After Monday’s round of afternoon/evening thunderstorms we wanted to make sure we weren’t out hiking during Tuesday’s forecasted storms. We had decided to play it safe and make Tuesday a light hiking day mixed with some sightseeing in Joseph, OR. We had hoped to start with breakfast from Sugar Time Bakery but it wound up being closed all week so we ate in the room and then drove to Joseph and parked at the Iwetemlaykin State Heritage Site.
A short series of trails here offer views of the Wallowa Mountains and sits adjacent to the National Park Service’s Old Chief Joseph Gravesite.
The trail set off uphill gaining views of the mountains.
Lupine along the trail.
Interpretive sign along the trail.
Second from the left is Dug Peak, the pointy peak is Sawtooth Peak, and the round peak to the right is Hurricane Point.
The trail descended from the hill and leveled out along some trees.
Yellow warbler
Brown-headed cowbirds
The trail split near Knight’s Pond where we turned left and crossed Silver Lake Ditch.
On the far side of the ditch we spotted a couple of bucks on the hillside.
The trail climbed again past a bench then descended to another parking area along Highway 351.
Hounds tongue
Death camas
Oregon sunshine
Bench with a view of Point Joseph behind.
Sunflowers yet to bloom.
Fiddleneck
Descending to the highway.
We followed a bike/pedestrian path along the highway for a tenth of a mile to the entrance to the Nez Perce National Historic Park Cemetery.
Old Chief Joseph’s gravesite. His original grave near Wallowa, OR had been looted twice before he was moved here in 1926.
Wallowa Lake beyond the gravesite of Martha and Frank David McCully.
After paying our respects we returned to the Iwetemlaykin Heritage Area and returned to the junction near Knight’s Pond where we turned left past a beautiful reflection.
A sightseeing robin.
Butterfly on the trail.
Western stoneseed
Before looping around the pond and returning to our car we detoured on a spur trail to Farmer’s Ditch at the South Main Street Entrance.
Farmer’s Ditch
View from the South Main Street Entrance.
Passing back by Knight’s Pond.
Some uplift action on the clouds from the trailhead.
This was a 2.5-mile hike with maybe 200′ of elevation gain. We saw lots of birds and three deer during our outing and had some wonderful mountain views.
It was just a little after 9am when we finished so we drove back into downtown Joseph and parked at a public lot. We figured most places wouldn’t be open until 10am but we thought we could walk around and see what was there and enjoy the numerous art pieces around town in the meantime. Little did we realize that many (most) stores and restaurants were closed on Tuesday’s including the Wallowa County Museum. The lack of open storefronts combined with a bunch of sidewalk construction taking place cut our sightseeing short. Instead we drove back to our room in Enterprise and relaxed for a few hours before heading back to Joseph in the afternoon for an early dinner at Embers Brew House which was open on Tuesdays. Not quite the way we’d imagined the day going but we made it work and felt refreshed ahead of what promised to be the most stressful drive/hike(s) of our trip on Wednesday. Happy Trails!
Flickr: Iwetemlaykin State Heritage Area
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