While on our way to Bend, OR for an LCD Soundsystem gig (yes, it was amazing) - we decided to fit in an overnighter in the Mt. Hood area. We settled on the Frog Lake Loop but for reasons we will get to had to modify it a small bit.
Day 1
We left Portland early to get to the trailhead for Frog Lake, and on the way enjoyed a completely snow free drive up to the 1200m elevation. As soon as we pulled into the carpark for the trail we were greeted to the view of snowmobilers heading out on the exact trail we were supposed to be taking. We ran into another group of bikepackers facing the same reality and devised a quick plan to cut off the start of the route, and shortcut down the highway to Clear Lake where we could start the loop from instead. This would shave off about 270m of elevation and hopefully get us down below any snowline. Arriving in the Clear Lake day use area it seemed like we had made the right call as we didn’t see any indication of snow on the roads or trails (foreshadowing..), and decided to stick with this new plan to begin the loop from here. We loaded up our bikes, and said goodbye for now to the other group we had met up with - intending to see each other again once we all got to Meditation Point later in the day.
It took all of about 10 minutes before we had to dismount our bikes and walk them across a snow patch. That said, it really was just patches - and while annoying - it wasn’t anything to deter us from pushing on. The first couple kilometers of the route had us on a mix of old and new double track before meeting up with the Skyline Road. Once on the Skyline road we transitioned back to the tarmac for a coupe of smooth KMs, before getting back on gravel double track once more as we turned in for Little Crater Lake. Little Crater Lake is pretty stunning - a tiny lake formed by an underground spring causing the ground to collapse in on itself and fill up with turquoise water. From here we left the wide roads and began riding on the boardwalk across the Little Crater Lake marshy/swamplands. At this stage it became fairly apparent to us how “early season” this was for the US as the boardwalk was flooded over in a lot of places and generally in poor shape. It was clear no one from the Forestry Services had been out maintaining things after Winter yet. This part of the trail basically follows the Pacific Crest Trail for a few kilometers on the way to Timothy Lake - and again much like the flooded boardwalks, we began to encounter frequently downed trees that had not yet been cleared from the trails. This did break up the general flow of the riding for a bit - if I were to do this trip again I think I’d spend some time figuring out an alternate route between Little Crater Lake and Oak Fork at Timothy Lake. I saw lots of single track bike trails between these two points and I think linking a few of those together would make for a more interesting route than the one we followed from bikepacking.com.
After reaching Timothy Lake we were treated to a frankly stunning view. The trees cleared to reveal the lake, with Mt. Hood summit looming large in the distance. From this point on it was all single track following the trail around the shore of the lake. We encountered a lot of downed trees on this section of the trail, but the moments without them were full of beautiful, flowy single track with a stunning view the entire time. While zipping along the trail here, Orla’s drivetrain suddenly locked up. Upon inspection we saw that at some stage the jockey wheel cage had taken a hit, and was no longer keeping the chain on the upper jockey wheel and thus was getting jammed - we managed to get the bike to stick in one gear and aimed to close out the last remaining KMs to Meditation Point for a deeper inspection. We ended up making it to Meditation Point at the exact same time as the group we had met back at the car park - and were slightly confused how they had overtaken us before we learned they had done the route around Timothy Lake in reverse. They encountered less downed trees, it seemed, but had a longer section of flooded swamp after Little Crater - so there were tradeoffs on both options. We agreed to share the coveted “best” campsite on Meditation Point, the one right at the end of the point. That was it for day 1 - we chatted with our camp neighbours, ate some food, enjoyed the sun, and chilled out. The derailleur issue could wait until the morning.
Day 2
We woke up on day 2 to a beautiful morning on the lake - enjoying a coffee in the sun before we began to break up camp. Taking another look at the derailleur on Orla’s bike - we were able to bend the cage slightly back into the correct position. This stopped the chain from jumping off the jockey wheel, but it was clear the derailleur hanger and overall alignment had still taken a hit. Being mindful that undue stress on the drivetrain would likely result in a broken chain, or an even more broken derailleur - we took a look through the map in GaiaGPS and found a bail out route that would get us back to our car by sticking mostly on wide forest service roads with minimal elevation and minimal singletrack (shout out to Rachel for the headsup on the possibility of this route!). Our new route began the same as the intended one, and we headed north out of Meditation Point along the lake shore trail as far as North Arm campgrounds. On this section we began counting, and reached a total of 15 downed trees we either had to climb over or go around. Once we got to North Arm we exited the single track and joined up with the service roads. From here on out we just followed the roads all the way back to Clear Lake, it wasn’t the most exciting riding in the world but it was nonetheless very beautiful and calm.
Overall, aside from the snow patches, downed trees, and broken derailleur - the route was pretty chill. There wasn’t any particularly challenging sections, and the overall distance is very low. Going out on the route before Memorial Day meant it was very quiet around the entire route, and we had complete freedom in selecting a campsite. I think another week of warm weather would have resulted in a totally snow free route for us, so overall this seemed like a pretty good time of year to give this one a go.
The next few days
From Clear Lake we headed onwards to Bend, and spent a few days exploring the Oregon High Desert, before taking the road back to Vancouver through the Dalles and Colombia River Gorge. Here are a few photos from that - and the GPS track for the route at the end.
A big gorge with a big, cool bridge
Lava Butte lava field
Smith Rock
High Desert
