The Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway travels for 66 miles through a striking volcanic landscape dotted with lakes, lava-filled meadows, and towering snow-capped mountains. The entire area is a haven for outdoor lovers with lakes for paddling and fishing, trails for hiking and biking, and the most gorgeous forests for wandering (seriously, Oregon might just have the best forests of anywhere we have visited).
Mount Bachelor looms over the
The original plan was to spend two weeks at two different campgrounds. There are many forest service and private lodge type campgrounds scattered along the road and around the lakes so we had a number of options. Knowing that all the NF campgrounds offer at least a few first-come, first-serve sites, we didn’t bother to make any reservations. It was too late anyway as the few I looked at were all booked up on the weekends. Our first stop was the Lava Lakes NF campground. Determined not to repeat our frustrating experience at Diamond Lake, we chose this campground based solely on the Campendium reviews touting good cell service.
Lava Lake with South Sister looming in the background
It was perfect. A small, no-frills campground with no amenities other than a few pit toilets, some water spigots, and a VERY well-used boat ramp. We arrived on Sunday around noon and found five or six of the no-reservation sites unoccupied. Site 39 turned out to be possibly the best one in the whole campground. No lake view, but the large corner lot had no neighbors on one side and tons of space between us and the other side. Most of the other sites at this campground offer far less privacy so we felt very lucky to get this one.
Site #39 was a large corner lot
During our first week, we visited a few of the nearby campgrounds and found a handful of suitable sites with lake views (Little Lava Lake & South Campground have some great spots for small to medium RVs) and considered moving into one on at the end of the first week. By the time the next Sunday rolled around the thought of packing up and driving around looking for another first-come-first-serve site seemed like too much of a hassle and we ended up paying for a second week at Lava Lake instead.
Not many other campers around during the first week of our stay, while the second week it was nearly full every day. The busy summer camping season has begun!
While we didn’t move sites or campgrounds, we did make a quick trip to the dump station at the Lava Lake Resort about halfway through our stay. With no showers at the campground, two weeks without dumping tanks was not going to happen. Fortunately, Lava Lake Resort is adjacent to the Lava Lake CG and the entire task of packing up the house and driving it over to dump tanks and fill our fresh water took about half an hour. Also, they only charge $8 for a dump and fill which is a pretty good deal. While at the Lava Lake Resort we checked out the RV park. It’s fairly small with only 20-30 sites, but they are tucked into the forest and generously spaced. It looked like a really great campground and would be a good choice if you want to visit the area and enjoy full hook-ups. It’s also much better suited to larger RVs as compared the forest service campgrounds which all have skinny roads and tight corners.
One of the sites at the Lava Lake Resort
For the last month or so it’s felt like our adventure meter has been on the low side lately with work and weather taking away from the things we really want to be doing. Staying in one spot for two weeks– especially a spot smack in the middle of so much incredible nature — allowed us to get out and explore nearly every day. Hiking was by far our most frequent activity, but we also paddled around four different lakes and took our bikes on one pretty fantastic (although mosquito filled) bike ride.
I am in love with these mossy trees!
While you can’t go wrong with any of the trails in the area, I think our favorite was the 9-mile out and back up to Green Lakes. Despite it’s longer length this trail is on the easy side with only a moderate amount of elevation gain and we were easily able to hike it after work one day (hello long summer days).
At the start of the Green Lakes trail
The trail wound up through the forest past waterfalls and across streams.
Snow & streams
Eventually, South Sisters and Broken Top Mtn came into view.
South Sisters Mountain
Broken Top is a stratovolcano that last erupted around 100,000 years ago
The two Green Lakes reside in the small hollow between the mountains. It was late in the day by the time we got there and as a result, we had the whole place to ourselves.
It’s hard to tell from this angle, but the lake really was green
Us at the lake
Our other favorite was the Wickiup Plains Loop. Another moderate-rated trail of around 7-miles, this one shares the same track as the South Sisters trail for the first 1.8 miles. That section features a fairly steep series of switchbacks that climb up through a dense forest. It’s around four in afternoon and as we climb we pass numerous groups of hikers on their way down from the summit of South Sisters.
Up through the forest
We assume it’s cold up there as most of the people we pass are bundled up in way more clothes than us in our shorts and t-shirts. Hiking to the summit of South Sisters has been on our radar since we caught our first glimpse of the enticing and imposing looking, snow-covered volcano.
We could hike that!
We chat with a few of the hikers trying to get a feel for the current trail conditions. It sounds good. In fact, it sounds really good. There is some expected snow in the middle section but a reportedly well-packed trail of footprint means that we should be able to hike it in just our hiking boots. I’ve been researching this trail all week and talking with some people who actually made it to the top, I am very excited by the prospect of coming back in a few days and tackling this mountain. (Spoiler alert – we went back and hiked to the summit a few days later. The experience was so amazing that it deserves its very own blog post which will be coming soon!)
This time we hiked past the mountain – next time we hiked up the mountain
A lot of the land around the Scenic Lakes Byway is designated wilderness which basically limits the use to hikers on foot only. But there are a handful of mountain bike trails that travel closer to the lakes and through some of the non-wilderness areas. We drove over to the Cultus Lake Lodge one afternoon to ride a loop around the lake. The trail started with two miles of mild uphill on a gravel road which wouldn’t have been too bad except for the cars that blew past us at full speed without even moving over leaving up in a cloud of dust.
Cultus Lake trail
Eventually, we reached the shore of Deer Lake where the trail led into the woods on the most delightful section of singletrack we have ridden in a while. This trail was just my speed. There was enough uphill to give us a good workout, but not so much that we had to get off and hike-a-bike. The trail surface was also mostly smooth with only a few sections of rocks and roots to navigate over. And of course, those gorgeous Oregon forests and lakes made the ride that much more enjoyable.
On the far side of Colter Lake. There are a number of waterfront boat-in camp sites over here. They looked really nice – but the bug situation was nearly unbearable!
With more lakes than residents out this way, we had no shortage of opportunities to get our boats in the water. This is shaping up to be the summer of kayaking for us. During our two week stay on the Byway, we paddled around four different lakes.
Our attempt at a kayaking selfie
All the lakes out here are unique. Some were popular for fishing, some very shallow and suited only for human-powered boats, some offered boat-in camping on the shores, and some even had full on marinas filled with sailboats. Our favorites for paddling were the shallow lakes with narrow trails and interesting inlets for exploring. As a bonus, these shallow lakes were not suited for motorized boats so we didn’t have to worry about being run down by an over-zealous fisherperson or listen to the noise of engines.
Hosmer Lake was one of our favorites!
The clear, shallow water reminded us a bit of the Florida Keys…with mountains!
Elk Lake had a LOT of sailboats for a fairly small body of water
Sailing with a mountain view
There’s no doubt that we fell in love with this area during our two week-stay. We could easily spend an entire summer exploring these forests and lakes and might have even stayed longer this time around if our food supply hadn’t dwindled down to nothing but crumbs! Until next time Cascade Lakes…
P.S. – If you are reading this in your email, click on over to check out our new and improved website design and layout. We added some new features such as a Travel Journal and RV Resources and updated our Airstream and About pages. Enjoy!
12 comments
I like the new blog layout! You two picked the perfect year to visit in late spring. We arrived in the middle of May and stayed a month. The Scenic Parkway never opened entirely while we were there. It was suppose to completely open by early July. That gives you an idea how much snow there was. As a matter of fact, Mt Bachelor was open for skiing the whole time we were there and then reopening for skiing on the Fourth of July. We could only get to Lava/Little Lava Lakes from the south. These were the only lakes open. You couldn’t get past Mt Bachelor on the north side. We did a hike that took us to both of those lakes. On the way to the lakes we climbed over a ton of downed trees. On the way back we realizes the trail was more open. Then we met the reason. A man and his wife and their three mules volunteer to do trail maintenance. When we went back in Sept to try this area again, we were met with closing for all the wildfires and smoke. Guess it means we need to return. Love your kayak selfie! Looking forward to the Sister Summit!!
It was really just a fluke that we ended up here now. We don’t always get it right with the weather and this is one time that I am so happy it worked out! Sounds like last year was kind of crazy in terms of snow amounts.
Your new site is beautiful! What a perfect time you picked for exploring the Cascade Lakes area. Don’t ever go in early summer—the mosquitoes are relentless. Great kayaking photos—it really does look like you’re paddling in the Keys in that one photo!
It seemed like we were just on the edge of the bad mosquito season. Only on a few occasions were they really annoying mostly in the early evening. After spending the winter in the southwest we are always caught off guard by the onslaught of summer bugs. And yes, that clear water was so much like the Keys…except for the temperature!
Wow… your site looks fantastic! So clean and modern and well organized. Very nice!!
The scenery in this area is stunning and looks so appealing as a summer destination. We’ll be heading that way in a couple weeks and I can’t wait to explore these trails. Thanks for the info on Lava Lake Resort as well. We’ve been running into a ton of frustration recently learning that we’ll rarely fit into these beautiful national forest campgrounds you guys get to use. We might have to convert to #vanlife sooner rather than later. Just kidding. Maybe.
Anyway, beautiful photos of a gorgeous location. Thanks for the tour.
Thanks! The re-design was a long time coming. With nearly 600 published posts we desperately needed some better organization. Those NF forest campgrounds can certainly be tight for larger RVs. I think a lot of them were built before large motorhomes and 45′ fifth wheels became all the rage. Good luck with the #vanlife thing ;)
Hi! Great new website! Even though we are no longer traveling in our RV (after 5 wonderful years) and are settled in Jekyll Island, GA, I still read your blog and vicariously travel through your posts. Thank you for sticking with it. I remember getting kind of bored with blogging, but now I really enjoy going back to our old blog and reliving our travels. I’m sure your new layout and new features will be useful and entertaining for many other travelers. Best thing about it? Your site is not filled with advertisements from external vendors!! Thank you, thank you! I hate it when blogs are so pumped up with pop ups and side ads that you can’t hardly read it. Oh, and I LOVE the interactive live map. Very cool.
What a wonderful place to settle! Thanks for continuing to follow along on our journey. I too get a little bored with blogging, but I love reading through our old posts and creating a record of this time of our lives helps motivate me to keep it up. I also hate reading blogs clogged with ads and pop-ups. From the very beginning, we decided to not try to monetize this blog which means we don’t have to fill it with ads and silly sponsored posts!
I might have commented sooner, but had so much fun exploring your new website design I lost track of time. Very well done Amanda!! We’ve traveled the Eastern Cascades many times, but always with a destination. We’ve not stopped to enjoy or explore as we should. Thanks for sharing your adventures and the fun way you have of presenting them.
Yeah! So happy that you like it! We still have a few features to add, but they are a more on the technical side and I need some help from my in-house tech support. I think it’s fair to say that we have fallen in love with the Eastern Cascades. Next time you come through I would highly recceomend scheduling in some extra time. There is so much to explore!
Lake Hosmer was our favorite fly fishing lake when we lived out there. Your post has us even more anxious to start our full time journey and get back west. Thanks for all the inspiration.
We saw a few people fly fishing on the Hosmer. It was such a peaceful lake so I can imagine it’s a great place to fish!