“Originally, Todd Lake was called “Lost Lake” because it was difficult for people to find. In the early 20th century, citizens of Bend, Oregon, asked that the name of the lake be changed to avoid confusion with several other Oregon lakes with the same name. In 1922, the name of the lake was officially changed to Todd Lake. The name honors John Y. Todd, an early pioneer in central Oregon. Todd immigrated to Oregon in 1852. In 1860, he built the first bridge across the Deschutes River. Later, he became a successful cattle rancher. Todd founded of the Farewell Bend Ranch, which gave the city of Bend its name.
Todd Lake and the surrounding forest are part of the Bend-Fort Rock Ranger District, an administrative sub-division of the Deschutes National Forest. In 1964, the United States Congress created the Three Sisters Wilderness surrounding the Three Sisters mountains in Oregon’s Cascade Range. Todd Lake is just outside the southern boundary of the wilderness. As a result, Todd Lake is a major wilderness access point for hikers.”1
W7O/CM-152 is a numbered peak just to the West of Todd Lake, accessible via the Todd Lake Trail #34 then following the ridge line after about .6 miles on the trail. The off trail walk is about 1.4 miles making this about a 4 mile RT hike. Route finding once off trail is pretty straight forward but having a GPS device would be highly advisable. There is a false summit that could draw you in, but it can easily be traversed low through some pretty mountain meadows.
One thing to be cautious of is descending off the ridge, the natural fall line in some places tries to draw one down towards Todd Lake, but its easy to stay up on the ridge as long as you keep following the track on your GPS.
After leaving the trail you descend a little to a wide saddle. There is an interesting rock feature here to use as a way point.
While most of the hike is quite easy going, there is a small rock formation that we found a way around by following an old game trail that wrapped around to the north.
Once you crest the short climb, there is a little more traversing on the ridge top before you hit a large meadow of lava rock and some obsidian. The summit is now pretty much due west and fairly obvious with a small rock bench near the top and a second larger outcropping at the true summit.
We climbed up to work a few 2M contacts from the true summit before finding a more comfortable and spacious area on the lower rock bench to setup HF.
It was a bit surprising that this summit had not been activated. It is a fairly easy hike but it does require a back country permit for access in the Three Sisters Wilderness, which may have put some folks off. Also, Todd Lake is quite busy in the Summer tourism months and permits are limited, though we had no trouble getting one a couple days prior to our planned outing.
While the terrain and hiking isn’t difficult, I’d classify this as more of an intermediate hike due to the need to carry and navigate via gps or compass. Parking is limited at the trail head so getting an early start is also a good idea. Day use wilderness permits are available via Recreation.gov and you will also need a Northwest Forest Pass or Inter-agency Pass or purchase a day parking pass at the trail head.
W7MTB: Amateur Radio Notes 