Divide Lake and Mount Yoran

Mount Yoran rises above Divide Lake

Distance: 8 miles out-and-back

Minimum Elevation: 5330 feet

Maximum Elevation: 6390 feet

Total Elevation Gain: 1200 feet

Directions: From Oakridge, head east on Highway 58 for about 1.5 miles. Turn right at the sign for Hills Creek Dam. You should now be on Forest Service Road 21, known also as Hills Creek Road. In a half mile, continue straight as the road becomes Forest Service Road 23. You’ll be going to the left of the reservoir. In about 19.5 miles, the road (now gravel) will pass a trail sign for Hemlock Butte. Follow the road a couple hundred yards further to a spur road on the left. Here is a loop for parking at the trailhead.

The trail begins in full sun, the product of an old sub-alpine logging. Earlier views of snow-crowned Diamond Peak and brief glimpses of Mount Yoran’s ancient volcanic crags tease of the journey’s destination.

Notch Lake

Soon the trail enters thick mountain hemlock, where currant and beargrass bloom in July and pungent mountain huckleberries fruit in August. In less than one mile, the trail passes picturesque Notch Lake, a great first backpack for families with young children. 

Shortly after, the trail forks – straight heads north for Vivian Lake. Turning right onto the Mount Yoran Trail continues the route to Divide lake. Now the trail steepens as it climbs a ridge. At the crest, views abound. The bulk of Diamond peak towers off ahead to the right, its slopes plummeting to a treed valley below. To the left, Salt Creek Valley cuts through the Western Cascades. The ridges beyond it dip in places just enough to reveal parts of the Three Sisters and Broken Top off to the north. 

The trail passes directly below Mt. Yoran

The trail continues a pattern of following the ridge crest, diving off to the side amongst lupine-covered slopes, and climbing back up again, until it crosses the talus fields of Mount Yoran’s base and slightly dips down to the shores of Divide Lake. 

Blue-green in color, the small lake could seem unremarkable, if it didn’t have three peaks surrounding it. 7100-foot mount

Yoran rises out of its north shore, an unnamed sister peak on its east, and further away to the south Diamond Peak reaches out of the trees. 

Yoran's sister peak

Camping is an option here, at least two hundred feet from the water, though summer weekends often find the lake somewhat crowded. 

For a 1.5-mile round side trip, the trail continues past a couple smaller lakes to a junction with the Pacific Crest Trail and, just before it, a reward of an impressive view of the eastern side of Diamond Peak Wilderness. Mount Yoran and its sister peak can also be climbed from Divide Lake, in theory, though the route is somewhat sketchy. My friend has done it. I have not.

For more High Cascade adventures, check out my Cascade Crest page.

Diamond Peak