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Five primitive campsites available with a fire pit and picnic table at each site adjacent to Wahtum Lake located just east of the Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness and multiple hiking opportunties. Trees and shade available.
Directions from Hood River: Travel southwest on Primary Forest Route 13 past Dee. Continue on 13 follow it west when it splits. About one mile past forest boundary, pick up Forest Road 1310. Follow 1310 northwest to the campground.
Decently easy place to camp, the road in takes about 30 min from the main road. Easy hike down to the lake (take the steps to the left of the main campground signage) but it’s a good hike UP on the way out!
Nice little campground. It's a couple hundred feet above the lake. It's first come first serve. Sites 6 and 7 have most privacy. Access to several good hiking trails.
This is 10 miles off the main road and there's somewhat limited parking. The camp attendants did a great job of cleaning. There's garbage cans, porta potty type restrooms and day use parking as well as camping. The lake is over 200 feet elevation down trail to lake by my GPS. Express down stairs, come back up loop, it'll save your legs. Beautiful swim!
Wow! I've never tried wahtum lake in the winter. If it weren't so mild we would have never made it up.
We were the only ones there since the snow. Fresh tracks all the way up. So beautiful and quiet. Not a sound but the wind.
Be aware the road up was squirrelly in parts. And there's no mobile signal prior to climbing the hill. Inreach and timberline repeater (147.12plus100.0) were both reachable from the lake.
Should have brought snow 👟 :-/
Normally we go hike around Lost Lake, but we decided to explore here instead. It's not nearly as busy as Lost Lake, but you'll still meet other hikers on the trail. There are some great spots to stop along the lake, although a good portion of the hike is spent above the water. It's quiet, beautiful, and absolutely with it.
The road to the lake gets very narrow in spots and most of it is one lane only (with frequent turnouts to yield). Drive careful.
