Bend Glacier & No Name Lake

DAY HIKES

Caira Lessick

7/8/20264 min read

Leave it to me to find the most epic place to spend my birthday. No Name Lake has been on the bucket list for YEARS and I finally made it happen along with some badass women: my mom and best friend.

No Name Lake is not for the faint of heart; This hike is a bit long for a beginner but honestly it's pretty attainable. Many trails lead to No Name but Todd Trail in particular is a long and steady incline into the alpine with stunning views the whole way (weather permitting). The central cascade wilderness is an amazing place to backpack as well but many trail goers like to pound this hike out in a day; And that's just what we did.

Planning ahead for this adventure was a must. I secured an overnight permit for No Name, camped at Todd Lake where the trail begins and packed all my essentials!

We began our ascent bright and early at 5:46am. The cloud bank was sitting pretty low but we had faith that it would eventually lift. The trail weaves up and down within the trees for the first 2 and ½ miles until we hit the Soda Creek Trail. From here on out it was pretty exposed, thankfully it never reached above 60 degrees. I would assume later in the summer this trail tends to heat up quickly during the day. After a mile on Soda Creek, we hopped onto Broken Top Trail. From here you'll get views of Mount Bachelor, Broken Top, Ball Butte, and the valleys below. After a few hilly inclines we finally reached the lake. AND OMG, when I tell you this lake is jaw droppingly out of this world, I mean it. If a frozen blue otter pop was a lake this would be it. Broken Top on the other hand is this rugged and intimidating (extinct) stratovolcano that towers over you. Believe it or not the sun was out and there were no clouds in the sky! And if you hike just another half mile up a steep and rocky section adjacent to No Name, you’ll reach Bend Glacier. To my surprise, we were high up enough to see all three Sisters, Mount Washington, Three Fingered Jack, Mount Jefferson, and Mount Hood. AHHH I could not believe it! This trail was so so much better than I could have ever expected.

We hung out at No Name for about an hour; taking photos (obviously), eating birthday cake, and munching on other snackies that we had packed to fuel our way back down the trail. For me, the way back down was even more beautiful than the way up. In the early morning we were socked in for a good half of the hike. We had missed out on some pretty stellar views of South Sister and Broken Top.

Once we finally reached the parking lot we got changed into some comfier, warmer weather clothing and made our way back into Bend for some grub. I can’t speak for my hiking buddies, but I was absolutely famished. We stopped and had some to-die-for Mexican food and a celebratory drink (because what else do you do after a 14 mile hike??). 10 out of 10 recommend Papi Chulo’s in old town Bend, I slammed the best burrito of my life!!!

Need recommendations on what to pack for this hike? I got you.

For overnight camping at Todd Lake, It is about a short ½ mile hike to the actual campground so to make things easier for us we just packed our backpacking packs full of our light weight gear. If you don’t have backpacking gear, there are plenty of other beautiful spots to camp nearby that will be a little more accessible. OR be boujee and book yourself a hotel in Bend the night before! Bend has a lot to offer and would be worth exploring as well.

Camping list: