Central Cascades Day-Use Permit (Green Lake/Soda Creek)

Green Lake/Soda Creek: what makes it different

This is the day-use permit for the busiest door into the Green Lakes basin: one parking circle on the Cascade Lakes Highway where the Green Lakes Trail and the Soda Creek Trail both start, with a day quota of 90 people.^1,2

Getting to the start

The trailhead sits about 26.7 miles west of Bend on the Cascade Lakes Highway (Highway 46), and the Forest Service calls it heavily used. A small part of the lot is set aside for horse trailers. It lists a vault toilet and no drinking water.²

Parking needs a recreation pass or $5 per vehicle per day, paid on site, and that is separate from the wilderness permit. The lot is day use only, so you cannot camp at the trailhead itself.²

The Oregon Hikers field guide puts the lot at 5,420 feet and adds picnic tables. It gives driving directions from Bend that run 23.8 to 24.1 miles on Century Drive, which turns into the Cascade Lakes National Scenic Byway.³

The first leg

Two trails leave the same lot, Green Lakes Trail #17 and Soda Creek Trail #11. The Green Lakes Trail crosses Fall Creek almost as soon as it enters the Three Sisters Wilderness and then stays on the creek's west bank.^2,4

After the first half mile a short spur goes to a 30-foot waterfall on Fall Creek. For the next 1.5 miles you pass a string of smaller falls. The trail then levels out near 6,000 feet at the junction for Moraine Lake.^4,6

Terrain and difficulty

Oregon Hikers rates the out-and-back to the lakes as moderate: 8.4 miles round trip with 1,150 feet of climbing, topping out at 6,565 feet. The same guide calls the tread dusty and rutted. A Bend newspaper columnist logged 9.2 miles round trip, so expect the distance to read differently by source.^4,6

Most of the climb is gradual, and the trail runs on to Green Lakes Pass at 7,035 feet.⁶

Quota at this entry point

• 2026 daily quota at Green Lake/Soda Creek, day use: 90 people a day. Of those, 36 are released 10 days ahead and 54 two days ahead.¹
• 2026 daily quota at Green Lake/Soda Creek, overnight (separate Central Cascades overnight permit): 7 groups a day. Three of the seven are held for the full season and four open seven days before the start date. Overnight stays use a different permit from this one.¹

Rules specific to this entry point

Wilderness rules here include no bikes or drones, campfires at least 100 feet from water, and human waste buried 6 to 8 inches deep and at least 200 feet from water. Dogs have a leash zone around Green Lakes, and Oregon Hikers says leashes are required from July 15 to September 15.^2,3

Backpackers can camp in the Green Lakes area only at designated sites, and the field guide describes them as limited. Official sites sit near the south shore of the main lake and between it and the northern lake.^3,4

Where it leads

Green Lakes is the draw: shallow lakes in a basin under the northwest ridge of Broken Top, with South Sister, Broken Top and Mount Bachelor all in view. Informal routes from the main lake's south shore lead toward the South Sister and Broken Top summits.⁴

For a loop of about 13 miles, a newspaper hiker describes combining the Green Lakes, Broken Top and Soda Creek trails. The Broken Top Trail meets the Soda Creek Trail at 6,750 feet, then runs 2.9 miles to reach the Green Lakes Trail at 6,500 feet.^6,5

What trip reports say

A 2011 Oregon Hikers forum poster who backpacked in on an August Saturday found the lot nearly full but the camps plentiful, since most cars belonged to day hikers. They got a spot at the edge of the larger lake, and breezes kept the bugs down.⁷

A September 2012 Oregon Hikers report calls the first four miles along Fall Creek the best part of the walk, with a waterfall every few minutes early on and wildflowers still going.⁸

A 2024 Bend Bulletin column from a Tuesday in late September says crowds had thinned and permits were easier to get. The ranger at the trailhead checked the permit that the writer had bought two days earlier.⁶

When to go from here

Oregon Hikers lists summer to early fall as the season and tags the hike as often crowded. The Bend Bulletin writer picked early fall because crowds drop, permits are easier, and the air is usually clearer than in late summer smoke.^4,6

Once the permit season ends on October 15, the column warns, snow can become the problem.⁶

Compare with nearby entry points

• Devils Lake/Wickiup (South Sister): Devils Lake and Wickiup Plains has a day quota of 150 people, against 90 here, and it points at a South Sister climb rather than the lakes basin.¹
• Broken Top: The Broken Top trailhead allows only 45 people a day, half of this one. The Broken Top Trail also reaches Green Lakes, so this lot is the shorter, busier way to the same basin.^1,4
• Todd: Todd allows 24 people a day, so day permits there are far tighter. From the Soda Creek Trail you can drop to the Todd Lake trailhead, which a Broken Top loop write-up puts at about 2.5 miles below the Soda Creek and Broken Top Trail junction.^1,5

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. Green Lakes/Soda Creek Trailhead, Deschutes National Forest, USDA Forest Service. Read 2026-10-15.
3. Green Lakes/Soda Creek Trailhead, Oregon Hikers Field Guide. Read 2026-10-15.
4. Green Lakes via Fall Creek Hike, Oregon Hikers Field Guide. Read 2026-10-15.
5. Broken Top Loop Hike, Oregon Hikers Field Guide. Read 2026-10-15.
6. Green Lakes Trail an ideal option for hiking in the early fall, The Bulletin (Bend). Read 2026-10-15.
7. Green Lakes August 13-14, 2011, Oregon Hikers Forum. Read 2026-10-15.
8. Green Lakes Trail/Elk Lake/Sparks Lake 9/4 & 9/5, Oregon Hikers Forum. Read 2026-10-15.
9. Central Cascades Wilderness Permits, Willamette National Forest, USDA Forest Service. Read 2026-10-15.

Safety & planning

Alternatives to a Green Lake/Soda Creek permit