Central Cascades Day-Use Permit (Sisters Mirror)

Sisters Mirror: what makes it different

Sisters Mirror is a small paved-access lot on the Cascade Lakes Highway, just south of Devils Lake, that starts Mirror Lakes Trail #20 into a basin of small lakes on the Cascade Divide. It sells 24 day-use people and 3 overnight groups a day, a fraction of the 150 people the Devils Lake lot next door sells.^1,2,6

Getting to the start

The Deschutes National Forest page puts the trailhead 30 miles southwest of Bend on the Cascade Lakes Highway (Route 46), on the west side of the road. The Oregon Hikers field guide calls the access paved, gives about 35 minutes from Bend, and lists the elevation at 5,425 feet.^2,5

A 2018 Bulletin column puts the same lot at about 5,500 feet, just south of Devils Lake. That is 75 feet off the field guide, so call it roughly 5,400 to 5,500 feet.^8,5

The Forest Service lists a vault toilet, no drinking water and no fee. It also prints that the site is day use only, with no overnight camping, even though overnight wilderness permits are sold here. Recreation.gov calls it a small trailhead and warns that the Cascade Lakes Highway may not be open to cars until mid or late June.^2,3

The first leg

Mirror Lakes Trail #20 enters the Three Sisters Wilderness shortly after the lot. The field guide describes sandy tread through mountain hemlock and lodgepole pine, a crossing of Sink Creek, and a climb over lava before the Pacific Crest Trail.^2,6

At the Pacific Crest junction the field guide goes left on the PCT, then right on an unmaintained user trail to the north shore of Sisters Mirror Lake. The Bulletin writer in 2018 put the lake at 6,040 feet and said snowmelt had flooded the trail along its edge.^6,8

Terrain and difficulty

The Oregon Hikers loop through the basin is 8.6 miles with 765 feet of gain and a high point of 6,110 feet, rated moderate. Counts for the out-and-back to the lake vary: 8.5 miles in 2013, 8 and 8.2 miles in 2018, with 600 to 700 feet of climb.^6,7,8

The trail system is shared with horses and has a Wickiup Plain leg. The loop returns on the Elk-Devils Trail #12, which the field guide says was the original Century Drive route, past springs including Blacktail Spring.^6,5

Quota at this entry point

• 2026 daily quota at Sisters Mirror, 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 Sisters Mirror, overnight, Sisters Mirror: 3 groups a day. One group a day comes from the full-season release and two from the 7-day release.¹

Rules specific to this entry point

Groups must be under 12 people and under 12 head of stock. Build campfires at least 100 feet from water; Recreation.gov bans them above 5,700 feet. The field guide notes a no-campfire sign on the route.^2,3,6

Where it leads

Sisters Mirror Lake, where only the top of South Sister shows from the south shore, plus Lancelot Lake with a possible camp on its west shore, and user-trail lakes named Bounty, Denude and Camelot. The field guide says Denude and Camelot have the better views. The Bulletin counts over a dozen small lakes behind the main one, and Mount Bachelor shows from the east side.^6,8

A 140-yard detour up the Moraine Lake Trail and a side path reaches a view of South Sister from Wickiup Plain.⁶

What trip reports say

A 2013 Bulletin writer started from a nearly full Devils Lake lot full of South Sister hikers, walked through the tunnel under the highway and called the lake lovely. She found South Sister reflected in the still water, and large flat rocks around the shore.⁷

A 2018 Bulletin column found the lake's edge trail submerged by snowmelt. The writer climbed about 700 feet over roughly 8.2 miles.⁸

Oregon Hikers rates the loop crowded on weekends, and tells readers to wait until later in summer or early fall to skip the clouds of mosquitoes.⁶

When to go from here

Oregon Hikers lists the loop for mid-summer to mid-fall. The 2018 snowmelt flooding and the mosquito warning both point away from June and early July. The lot opens as soon as the highway does, around mid to late June.^6,8,3

Compare with nearby entry points

• Devils Lake/Wickiup (South Sister): Devils Lake sells 150 day-use people a day against 24 here. Both reach the same Elk-Devils Trail system: the 2013 writer walked from the Devils Lake lot through a highway tunnel, while this lot starts the Mirror Lakes Trail directly.^1,7,6
• Tam McArthur Rim: Tam McArthur Rim sells 90 day-use people and 3 overnight groups. Sisters Mirror leads into small lakes on a loop that gains 765 feet, with less than a third of that day quota.^1,6
• Todd: Todd also sells 24 day-use people a day but only 2 overnight groups, against 3 here. Todd Lake's trail climbs toward Soda Creek and Broken Top, while this one stays on the divide among small lakes.^1,4,6

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. Sisters Mirror Trailhead, Deschutes National Forest, USDA Forest Service. Read 2026-10-15.
3. Three Sisters - Sisters Mirror Trailhead, Central Cascades Wilderness Permit (Day Use), Recreation.gov. Read 2026-10-15.
4. Three Sisters - Todd Trailhead, Central Cascades Wilderness Permit (Day Use), Recreation.gov. Read 2026-10-15.
5. Sisters Mirror Lakes Trailhead, Oregon Hikers Field Guide. Read 2026-10-15.
6. Sisters Mirror Lakes Loop Hike, Oregon Hikers Field Guide. Read 2026-10-15.
7. Lovely Sisters Mirror Lake, The Bulletin (Bend), August 2013. Read 2026-10-15.
8. Hiking to Sisters Mirror Lake, The Bulletin (Bend), July 2018. Read 2026-10-15.
9. Central Cascades Wilderness Permits, Willamette National Forest, USDA Forest Service. Read 2026-10-15.

Safety & planning

Alternatives to a Sisters Mirror permit