Broken Top's Hidden Lake (AKA No Name Lake) - 2013/08/28

This forum is used to share your experiences out on the trails.
User avatar
Guy
Posts: 3333
Joined: May 10th, 2009, 4:42 pm
Location: The Foothills of Mt Hood
Contact:

Re: Broken Top's Hidden Crater Lake - 2013/08/28

Post by Guy » August 29th, 2013, 7:26 pm

I may hit you up for that gpx file next year Jim!
hiking log & photos.
Ad monte summa aut mors

User avatar
Don Nelsen
Posts: 4377
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm
Location: Vancouver, WA

Re: Broken Top's Hidden Crater Lake - 2013/08/28

Post by Don Nelsen » August 29th, 2013, 7:41 pm

Guy,

What a great report! I didn't know about that lake either so now it is on my list. Wonderful video, too.

Don
"Everything works in the planning stage" - Kelly

"If you don't do it this year, you will be one year older when you do" - Warren Miller

Bruceb
Posts: 6
Joined: August 30th, 2013, 7:31 am
Contact:

Re: Broken Top's Hidden Crater Lake - 2013/08/28

Post by Bruceb » August 30th, 2013, 7:45 am

I haven't hiked into this part of Broken Top for many years, so please allow me to share what I remember.... As I know it, the debris flow of 1966 issued from a glacier lake that was formerly held within the south-facing cirque right under the main peak of Broken Top. Since the debris flow broke out the morraine-dam that had formed the lake, the lake is no longer there.
Meanwhile, the lake pictured in your photos is one that I have visited; it lies on the eastern side of the mountain which comprises Broken Top, but the peak above the lake is not the actual summit. To me, the lake you have pictured is not in Broken Top crater, but I may be incorrect, or just remembering a previous designation on a pre-1966 map....
I have also hiked up to the ridgetop above this lake, viewed the Three Sisters, and then descended across the glacier onto the north side of Broken Top. And from there, hiked cross-country to Golden Lake. I highly recommend doing this one if you're confident of your off-trail skills. You might also want an ice axe for the initial descent onto the glacier.
If you are interested the origins of the great gear we get to use in modern times, please see my website: www.historyofgear.com

User avatar
retired jerry
Posts: 14395
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm

Re: Broken Top's Hidden Crater Lake - 2013/08/28

Post by retired jerry » August 30th, 2013, 8:00 am

I've looked at that North side of Broken Top (trip reports and maps that is) and it looked too difficult. Especially if I go solo, I don't want to half kill myself.

payslee

Re: Broken Top's Hidden Crater Lake - 2013/08/28

Post by payslee » August 30th, 2013, 12:09 pm

Crusak wrote:Here's a screenshot I just did of Google Earth, with a track from a short loop day hike we did last year from Ball Butte up to Broken Hand, over to No Name Lake, then back to camp. Note how close the other lake is to Broken Top.

Broken Top is the peak just west of the lake. I added a green arrow pointing to the general spot where Broken Top's peak is located.
That's a different lake than the one in the "crater"? I'm having trouble visualizing this compared to where I've been up there. Could you show the crater lake in relationship to No name lake? Or is it the same lake? Cause the lake shown on your map east of the peak is the one I've been to, which is the one that matches this TR. So maybe I'm just confused?

Thanks,
payslee

ps... For those who like Broken Top lakes, there is a good use trail to Golden Lake, which is beautiful and has several great camp sites, and it continues up to two small lakes that we just called "tarns" on the west side of BT.

User avatar
TwoPaw
Posts: 113
Joined: July 28th, 2013, 10:30 am
Location: Portland

Re: Broken Top's Hidden Crater Lake - 2013/08/28

Post by TwoPaw » August 30th, 2013, 1:45 pm

Guy - your pics do far more justice to these gems than mine.

The user trail is more pronounced than many official trails. Wonder what FS plans to do, if anything.

User avatar
Crusak
Posts: 3617
Joined: August 6th, 2009, 7:33 pm
Location: Oregon

Re: Broken Top's Hidden Crater Lake - 2013/08/28

Post by Crusak » August 30th, 2013, 6:20 pm

payslee wrote:That's a different lake than the one in the "crater"? I'm having trouble visualizing this compared to where I've been up there. Could you show the crater lake in relationship to No name lake? Or is it the same lake? Cause the lake shown on your map east of the peak is the one I've been to, which is the one that matches this TR. So maybe I'm just confused?

Thanks,
payslee
The lake I was referring to is not the one inside the Broken Top crater. It's a different lake. :) When we were in the crater of Broken Top the whole basin was covered in solid snow, and the water was flowing out and downhill from underneath the ice/snow. You couldn't see the lake at all. In fact, we walked out onto the snow and it felt thick & solid. That was in September 2012.

No Name Lake has an easier user path that gets you there.

To get inside the Broken Top crater you've gotta scramble cross-country quite a distance, over to a pair of user trails that head straight up the hill, one on each side of the outflow stream. It's a bit of a climb, steep, with large rocks.

Hmmm Let's see - here is a picture of my brother and brother-in-law just inside the front end of the Broken Top Crater. Note the perspective - the crater is huge!
inside Broken Top crater.jpg
Note that you can't see the water at all - completely covered in a very thick layer of ice and snow.

So now, after looking at Guy's pictures - I wonder if the lake you went to was actually No Name Lake?
Here's a shot of the guys at No Name Lake:
Steve and Todd at No Name Lake.jpg
Jim's Hikes

Solvitur Ambulando

User avatar
Guy
Posts: 3333
Joined: May 10th, 2009, 4:42 pm
Location: The Foothills of Mt Hood
Contact:

Re: Broken Top's Hidden Crater Lake - 2013/08/28

Post by Guy » August 30th, 2013, 7:24 pm

So it would appear we have a bit of a mystery on our hands!

I called this Broken Top's Crater Lake because that's were Sullivan's directions in his latest book lead you & that's what he calls it. (Hike 53).

But based on Bruceb's comments & Crusak's photo this is definitely the lake Chiyoko & I visited.
Image
Jim, any chance you could send me your gpx file with No Name Lake & Crater lake marked then I can overlay it over my gpx trail on a topo map & I'll post the results here.

@ payslee, yeah a couple of days earlier we found those tarns above Golden Lake & I was actually able to see them from the rim above the lake in question here.

Cheers.
hiking log & photos.
Ad monte summa aut mors

User avatar
Guy
Posts: 3333
Joined: May 10th, 2009, 4:42 pm
Location: The Foothills of Mt Hood
Contact:

Re: Broken Top's Hidden Crater Lake - 2013/08/28

Post by Guy » August 30th, 2013, 8:05 pm

I've looked at that North side of Broken Top (trip reports and maps that is) and it looked too difficult. Especially if I go solo, I don't want to half kill myself.
Jerry here is a photo taken from the South Sister Summit last week. Chiyoko & I visited the Tarns above Golden Lake & the Rim above Crater or No Name Lake. The distance between the two isn't great. I've added blue arrows of two possible routes. I wouldn't do this solo but would give it a go with somebody else.

Image
hiking log & photos.
Ad monte summa aut mors

justpeachy
Posts: 3066
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm
Location: Portland, OR
Contact:

Re: Broken Top's Hidden Crater Lake - 2013/08/28

Post by justpeachy » August 30th, 2013, 8:34 pm

anne37 wrote:Ah, I wasn't aware that there was a better way to hike this that doesn't involve the Road From Hell. Good to know!
William Sullivan always has creative (and sometimes entertaining) descriptions for bad roads, so I looked it up in his book.

"The dirt road to the trailhead is spectacularly rough." Also: "This may be the worst road you've ever seen."

The 1991 edition says that it is a "miserably rutted dirt road" and that it "demands both caution and courage" to drive the 3.5 "arduous" miles.

Wow, that sounds even worse than the road to Breitenbush Lake! :shock:

Post Reply