Central Cascades Day-Use Permit (Crater Ditch)

Crater Ditch: what makes it different

Crater Ditch is the second trailhead at the end of the rough Forest Road 370 past Todd Lake, half a mile from the Broken Top lot. A near-level trail along an old irrigation ditch leads to the Green Lakes Trail and a side route to No Name Lake. It sells 24 day-use people a day.^1,2,4

Getting to the start

The Deschutes National Forest page says to drive about 24.0 miles west of Bend on the Cascade Lakes Highway, then 3.2 miles north on Forest Road 4600-370 to the junction with Road 4600-378, then west to the end of the road. Hike Oregon measures it from the Todd Lake lot as 2.6 rough miles on Road 370 and then 0.5 miles on Road 378.^2,4

The Forest Service calls the road very rugged and highly recommends high-clearance four-wheel drive. In an August 2025 notice it says the road is not maintained for passenger cars, that winter and spring washouts made sections impassable to low-clearance vehicles, and that a ranger district crew unlocks the gate at Todd Lake once the road is ready. That year it opened on August 8.^2,3

The Forest Service page lists no fee, no restrooms and day use only at the trailhead. It calls this a heavily used trailhead. Hike Oregon says the upper trailheads usually become reachable by the end of July.^2,4

The first leg

A short trail leads from the lot into the Three Sisters Wilderness and meets the Green Lakes Trail. Hike Oregon says the Crater Ditch trail joins the main route about one mile past the Broken Top Trail #10 junction, and the Broken Top trailhead trail joins about a half mile after that.^2,4

The ditch is a man-made canal that channels meltwater. A 2014 blogger hiking up from Todd Lake crossed it near the Green Lakes Trail junction, then headed toward Ball Butte, where an unofficial trail forks left between Ball Butte and Broken Top and follows a creek past small falls.^6,2

Terrain and difficulty

Hike Oregon lists the Crater Ditch route to No Name Lake at 7.8 miles round trip with 1,380 feet of gain, compared with 5.25 miles and 1,300 feet from the Broken Top trailhead and 13.2 miles and 2,400 feet from Todd Lake. It rates the route difficult. Another guide, Roaming Log, measures the Broken Top route at 5.6 miles and 1,285 feet.^4,5

Most of the walk is above treeline, with snowfields often lasting into September. The hardest footing is the steep creek-bed scramble just before the lake, and Roaming Log describes a loose 200-foot chute a little over 2 miles from its trailhead.^4,5

Quota at this entry point

• 2026 daily quota at Crater Ditch, day use: 24 people a day. The Forest Service splits it 10 permits at the 10-day release and 14 at the 2-day release.¹
• 2026 daily quota at Crater Ditch, 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

Central Cascades permits are required from June 15 to October 15 for day and overnight use. Groups are limited to 12 people and 12 head of stock, bicycles and drones are banned in the wilderness, and campfires must be at least 100 feet from water. The Forest Service page lists leash maps for Green Lakes, Matthieu Lakes and Moraine Lakes.²

Hike Oregon says that since August 2019 camping is not allowed within a quarter mile of No Name Lake, including its basin, and that rangers patrol it. Dogs must be on leash from July 15 to September 15.⁴

Where it leads

The main goal is No Name Lake, a glacier-fed lake with no inlet on the east side of Broken Top. Hike Oregon says the lake is frozen until about mid-July with ice possible into August, turquoise from late July through early August, and brown with silt by September or October.⁴

The Green Lakes Trail is the other way out. Roaming Log's loop notes also mention that its writer took the left fork at the trailhead road toward the Broken Top lot, and not the Crater Ditch lot, which shows the two trailheads sit on separate spurs of the same road.^5,2

What trip reports say

A September 2014 post on Wandering Yuncks started from Todd Lake at sunrise to beat crowds and avoid the terrible access road. It found the lake mostly empty at first, with one tent on the rim, deer grazing in the meadows near the Green Lakes junction, and a full Todd Lake lot on the way back.⁶

Roaming Log reports the road past Todd Lake as a gated two-track with bumpy, rocky and rutted sections and steep drop-offs that make passing other cars hard. The writer found parking at the trailhead hard to get, found the trail usage heavy, and still saw snowfields in September.⁵

When to go from here

The road is the schedule here. Hike Oregon recommends mid-July to mid-November for access, with the best lake color from late July to mid-August, and the Forest Service opened the gate on August 8 in 2025. The permit season runs June 15 to October 15.^4,3

Compare with nearby entry points

• Broken Top: Broken Top sells 45 day-use people a day against 24 here, and its lot is on the same rough road half a mile away. Hike Oregon says it has the most daily permits, so most people start there, and the trip from there is about 2.5 miles shorter round trip.^1,4
• Todd: Todd also sells 24 day-use people but only 2 overnight groups and needs no rough road. Starting at Todd Lake adds 13.2 miles round trip for No Name Lake per Hike Oregon.^1,4
• Tam McArthur Rim: Tam McArthur Rim sells 90 day-use people a day and has a gravel road sedans can manage, so a Broken Top loop from there avoids Road 370 entirely.^1,6

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. Crater Ditch Trailhead, Deschutes National Forest, USDA Forest Service. Read 2026-10-15.
3. Forest Service Road 370 opens Friday, Deschutes National Forest, USDA Forest Service, August 2025. Read 2026-10-15.
4. No Name Lake, Hike Oregon. Read 2026-10-15.
5. Hike to No Name Lake on Broken Top, Roaming Log. Read 2026-10-15.
6. Crater Ditch, Wandering Yuncks, September 2014. Read 2026-10-15.
7. Central Cascades Wilderness Permits, Willamette National Forest, USDA Forest Service. Read 2026-10-15.

Safety & planning

Alternatives to a Crater Ditch permit