Central Cascades Day-Use Permit (Broken Top)

Broken Top: what makes it different

Broken Top is the day-use permit for the trailhead at the end of a rough Forest Service road past Todd Lake. It buys the shortest walk to No Name Lake, in the east cirque of the volcano, and it sells 45 people a day.^1,2,4

Getting to the start

The Deschutes National Forest page puts the trailhead 24.0 miles west of Bend on the Cascade Lakes Highway, then 4.0 miles north on Forest Road 4600-370 and about 1 mile west on Forest Road 4600-380. The same page calls the last stretch very rugged and highly recommends a high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle.²

Oregon Hikers counts 5 1/4 miles of unpaved road from the highway turnoff, starting with 0.6 miles to the Todd Lake trailhead and then a narrow, uneven track. It lists the trailhead at 7,175 feet, with a vault toilet and an information kiosk.^3,4

Parking is limited, and the lot sits at the wilderness boundary near Ball Butte. The Forest Service page lists the trailhead as day use only with no overnight camping, and asks for a recreation pass or $5 per vehicle per day.²

The first leg

You sign in at the wilderness permit box and start up Broken Top Trail #10 through mountain hemlock and subalpine fir. The tread soon leaves the trees, crosses a creek below Ball Butte and climbs pumice and gravel slopes with views into the south cirque.⁴

The Oregon Hikers write-up for the trailhead has the round trip to the Bend Glacier viewpoint at 5.8 miles, with 1,385 feet of gain and a high point of 8,250 feet. Trip reports put the walk to No Name Lake itself between about 2.25 miles (Calipidder, 2016) and 3 miles (Bend Bulletin, 2024).^4,7,6

Terrain and difficulty

Oregon Hikers rates the hike moderate. The route is open alpine country: meltwater streams, meadows, whitebark pine and a rubble-filled debris bowl below tall moraines. The last piece is a scramble through a notch in those moraines to the lake.⁴

Quota at this entry point

• 2026 daily quota at Broken Top, day use: 45 people a day. The Forest Service splits it 18 permits at the 10-day release and 27 at the 2-day release.¹
• 2026 daily quota at Broken Top, overnight, Broken Top/Crater Ditch (a separate Central Cascades overnight permit): 2 groups a day. One group a day comes from the full-season release and one from the 7-day release. Broken Top and Crater Ditch share this overnight quota.¹

Rules specific to this entry point

Camping is not allowed within a quarter mile of No Name Lake. Dogs must be on a leash at this trailhead from July 15 to September 15.^3,4

Where it leads

No Name Lake sits at about 8,150 feet below the east side of 9,177-foot Broken Top. Above it, a ridge looks across Park and Red Meadows to the Three Sisters, with Mount Washington and Mount Jefferson to the north.^6,4

What trip reports say

A Bend Bulletin columnist who walked it in August 2024 met about 15 other hikers on the way to the lake. On his last visit in 2020 he had met about 50. He credits the permit system, and he still found ice floating in the lake that month.⁶

A Calipidder trip report from 2016 says the party carpooled from Todd Lake in high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicles. The lot was already full, so they parked at a lower turnout. It says snow blocks the road until late summer.⁷

On the Oregon Hikers forum in 2023, a regular who drove it in a Honda CR-V about five years earlier said a stock Subaru Outback can make it, slowly, and that wet weather makes it much worse.⁵

When to go from here

Timing here follows the road more than the permit. Calipidder reports snow blocking it until late summer, and the Bulletin found ice in the lake in August. Mid-summer into fall is the window Oregon Hikers lists for the hike.^7,6,4

Compare with nearby entry points

• Todd: Todd's trailhead is on the same Forest Road 4600-370, only 0.6 miles from the highway turnoff, before the rough track begins. Its day-use quota is 24 people, against 45 here. Oregon Hikers suggests starting at Todd Lake as a 14-mile round trip if your car is not up to the road.^3,4,1
• Tam McArthur Rim: Tam McArthur Rim sells 90 day-use people a day, twice this trailhead's 45. A 2025 blogger began her Broken Top loop at the Tam McArthur trailhead because she heard the Broken Top road was hard to drive, and she found no parking lot there.^1,8
• Crater Ditch: Crater Ditch sells only 24 day-use people a day, and its overnight quota is shared with this trailhead. Broken Top gets almost double the day-use permits, and Oregon Hikers calls the walk to No Name Lake often crowded.^1,4

Sources

1. Central Cascades Wilderness Permit System: Quotas for Day Use and Overnight, Deschutes and Willamette National Forests, USDA Forest Service. Read 2026-10-15.
2. Broken Top Trailhead, Deschutes National Forest, USDA Forest Service. Read 2026-10-15.
3. Broken Top Trailhead, Oregon Hikers Field Guide. Read 2026-10-15.
4. Broken Top East Cirque Hike, Oregon Hikers Field Guide. Read 2026-10-15.
5. Broken Top TH Road, Oregon Hikers Forum. Read 2026-10-15.
6. Hike to No Name Lake near Broken Top offers stunning scenery, and now more solitude, The Bulletin (Bend), August 2024. Read 2026-10-15.
7. Hike to Broken Top Crater and No Name Lake, Calipidder, August 2016. Read 2026-10-15.
8. Letting Go of Middle Sister, kellbell blog, September 2025. Read 2026-10-15.
9. Central Cascades Wilderness Permits, Willamette National Forest, USDA Forest Service. Read 2026-10-15.

Safety & planning

Alternatives to a Broken Top permit