Clear Lake, and there are a couple of areas that are quite steep (and a great workout). Clear Lake is quite beautiful but evidently vehicles can drive right up to the lake. There was one obnoxious fisherman that had his music pumped up to full volume from his car, and it broke the wilderness like experience on the trail. We also were put off by the cigarette smoking by some other people.

We quickly moved away from this area and found a more secluded area without the music or smoking, and it was a much better experience! We vowed to never come back here except on a bad weather day!!! Still a great day with solitude on the trail!

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Comments

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Woodswalker
April 20, 2015

Thanks, I've thought about that hike. Good info

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Mountainkat
April 21, 2015

I've always wondered about Clear Lake, thanks! We ran into something similar a few years ago around Boulder Lake near Bonney Meadows.

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Mileage Mike
April 21, 2015

Woodswalker and Mountainkat - I'm glad the info is interesting to you! I added a bunch of pictures in case you're interested.

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Mountainkat
April 21, 2015

Thank you for adding the photos! Wow, you were being very literal when you said that vehicles could drive right up to the lake! Summer must be a busy time there...

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Woodswalker
April 22, 2015

Thanks!