Pine Ridge Lake is a lake located near Camp Pioneer, a

Scouts BSA Scouts BSA (previously known as Boy Scouts, the official name until 2019) is the flagship membership level of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) for boys and girls between the ages of typically 11 and 17. It provides youth training in moral char ...

camp, and is the

trailhead A trailhead is the point at which a trail begins, where the trail is often intended for hiking, biking, horseback riding, or off-road vehicles. Modern trailheads often contain rest rooms, maps, sign posts and distribution centers for information ...

for Pine Ridge Trail #3443, which connects to Marion Lake and other parts of the

Mount Jefferson Wilderness The Mount Jefferson Wilderness is a wilderness area located on and around Mount Jefferson in the central Cascade Range of Oregon in the United States. The wilderness lies within the Willamette National Forest and Deschutes National Forest. The wi ...

, and is in close proximity to the

Pacific Crest Trail The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), officially designated as the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, is a long-distance hiking and equestrian trail closely aligned with the highest portion of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, which lie ...

. The name Scout Lake is sometimes (incorrectly) used for Pine Ridge. In fact, Scout Lake is about 3 miles (4.8 km) from Pine Ridge, and was supposed to be the site of the summer camp. OA Lake is a significantly smaller lake, about 300 feet from Pine Ridge that is not stocked, and does not permit swimming. While not usually open to the general public, this lake is still stocked with

Rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...

Cutthroat trout The cutthroat trout is a fish species of the family Salmonidae native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean, Rocky Mountains, and Great Basin in North America. As a member of the genus '' Oncorhynchus'', it is one of the Pacific tro ...

, and/or

Brook trout The brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus ''Salvelinus'' of the salmon family Salmonidae. It is native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada, but has been introduced elsewhere ...

. This lake is also known for its view of Mount Jefferson, located around 14 miles away. In the summertime, due to the stagnant nature of parts of the lake, it becomes heavily populated by

Mosquito Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...

s. A quirk of this lake is it has an emergency pumphouse that drains water straight from the lake, instead of the wells surrounding it. The lake (and surrounding camp) has been used as a basecamp for fighting the frequent forest fires in the area. In 2002, a forest fire temporarily closed the summer camp, with the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

using the camp as a command post to fight the fire."Mount Marion Fire 100% Contained
''USDA Forest Service''. Retrieved 2007-10-21.

References

{{Reflist Lakes of Oregon Lakes of Linn County, Oregon Willamette National Forest