10.45 miles of hiking • 1750' elevation gain •
We wanted to do something new to us, so we decided on Clear Lake Butte. We were expecting snowmobile traffic, and there was a lot of it. This is a great little snowshoe, but the exhaust from snowmobiles was overwhelming at times. It is probably better to do this one during the week, or at least, not on a holiday weekend! (We were the only ones snowshoeing to Clear Lake Butte that day!) You can rent the lookout, and near the top of the butte, we crossed paths with the folks who had rented it the night previously. Since they had left, we could not reach the top of the lookout - the final approach to the catwalk is locked. Still, we could see Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson, and Timothy Lake. Quite beautiful!!! On the way out, we decided we'd try to get to Clear Lake from Road 4290, but we were unable to find any of the spur roads to the lake that were on our map. So, we returned to near the parking area and followed a great mass of folks, snowmobiles, and a little 4 wheeler on the road to Clear Lake. Someone had ran their snowmobile out onto the lake, and it must have gotten stuck, so it was abandoned out there. We didn't stay long, since things were a little too chaotic. On the way home, we sat in traffic on 26 for a while, moving only a half mile in 40 minutes. We decided to take 35 home because it was flowing freely. Despite the traffic and crowds, it was a good day in the snow!
