Mt Hood/Lost Lake Resort

Nicholas Read

If I wanted to poop in holes and have no cell service, I would go out into the forest for free. You would think with the high prices they are charging, they could develop some sort of bare minimum infrastructure, but maybe the owners are too busy enjoying all the Portlanders money. They are quite understaffed, nobody to enforce day use limits, or clean the trash left along the edge of the water. You’re basically paying money to get in and spend more money. It’s too bad they’ve privatized such a beautiful view, but luckily there are many hidden spots in the Mt. Hood NF to build camp, watch the mountain, and not have several children screaming in my ear.

Kendra Purkerson

I camped in the "B" loop of the campground, and I admit I had mixed feelings on this place as a whole. The Pros: - Absolutely beautiful scenery and forest. Lush and green, with tall pines and firs everywhere. - The campground was super clean. The outhouses had garbage cans and air fresheners and were obviously cleaned daily, and there was basically no trash to be found around the campsites. Props to the camp hosts. - Lots of hiking trails. This actually raised my rating by a star because I walked along the short but stunning Old Growth trail, and it was just lovely. Huge cedars and fir trees with a boardwalk went back about a mile or so (pics are from that trail). Actually was my favorite part my stay. The Cons: - It is CROWDED. Granted, I arrived on a Saturday, but I could not believe the parking situation for the day use area. The lake was packed with people and it was difficult to drive through because everyone parked along the road leading to where the campsites were. There was also a lot of miscellaneous debris around the north point day use area of the lake, which is arguably the prettiest view of Mt. Hood. - If you stay at the campground, you'll likely have to drive to the lake if you want to kayak or paddleboard because it's quite a bit of a walk depending on where you stay. There were a few sites a little closer, but most were a pretty fair distance to carry something that big, which means you'll be competing with the day use people for parking and whatnot. So all in all, I think it's a nice place to try once, but if I go back again I am definitely looking for a time during the middle of the week and will avoid the weekend if at all possible.

Shane Knox

We stayed in the E loop yurts. Starting with the good: this is a beautiful forest, and a pretty clean lake that's appealing to swim in. The sites are huge and private, and pretty quiet. The walk-in sites offer a unique experience, being separated from vehicles and pavement. The vault toilets are really maintained well, and don't even smell too bad. There are a few issues that really need attention, that the state parks and forest service parks do better: 1) The walk from the car to our yurts was definitely more than the stated 100-300 ft. My GPS app said more like 800 ft for the yurts in the back. And it's all uphill. That's also 800 ft to the bathrooms or to refill your water. Not for the elderly. This should be communicated more accurately on the website. There is one large cart for lugging your stuff (essential!) but it's shared among ten sites. This made the back end of the trip kind of stressful--will we be able to get a cart when we check out on Sunday? We ended up packing all our stuff on Saturday night so we wouldn't be competing with everyone else on Sunday morning, which was fine but made the whole thing more stressful on our last night. The fix: more carts, and more accurate information on the website. I don't think it would be unreasonable for each site to have its own cart, especially for the price you pay. 2) Please fix the yurt locking issue. The yurt locks every time you close the door. It's like a hotel room, except you only get one key. One party in our group immediately locked themselves out of their yurt. (This is a major safety issue, by the way--what if a baby had been left inside?) We were able to track down the host who sent someone to let us inside (who also commented on how silly this system is--sounds like we're not alone in this). The fix: a deadbolt. You can't lock yourself out accidentally since you need the key to lock the door from the outside. We don't need to keep our yurt locked at all times--really only if we're taking a day trip and leaving the site for several hours. So locking should be an opt-in. Another option would be to do like the state parks and use a lockbox with the key inside. 3) The signage could be better. When I was looking for the host, there were multiple intersections that didn't tell me the direction of the lodge/store. 4) I found the check-in and check-out a tad frustrating. First of all, check in is at 4pm and check out is 10am. That's a bad deal! (Forest service is 2pm check in and 12pm check out, state parks are 4pm check in and 1pm check out.) The early check out makes the lack of carts issue even worse. Second, when checking in or out, you have to drive over to the lodge/store. Kind of a headache. There could be drop boxes at the loop, or even leaving the key in the yurt itself--they have to go and clean them anyway. I've never had to do so much legwork to check in, haul my stuff, figure out where I'm going, and check out on a camping trip. It really made the whole thing more stressful than it needed to be--these were all preventable issues. And with the cost being over double what you pay at state parks/forest service campgrounds, I was a bit disappointed that these things weren't smoother.

Anastasiya Nalyvayko

Altogether the lake itself is very pretty, what actually ruins it is the resort. In the summer it’s jam packed and loud, the whole area around the lake is full of garbage on the ground and in the lake. There’s a ton of plastic, cans, forgotten goggles, socks, bathing suits, tons of cigarette butts, endless fishing lines and hooks. We rented a yurt and even though visually it’s pretty, the mattress was very uncomfortable. When we checked in the girl on staff told us that showers are open till 6pm. The next day I came to check if we need our own towels and the young man at the gift shop told us we did. We grabbed our towels and came back at 5.30 and he said they closed the showers and wouldn’t let us in. The next day I spoke to the manager about that and he was snarky and dismissive. I expressed how they can just let customers know that if showers close at 5.30- say exactly that instead of saying they close at 6. I genuinely hope this resort goes out of business and closes forever so that the nature can recover from overwhelming crowds and all the garbage people leave everywhere. Everything inside the little store is insanely price gauged. Renting the yurt was close to 400$ for two nights. Renting a row boat was 38$ per hour with two hour minimum. Wood bundles cost 9$. It’s a big disappointment.

Katie Rowley

Had a great time but like another review said, they need to figure out a way to limit the number of people for day use. It was insane! Parking lots were full and there was a line of parked cars in the entrance roadway which turned it into a one way street which made it difficult for people trying to leave the park. They also need to enforce quiet hours for those camping as you could hear people laughing and screaming well into the night. Other than views were beautiful at least