Mirror Lake is a very popular trail for snowshoeing in Oregon. This is due to its close proximity to Portland and the trail is only about 2 miles long with little elevation gain. Mirror Lake trail head is located right by Skibowl off Highway 26, and it is only about 1 hour East to Portland. Due to the winter storm over Pacific Northwest, there has been a good amount of snow over the mountain and it was perfect for snowshoeing.
We left Portland around 7:30 AM in the morning when the sky was still a bit dark, but we wanted to get there early due to the long weekend and we expected a lot of cars heading to Mount Hood. As we were about 10 miles out from Mirror Lake trail head, the traffic stopped and was moving extremely slow. We were not sure why. As we moved along further, we realized it was because people were pulling over to the side to put on chains. We were driving an all wheel drive SUV and Mirror Lake trail head was only about 3 miles out, we did not bother to put on the chains.
We were able to get to Mirror Lake trail head quite easily without worrying about the snow on the road. However, the parking lot at Mirror Lake trail head was full and we had to find a parking space at Skibowl. We were extremely lucky to find a parking spot and it was only 9:30AM in the morning. There were so many people at Skibowl.
As we got off the car to purchase the parking pass, many people were simply just wondering around and we found out that the power was out at Skibowl's lift. Thus people were waiting for the power to recover.
We put on our snowshoes that we rented from REI for $18 per day and headed towards the Mirror Lake trail. As we walked further in into the trail, it was just beautiful. There were so much snow on the pine trees and it was a winter wonderland. From time to time, huge chunk of snow would fall down from the tree trunk. We were hit multiple times while we were on the trail.
It took us about an hour to get to Mirror Lake. The Mirror Lake was simply frozen and the snow accumulated on top of it. We did not walk onto the frozen lake of course as it would be dangerous.
Along the trail, we also saw many dogs enjoying the snow. However, we saw many dog poops along the trail, which was disappointing. We expected better from dog owners to take good care of these kind of things.
Overall, it was a great experience and we absolutely lover the snowshoeing at Mirror Lake. We recommend to get to Skibowl at least by 9AM in the morning to guarantee a parking space.
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