Introduction
The United States Congress designated the Clackamas Wilderness (
map) in 2009 and it now has a total of
9,181 acres.
All of this wilderness is located in
Oregon and is managed by the Forest Service.
The Clackamas Wilderness is bordered by
the
Roaring River Wilderness to the east.
Description
The Clackamas Wilderness consists of five widely separated tracts of roadless land, scattered left and right of the Clackamas River for 50 miles. These pieces include Big Bottom, Clackamas Canyon, Memaloose Lake, Sisi Butte and South Fork Clackamas. With the largest trees in northwest Oregon, the Clackamas Wilderness protects clean drinking water for many Oregonians. A well-known hike in the Clackamas Wilderness is the trail to Memaloose Lake. It climbs through an old-growth forest 1.4 miles to the lake, and then continues a mile up to a viewpoint atop South Fork Mountain. The word memaloose means "dead" in Chinook jargon, the old Indian trade language of the Northwest. Now the lake's old-growth forest is a rare wilderness island in a sea of logged lands.
