I have been wanting to hike around Clear Lake for about a year. I heard about it last year. I heard that the water was very clear and that about the second week of October was great to see fall color. The Forest Service says it is the headwaters of the McKenzie River. It is a lake "born of fire" because it's formed from a dam caused by a lava flow from the Sand Mountain. When the lake was formed it covered up the forest that was there and those trees are still visible. The water is so cold (31-41 degrees), with low nutrients, fed by water filtered through volcanic rock or the year round spring that is crystal clear. These factors help to preserve the trees in the water. It's not a "dead" lake. It has native cutthroat trout and it's also stocked with trout for fisherman. I noticed the fish as I hiked around it. They were very easy to spot, which means they can see me too. I'm not sure how successful I would be fishing there. The lake has a temperate forest on one side and sunbaked lava trails on the other side. There's a little bit of everything there. And we did manage to catch some fall color, it had peaked the week before we got there but it still had nice color. The trail around the lake is about 5.5 miles long and was not difficult for us.
The water was so clear
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| We could see the 3 Sisters Mts |
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| Trail through some lava flows |
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| Some of the fall color |
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| We found a door!!! |
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| One of the many bridges around the lake |
