The Cascades frog is a true mountain frog, usually found above about 2,400 feet. It spends the summer around wet meadows, bogs, small ponds and lake edges. Adults are tan, brown or olive with crisp-edged inky black spots, a dark mask through golden eyes, pale markings along the lips and honey-yellow undersides on the legs.
Breeding starts almost as soon as the ice melts. Many females lay their eggs in the same shallow, sunny spot within a short time, building up piles of round egg masses about the size of a grapefruit, each holding several hundred eggs that are black on top and white below. Tadpoles grow quickly and usually become frogs by August or September. Males call with soft, low chuckles that you have to be close to hear, and in winter the frogs bury themselves in the mud at the bottom of ponds.
Cascades frogs have declined in parts of their range, and Oregon lists them as a Conservation Strategy species. Threats include nonnative trout stocked in mountain lakes, habitat loss, pesticides, drought, climate change and chytrid fungus, a disease that has caused large-scale amphibian losses. Watch them from the shore and leave frogs and egg masses where you find them.
Look for them in summer at meadow ponds and boggy spots in Mt. Hood’s high country.
How to identify it
A medium-sized frog, adults up to about 3 inches, tan to olive-brown with distinct, crisp-edged black spots, a dark eye mask, golden eyes and pale lip markings. Undersides of the legs and edge of the belly honey yellow, with weak black and cream mottling in the groin. Two raised skin folds run down the back.
Look-alikes
Northern red-legged frogs have a distinct multicolored patch in the groin and lay their eggs in deeper water attached to plants. Oregon spotted frogs usually show more red-orange underneath. American bullfrogs have a fold of skin curving around the eardrum and usually live at lower elevations.
Habitat
Wet mountain meadows, bogs, shallow ponds, small lakes and slow stream edges, usually above about 2,400 feet. It needs clean, permanent water and spends the winter buried in mud at the bottom of ponds and lakes.
Sightings in the forest
169 research-grade sightings in Mt. Hood National Forest on iNaturalist, most recently on September 29, 2026. See them on iNaturalist →