The Mirror Lake Trail on Mt Hood is the hike we recommend when someone asks for "something pretty that won't wreck us." Four miles round trip, 700 feet of gain, a lake with the mountain sitting in it upside down. It's popular for a reason. It's also easy to do wrong, mostly by showing up at 11am on a Saturday in August. Here's how to do it right.
The basics
Mirror Lake sits just below Tom Dick and Harry Mountain, about a mile west of Government Camp. The trail climbs through hemlock and fir on a well-built grade with a few switchbacks, then flattens out at the lake. A loop trail circles the shore in about half a mile. The classic photo is from the far (south) side, looking back across the water at Hood.
Total: roughly 4 miles and 700 feet if you do the lake loop. Most people take two to three hours including snack time. It's fine for kids who can walk two miles and for dogs on leash.
The trailhead moved
If you hiked this ten years ago, the old pullout on Highway 26 is gone. The Forest Service built a proper trailhead in 2018 at the Skibowl West lot, just west of Government Camp. Look for the signed exit off 26. The trail now starts with a short connector along the highway before joining the original route. Parking is paved, with vault toilets. It fills. On summer weekends we mean gone by 9am, with overflow cars ticketed along 26. Weekday mornings are gentle.
A Northwest Forest Pass or $5 day fee is required, and in winter the lot becomes a Sno-Park, which means an Oregon Sno-Park permit (Nov 1 to Apr 30). Different pass, same lot. Plan for it.
When to go
Snow lingers on this trail longer than people expect. Most years the upper trail is patchy until mid-June and the lake fully melts out around late June. July through October is prime. Mid-July brings mosquitoes at the lake; bring repellent or keep moving. Late September gives you huckleberry bushes turning red along the trail and fewer people.
Winter is its own thing. The trail becomes a snowshoe route, very popular, packed hard. The lake freezes and the reflection is replaced by a white bowl with the mountain looming over it. Beautiful, different, and you'll want snowshoes or microspikes plus the Sno-Park permit.
Adding Tom Dick and Harry
Got more in you? From the lake, a signed trail climbs another 1.5 miles and about 1,000 feet to the east summit of Tom Dick and Harry Mountain. The view from the top is one of the best on the mountain for the effort: Hood front and center, Jefferson to the south, and on a clear day St. Helens, Adams, and Rainier lined up to the north. The total becomes about 7 miles and 1,700 feet. The last stretch is rocky and exposed. Worth it.
Dogs, swimming, and etiquette
Dogs are welcome on leash. The lake is shallow near shore and dogs love it; just keep them out of the fragile meadow on the north side, which is roped off for restoration. Human swimming is allowed and cold. Camping at the lake is no longer permitted, which has helped it recover a lot.
Pack out everything. This trail sees enormous traffic, and the difference between a loved trail and a trashed one is a couple hundred people making small choices.
Before and after
Government Camp is five minutes away. Grab a breakfast burrito at the Huckleberry Inn before, or a beer at Mt. Hood Brewing after; our Government Camp food guide has the rest. Then it's 20 minutes downhill to Mt. Hood Village.
We stay at Wildwood Basecamp when we do this hike with a crowd: room for eight, hot tub for tired legs, and a fenced-in feel on 1.6 acres where the dog can decompress. If you want a shorter, flatter warm-up the day before, the Salmon River Trail is right down the road. Everything else we'd point you to is on the Mt. Hood things-to-do page.
Go early, bring the right pass, and stand on the south shore around 9am when the wind hasn't picked up yet. That's the shot.