Broken Top Loop Backpack 2026

This was a two-night, three-day adventure circumnavigating Broken Top mountain in the Three Sisters Wilderness. The six of us (Craig Gwydir, Kate Curry, Helen Wang, Cornel Moolman, Beth Markhart and myself) hiked approximately eight miles each day, with cumulative daily elevation gains ranging from 1,000 to 1,800 feet. On Day One we set forth from the Tam McArthur Rim TH parking lot, taking the Little Three Creek Trail #4076 through open forest and the Park Meadow Tie Trail #4102 over a ridgeline scarred by the 2012 Pole Creek fire. We then followed the Park Meadow Trail #96A westward, as views of the Three Sisters and Broken Top began to open up, to reach the lovely Park Meadow and an unmarked side trail leading up to our first night’s camp at Golden Lake.

As we set up our tents for the night, a light rain and some dark clouds moved in, interspersed with a few sun breaks which treated us to a double rainbow and a changing light show on the nearby north face of Broken Top. The rain continued overnight but fortunately stopped by daybreak, leaving us in a dense fog which persisted into the morning hours.

On Day Two we continued westward on the Green Lakes Trail #17 into the Green Lakes basin, where the slowly clearing fog played peek-a-boo with the lakes as we passed them by. A gusty wind picked up briefly as we reached the junction with the Broken Top Trail #10, but thankfully the sun soon came out thereafter, and we enjoyed a pleasant day as we moved eastward to reach our second night’s camp near Crater Creek.

Day Three brought blue skies with scattered clouds dancing among the sharp spires of Broken Top’s crest, as we climbed steadily up an unmarked “user trail” to gorgeous No Name Lake. Set in a small cirque surround by jagged, snow-painted peaks, the turquoise waters of the lake can only be described as otherworldly. Having this very special place to ourselves, we lingered awhile until dark clouds began to form and the wind picked up again. We dropped our packs and made a quick side trip up to the viewpoint above the lake, where we were treated to an expansive panorama of the Oregon Cascades, from Broken Top and the Three Sisters, past Mt. Washington, Three-Fingered Jack and Mt. Jefferson, and all the way north to Mt. Hood. Reluctantly, we then picked up our packs and began our return to the trailhead.

Fortunately, the dark clouds and wind cleared as we headed east on intermittent user trails and across open country below the prominence called Broken Hand. We stayed roughly parallel to the upper part of the Tam McArthur Rim until we could eventually move up to join the Rim trail and follow it back to our cars. It had been an amazing adventure!

Tom Thrall