Clear Lake is located in Mount Hood National Forest and it is just about 60 miles East of Portland. Clear Lake itself is one of the largest lake in Mount Hood National Forest and people often bring their boat here to enjoy the day. There are also several camp grounds around the lake for spending over the night. Clear Lake is also very accessible. It is pretty much just off Highway 26 and the day use area is directly at the shore of the lake.
My friends and I decided to go to Clear Lake during this clear sky Saturday night to do some stargazing. We left Portland around 7PM and headed towards Mount Hood. The drive at night in the mountain was not as bad as we thought and there were very little car on the road. We had high beam on most of the time to keep our eyes open. We got to Clear Lake around 9PM and it was so quiet at the lake. We got out of the car and it was pitch dark. Luckily we were prepared with flash light and lantern to check the surroundings. Other than hearing cars running through the highway, we could sometimes hear the sound from ducks.
We walked toward the lake and was able to see the milky way in the sky. It was just amazing. There were just so many stars in the sky and it was unbelievable. We enjoyed taking as many photos as possible and also tried to shine flash light into the sky and form a light beam.
While we were there, there were also cars driving by but they did not stop for some reason. They came and stopped for few seconds, then made a u-turn and went back. We felt a bit odd and thought maybe they just wanted to find a quiet place just for themselves. There was also an RV driving by and headed to the campground. We spent around 30 minutes at the lake and headed back home afterwards.
Overall, it was an amazing place to do stargazing and to watch meteor shower since Clear Lake is very accessible. We were also surprised that there wasn't any mosquitos flying around. We recommend to bring warm clothes since it is always much colder in the mountain especially during the night time. Also, flash light is definitely necessary since it can light up objects much further than what a cell phone can do.