Standing atop the ridge just above No Name Lake, face-to-face with Broken Top in the midst of an alpine wonderland, I came to a realization. I was all alone. I had seen only about 15 other hikers on the 3-mile journey to the lake from the Broken Top Trailhead, compared with about 50 hikers the last time I had made this trek in 2020.
The U.S. Forest Service's Central Cascades Wilderness Permit system , implemented in 2021, seems to be working.
While hikers must now plan ahead for their trips, the newfound solitude afforded in those outings makes them all the more enjoyable. Day-use permits, available on recreation.gov 10 days and two days before the trip date, are required at several trailheads in the Mt.
Jefferson, Mt. Washington, and Three Sisters Wilderness areas from June 15 to Oct. 15.
(All overnight visitors are required to have a permit in these wilderness areas.) I secured my $1 permit online two days before my hike on Monday along the Broken Top Trail. No Name Lake sits nestled below the craggy spires and strata of 9,177-foot Broken Top on the peak’s east side in the Three Sisters Wilderness.
To the northwest of the ridge above the lake, the Three Sisters jut into the sky just a few miles away. No Name Lake, at 8,150 feet, is no secret, and the hike became so popular a few years ago that it was mentioned prominently in the plans for the permit system. But reaching the Broken Top Trailhead is not easy.
From Todd Lake (23 miles southwest of Bend off Cascade Lakes High.