Bennett Pass Road

This trail is now closed for the winter. It will reopen on 1 April although the trail is often impassable due to snow until later in the spring.

No snow on the ground as of 11/1, trail was clear of all trees. Started at Bennet Pass snow-park, detoured to Badger lake, backtracked, and then continued all the way to Lookout Mountain. Awesome views of Mt Hood with a full sun day

This trail is now open after the closure due to fire danger and the windstorm that happened several weeks ago. More information is here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/mthood/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD811247

Due to extreme fire danger, the Mount Hood National Forest is closed to visitors. https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/mthood/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD800449

Trail was great. Took it all the way to Grasshopper Road. A few spots are a little overgrown so expect some pin striping if you have a full size truck. Jeeps and the like should be fine.

About half mile from Bennet Pass Sno Park there is a tree which blocks 2/3 of the road. We did not attempt the bypass which is on the down cliff side...

The lands on and around Mount Hood are now entering fire season. Please observe precautions, restrictions, and closures as posted on the USFS website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/mthood/fire

The trail is now open for the year. However, please be mindful of local closures due to COVID-19 and local snow conditions. While the trail is open, it may not be passable until the snow melts a bit more, especially for less built rigs. Bennett Pass typically melts out enough to pass the shelf road at Waypoint 6 around the beginning of June although some years it can be earlier or quite a bit later.

The trail is now closed for the season to allow other recreational users such as skiers access to this fabulous trail.

Trail was absolutely amazing, and at the same time terrifying. I went with a good friend of mine, we were in stock 2002 Jeep Liberty and a stock 2017 Subaru Outback. Because of all the rain and snow, it quickly turned into a mud bath. I actually thought one of us was gonna get stuck because we were both on standard road tires.

The view is amazing. For me, the road isn't fun to drive due to the drop off that seems WAY too close and some of the washouts along the narrow shelf portion of the trail. If you don't have any issues with heights or long back outs should you come into contact with oncoming traffic have at it. Luckily you can get great views all over the Mt. Hood NF so this one is just so so for me and I won't likely do it again.

Awesome, simply wonderful views. Would have been a confusing trip without your pictures/ directions. Can't say enough about that! Great. Job. The trail was mostly dry but had some puddles and was drizzling on and off. As we are new to trail riding, this was perfect. Challenging but doable for a newbie. So fun. Want to go back on a clear day to see now views and check out badger lake. About 3.5 hours with stop for lunch and pics ending back at 35. Went easy, not rushing. Loved it.

Attempted this trail over Memorial Day weekend. Decided to back out after 100 yards due to the amount of snow. I will have to attempt it again this summer, possibly August.

The trail is now open for the season although there is still a lot of snow around. Be careful on the shelf road section as it is a north-facing slope. If you encounter snow and ice, be very cautious with proceeding.

The trail is now closed for the season to 4x4s. This allows snow mobiles, cross country skiers, and snow shoers to have access to winter recreational resources. Additionally, the closure protects winter ranges for deer, elk and several other species. Please respect the closure to conserve our resources.

While still technically open for a few more days, the road is all but impassable now. Someone nearly went off the side a little ways before Waypoint 12 last weekend. Now that people have driven on the road in the snow, there is likely significant ice buildup at Waypoint 6.

We drove Bennett Pass this past Saturday during some phenomenal Fall weather (70 degrees and bluebird skies) for our first time ever. We followed the downloadable GPX tracks from this page, and it made the journey incredibly easy and worry free. The road itself was very unique along the shelf road and delivered some absolutely stunning views of Mt. Hood. Overall it's a very doable road in dry conditions, and our stock hight 80 series Land Cruiser loaded down had no troubles whatsoever. I can see the trail getting much more difficult and potentially impassible after a heavy rainstorm or snow though. Overall a great road with even better views! It makes me proud to live locally and know we have areas such as this that are available.

Loved it! It is one of the most beautiful off-road trails I've ever driven. The mountain and valley vistas are spectacular! When you're done puckering from driving on some particularly narrow sections, you take a moment to glance around and BAM, there's Mount Hood! There are some pretty awesome camp sites up there too. We drove it in our VW Atlas, and had the bottom gently kissed by a few loving stones. The rutted part was very challenging, because there were also downed logs that pretty much limited you to one line. I would never do this trail in the snow or when it has been particularly rainy, even if I had a capable rig like the Albino Rhino. Our Atlas has a 1.5" leveling lift kit installed along with -1" rims (17x8") and beefier tires (235/75R17). The suspension isn't exactly built for some parts of that road. At ~10.2" of clearance and our long wheelbase, I think the level of difficulty (rated 3-5) is the upward limit for the Atlas. Others with less clearance and shorter wheelbase may do just fine. We saw a Mitsubishi Delica up there (4wd van imported from Japan; right hand drive). I would love to see a Mini Countryman give it a go! If you're trying to get up to the High Prairie Loop (and Lookout Mountain), the Lookout Mtn Road is much less punishing and is also featured on this website. I LOVE trailsoffroad! This was my first real off-road trail attempted, and all of the photos and guidance gave me confidence. THANK YOU Check out my public flickr page for some pics: https://www.flickr.com/photos/164818908@N03/ Trying a photo:

Combined Bennett Pass with a trip to Badger Lake. Beautiful volcano views. Easy trail when dry, some clearance needed in rutted sections. Saw a few Subaru’s along the way.

Very nice trail. Still some slushy snow in a couple of spots, but nothing that causes any really problem.

Met with light slush fall at an empty Bennett Pass Sno Park lot around 1p, we were soon being followed by a stock Audi Allroad and stock F-150. The Audi turned around at Waypoint 3. The F-150 continued past Waypoint 6 where we decided it was too wet to attempt the "Terrible Traverse" at Waypoint 6 in our stock XC90. We walked out the shelf road to the blind corner. Just before the blind corner there was a small wash-out in the road, making the shelf road barely 1 rig wide. Combined with the slushy snowfall and usual camber of this obstacle, we decided that it was not safe to proceed and didn't want to end up in the treetops. From Waypoint 1 thru to the terrible traverse at Waypoint 6, we encountered many downed trees which had been graciously cleared (to the full width of the road). We encountered some water puddles in the road at some spots, but the bottoms were firm. There are plenty of fallen branches and small round rocks in the road ruts which should be navigated with caution in a stock vehicle. Overall pleasant drive, but better during dry clear conditions.

4x4 Snow trip last night with 12 rigs. Took Bennett Pass to Badger Lake with plenty of challenges along the way. Ran into a white knuckler portion halfway on the trip. Only two rigs were willing to give it a try. Fortunately, we made it safely. Good time had by all playing in the snow.

Great day on this trail. Pictures and description of the road was very helpful. Thanks for the work.

Had a wonderful time on the trail with Matt and his family. This trail has to have some of the best views in northwest Oregon! Absolutely stunning.