Bird Creek Meadows and Iceberg Lake

Activity Notes

From Oregon Hikers: "Bird Creek Meadows, the jewel of the Yakama Nation's Tract D, is a beautiful subalpine area with small flower-packed meadows, numerous glacial streams, splashing waterfalls, and lakes."

Oregon Hikers - Bird Creek Meadows

The Yakama Nation opens this area to the general public for just a few weeks each summer with an access fee of $20 per vehicle. 

We'll extend the Bird Creek Meadows loop with the out-and-back trail to Hellroaring Viewpoint and Iceberg Lake. That part of the trail is steep, rocky and faint. We'll also check out Gotchen Creek Meadow. Totals for the day will be about 11 miles and 3000 feet of elevation gain. Portions of the lower loop were affected by the 2015 Cougar Creek fire and will be dusty and fully exposed to the sun. 

The trailhead is about a 2-hour drive from Portland and the final 12 miles are on a rough, unpaved road. A higher clearance vehicle is recommended. Given the length of the drive and the hike, we'll get an early start. We'll depart from the MMC at 6:30 am and expect to be back by 5:30 pm.

This will be my first time on these trails which in Mazamas parlance makes this an "exploratory" hike.