Central Cascades Day-Use Permit (Todd)

Todd: what makes it different

Todd is the Todd Lake lot off the Cascade Lakes Highway. The lake and its loop need no wilderness permit, but Todd Trail #34 climbs from here toward Soda Creek and Broken Top into the Three Sisters Wilderness, and that walk needs one. It is the passenger-car way to the Broken Top country, with 24 day-use people and 2 overnight groups a day.^1,2,6

Getting to the start

The Deschutes National Forest page gives the route from Bend: about 24.0 miles west on the Cascade Lakes Highway (Route 46), then 0.5 miles north on Forest Road 4600-370. It lists vault toilets, no drinking water, and a parking fee of $5 per vehicle per day, payable on site, or a recreation pass.²

Recreation.gov calls the road to the lot narrow and rough and does not recommend it for RVs or trailers, though early in the season most vehicles can drive it. A hiking writer says the road is seasonally closed from late October through early May.^6,9

Past the lot, Forest Road 370 continues to the Broken Top and Crater Ditch trailheads. In 2025 the Forest Service said it does not maintain that road for passenger cars and recommends high clearance, and that the gate at Todd Lake opened on August 8 after several washouts that winter and spring.⁵

The first leg

The two Forest Service pages disagree on the walk to the water: one says about a quarter mile, the other 0.5 miles. The Forest Service wildflower page says a 1.5-mile trail circles the lake through subalpine forest, along the shore and past a meadow on the north side.^2,3,4

Todd Trail #34 is the permit trail. It climbs toward Soda Creek and Broken Top and enters the wilderness, while the loop trail #34.1 stays outside it.^2,6

Terrain and difficulty

Todd Lake covers 45 acres at 6,150 feet by the Forest Service lake page, the highest of the alpine lakes reached from the highway west of Mount Bachelor. The wildflower page gives 6,100 feet, so the lake sits near 6,100 to 6,150 feet. It lies in a glacial cirque that ice last filled about 13,000 years ago.^3,4

On the long walk to Broken Top, Oregon Hikers puts the Soda Creek junction on the Broken Top Trail at 6,750 feet, about 2.5 miles down the trail from the Todd Lake trailhead. A 2013 trip report counted about 5 easy miles gaining roughly 1,000 feet before an unofficial 2-mile trail climbed steeply to No Name Lake.^8,7

The north and east sides of that loop cross a 2012 Pole Creek Fire burn, which the field guide calls not the most attractive stretch.⁸

Quota at this entry point

• 2026 daily quota at Todd, 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 Todd, overnight, Todd: 2 groups a day. One group a day comes from the full-season release and one from the 7-day release.¹

Rules specific to this entry point

The Forest Service says no wilderness permit is needed to visit the lake itself, and none for the loop trail, but the Todd Trail into the wilderness needs a Central Cascades permit for day use or overnight. The Todd Lake page says a recreation pass is required for the lot from May 1 to September 30.^2,3,6

Motors are banned on the lake. Dogs must be on a leash on the Three Sisters Wilderness trails from July 15 to September 15. Collecting frogs or tadpoles is illegal and carries a fine of $1,250, because the western toad and Cascades frog live in the lake.^2,3

Where it leads

Todd Lake itself, formerly called Lost Lake until it was renamed Todd Lake in 1922, with its moist meadows of Jeffrey's shooting star, marsh marigold and elephant head. Beyond it, the trail leads to the Soda Creek junction and, farther on, Broken Top's No Name Lake.^3,4,8,7

What trip reports say

In August 2013 a hiker's Kia could not handle the road to the Broken Top lot, so he started at Todd Lake. His GPS read about 14.2 miles round trip and about 2,800 feet of climb to the hidden lake. The final 20 feet of trail sat about 15 feet above the creek and 6 inches wide.⁷

A 2026 hiking guide counts about 15.2 miles round trip from the Todd Lake lot against about 5.5 from the Broken Top lot, saving about 1,400 feet and about 10 miles. It says the Todd road takes any car driven carefully around potholes, and that rangers have written tickets for parking without a pass.⁹

A 2016 Calipidder group carpooled from Todd Lake and found the gravel road to the lake well kept, and the five rough miles beyond it not. The Broken Top lot was already full when they got there.¹⁰

When to go from here

The Forest Service wildflower page says early season brings Jeffrey's shooting star and marsh marigold in wet meadows and elephant head in July and August. The 2026 guide gives the Todd Lake road a season of early May to late October, and puts wildflower peak at late July to mid August.^4,9

Compare with nearby entry points

• Broken Top: Broken Top sells 45 day-use people a day against 24 here, and its lot sits at the end of the rough road. Starting at Todd Lake adds roughly 10 miles to the trip, but the road is passable for ordinary cars.^1,9,5
• Crater Ditch: Crater Ditch also sells 24 day-use people but sits on the same rough Forest Road 370 beyond this lot, and shares its overnight quota with Broken Top. Todd has 2 overnight groups of its own.^1,5
• Green Lake/Soda Creek: Green Lake/Soda Creek sells 90 day-use people a day against 24 here. The Todd Trail climbs toward the Soda Creek country that lot also reaches.^1,8,2

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. Todd Lake Day Use Area/Trailhead, Deschutes National Forest, USDA Forest Service. Read 2026-10-15.
3. Todd Lake, Deschutes National Forest, USDA Forest Service. Read 2026-10-15.
4. Todd Lake wildflower viewing area, USDA Forest Service, Celebrating Wildflowers. Read 2026-10-15.
5. Forest Service Road 370 opens Friday, Deschutes National Forest, USDA Forest Service, August 2025. Read 2026-10-15.
6. Three Sisters - Todd Trailhead, Central Cascades Wilderness Permit (Day Use), Recreation.gov. Read 2026-10-15.
7. Broken Top's Hidden Lake (AKA No Name Lake) - 2013/08/28, Oregon Hikers Forum. Read 2026-10-15.
8. Trail around Broken Top Hike, Oregon Hikers Field Guide. Read 2026-10-15.
9. Broken Top Hike near Bend, Oregon: Everything You Need to Know, Uprooted Traveler, updated June 2026. Read 2026-10-15.
10. Hike to Broken Top Crater and No Name Lake, Calipidder, August 2016. Read 2026-10-15.
11. Central Cascades Wilderness Permits, Willamette National Forest, USDA Forest Service. Read 2026-10-15.

Safety & planning

Alternatives to a Todd permit