Tag: Oregon

Pine Lakes – 08/19/2024

For our second vacation hike in the Wallowa Mountains we set our sights on the Pine Lakes Trail. This was another of the 100 featured hikes in William L. Sullivan’s “100 Hikes Eastern Oregon” 1st edition (2022) and would be number 96 for us on our quest to finish all 100 (post). Sullivan gives two out-and-back option for this trail, a 4.2-mile hike to Chute Falls and a 14.8-mile hike to Pine Lakes.

Heather and I had already decided that I would try for the lakes while she was going to aim for Chute Falls. She has continued to struggle with a breathing issue which has caused her to keep a slower pace than in years past making longer hikes problematic from a time standpoint. Our plan was to set off at our own paces and Heather would wait for me at or near Chute Falls. We also established a timeframe in which she should expect me.

The hike begins at the Cornucopia Trailhead which is on private land owned by the Cornucopia Lodge and Packstation. We followed pointers at the lodge to the current parking area.

The current trailhead was approximately half mile from where the public parking area was in Sullivan’s description. That meant an extra mile of hiking for each of us. I threw my pack on and set off on the private road following pointers for the Pine Lakes Trail.
This pointer refers to trail 1880 as “Pine Creek” but other signs and the Forest Service website refer to it as “Pine Lakes”.

This one says Pine Lakes.

Sign for the Packstation.

As I neared the packstation a pair of dogs noisily raced toward me, one a German shepherd. Luckily they were all bark and no bite, but it got my adrenaline pumping. I continued on passing the forest boundary and the small parking area Sullivan had described.
Squirrel with breakfast at the packstation.

The trail follows an old roadbed for most of the first 2.1 miles.
Old footbridge over a dry creek bed. It didn’t look particularly safe so I stuck to the road.

The dry creek bed crossing.

Shortly beyond the dry creek bed I came to the East Fork Pine Creek where a pair of cow elk dashed across the trail and disappeared in the underbrush.

Seeing the elk was exciting. Less exciting was seeing the actual cows after crossing the footbridge. In typical cow fashion their plan for avoiding me was to get onto the trail ahead of me and walk 10 to 20 yards down trail then turn around to see if I was still following.
Black cows on the trail ahead.

Meanwhile Heather was taking pictures of flowers along the road to the packstation.
Coneflower

Snowberry

Try as I might to convince the cows that they simply needed to step off the trail to either side they were convinced that sticking to the trail, and booby trapping it with fresh pies, was the best way to lose me.

West Fork Pine Creek

Formation on the hillside.

Western clematis

Paintbrush

Fireweed

Approximately a mile beyond the packstation I arrived at the first of two bridges over the West Fork Pine Creek. I briefly lost the cows here when they forked right along the creek while I crossed the slightly damaged bride.
The bridge felt stable despite being slanted at a 45-degree angle.

I picked up my pace hoping to beat the cows to the second bridge which was another 1.1-miles up the trail.

View from the trail.

I could hear and see the cows on the far side of the creek, and now they seemed to be racing me to the second bridge. Before getting that far I met a second group of cattle on my side of the creek near a ford where the fist group of cows were now crossing. Lucky for me this new group was a little smarter and they led the first group off trail into the brush leaving me cow free.

The second bridge.

West Fork Pine Creek

Heather caught this cool cloud from her currently cow free hike. (She would run into them later where they’d ducked off the trail in front of me.)

Not far from the bridge was an established campsite just before the trail began to switchback uphill.
Looking back down at the campsite.

Chute Falls is located slightly off-trail near a righthand switchback 0.3-miles from the second bridge.
The use trail straight ahead at the switchback.

I followed the steep use trail 150 yards to Chute Falls.

I carefully made my way down to the base of the falls.

The base of Chute Falls.

After visiting the falls I returned to the trail and continued to climb toward Pine Lakes. The trail switchbacked past the 10′ upper tier of Chute Falls.

I continued uphill through the forest past a view of a waterfall on the Middle Fork Pine Creek and passed into the Eagle Cap Wilderness 1.2-miles beyond Chute Falls.

Looking back down the valley.

View up the valley.

Wilderness sign on the tree marking the boundary.

The Pine Lakes are back up there somewhere.

The trail traversed a rocky hillside with excellent views for 0.8-miles after entering the wilderness before reaching another set of switchbacks. While the climb was gradual the rocky trail tread made for some tricky walking.

Somewhere on the other side of the peaks on the left is the Schneider Cabin where we’d hiked the day before.

Cliffs above the trail.

As I made my way across the rocks I tried to keep my eyes open for any larger animals on the surrounding hillsides. It wasn’t easy due to the tricky terrain, but it paid off when I spotted a few mountain goats on far side of the valley.
I spy mountain goats!

A zoomed in photo of the mountain goats.

I kept my eye on the goats as I continued.

I arrived at another set of switchbacks 0.8-miles from the wilderness boundary that climbed uphill through a rock field where I spotted a single pika that dashed out of sight before I could get a photo.

I believe that is Cornucopia Peak on the left.

Going up.

Fireweed above the trail.

Above the switchbacks the trail leveled out a bit then descended to a basin with a mixture of forest and meadows.

Paintbrush along the trail.

The forest on the other side of the pass.

West Fork Pine Creek

There was a large waterfall flowing down from the outlet of the Pine Lakes. (Not West Fork Pine Creek whose headwaters were beyond the meadowed basin.

West Fork Pine Creek begins somewhere above the basin at the far end.

Rock formations along the cliffs.

Arnica and pearly everlasting

I tried to get a clearer look at the large waterfall but couldn’t find a clear line of sight.

Approximately 3.2-miles from Chute Falls the trail crossed the outlet creek.

Gentians along the trail.

Evidence of an avalanche at the far end of this meadow. It took a lot of trail maintenance to clear the snapped trees from the trail.

Wildflowers lining the trail.

The trail began another series of switchbacks in order to climb above the waterfall and to Lower Pine Lake.
A doe that turned out to be on the trail above me. There was a switchback just ahead of where I was.

The forest in the basin.

The Pine Lakes are in the basin ahead.

Arnica and aster?

Monkshood

Seep along the trail.

Grass of parnassus

American sawort

Something had been bedded down in this little bowl below the trail.

Goldenrod

The valley I’d come up to the right.

Nearly 5-miles from Chute Falls I arrived at the dam at the outlet of Lower Pine Lake. A number of lakes in the Wallows were dammed to control water flow to the surrounding communities.

Lower Pine Lake

The trail headed north around Lower Pine Lake arriving at Upper Pine Lake 0.2-miles from the dam.

Lower Pine Lake

Lower Pine Lake from between the two lakes.

Upper Pine Lake from the same spot.

Upper Pine Lake.

I did a little exploration along the eastern shore and then found a spot in the shade to take a brief break and change into a new pair of socks.

The view from my break spot.

After my break I headed back to Chute Falls to locate Heather. Along the way I stopped for more photos and to look for pikas and mountain goats (to no avail).

Shrubby cinquefoil

White mariposa lily, the only one I spotted, and I’d missed it on the way up.

Yellow columbine, I also missed this on the first pass.

Dusky flycacther

A meadow and the forest in the lower basin.

Fritillary on pearly everlasting

Trail maintenance in the avalanche section.

Loved the rock colors in the area.

I’m guessing some sort of wren.

Caterpillers

I detoured to Chute Falls again to see if Heather was waiting there which she wasn’t, so I hiked down to the campsite where I found her waiting. While I was taking another break we started to talk about the falls and realized that Heather had missed the lower, larger, portion of Chute Falls. She had missed the first user trail and detoured at the next righthand switchback which brought her to the upper tier. I showed her a photo from my phone to confirm that she’d missed that part of the falls then, we hiked up together to check it out.

After making sure she’d seen the rest of Chute Falls we headed for the trailhead.

We picked up the cows again in between the two bridges and herded (followed) them back to where I’d picked up the first group at the East Fork Pine Creek before they finally turned off the trail.

Herding the cattle back past the damaged bridge.

West Fork Pine Creek.

The footbridge across the East Fork Pine Creek ahead. We’d left the cows behind here and made our way back to the trailhead.

Given our starting point, three detours to Chute Falls and some exploring at Upper Pine Lake my hike came in at 16.4-miles and over 2700′ of elevation gain.

The rocky trail surface and amount of sun exposure added to the difficulty of this hike, but luckily there had been a fairly consistent cooling breeze which kept it from feeling too hot. The views were spectacular along the entire route and aside from the cows the variety of wildlife was great. We returned to Baker City and had dinner at the Eagle Cap Grill before turning in for the night for our last night in Baker City. We’d be moving our base to Enterprise the next day for the final three hikes of our trip. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Pine Lakes

Hiking Oregon Trip report Wallowas

Summit Point to Schneider Cabin – 08/18/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 26, 2024
3 Comments on Summit Point to Schneider Cabin – 08/18/2024

After traveling to Baker City the day before we were ready to kick off five days of hikes which, if successful, would bring us to 99 out of the 100 featured hikes in William L. Sullivans “100 Hikes Eastern Oregon” 1st edition (2022) guidebook (post). The first of the hikes that we had planned was to Summit Point Lookout.

We weren’t sure that we were going to be able to do this hike due to the Town Gulch Fire which was burning a little over three miles to the south of the Summit Point Trailhead. A forest order was issued on August 7th closing some of the forest. In looking at the order and accompanying map it appeared that part of FR 7710 from Carson might be included in the closure. On the other hand a note on the order mentioned that FR 7700 was open north of the FR 7700/7710 junction. The Forest Service website provided directions to the trailhead via Carson and FR 7710 with no mention of a closure so on Friday Heather called the Pine Field Office in Halfway to inquire about access. The person she talked to indicated that the trailhead was open and that the route from Carson was currently the only way to access it. They mentioned that there might be a road closed sign, but that was actually further than we would be going. While that answer had surprised us it had come from someone at the Forest Service so we drove to drove to Carson and turned up Carson Lane (eventually FR 7710). We did indeed come to a “road closed” sign along the side of the road, but we had expected that, so we continued on. When we arrived at the junction with FR 7700 there was another road closed sign to the south on FR 7700 but no signs indicating that FR 7710 heading east toward Carson was closed. We turned right on FR 7700 which, per the forest order, was for sure open then turned right again on FR 7115 and followed it to the trailhead.

The Cliff Creek Trail followed a closed section of FR 7715 for a mile steeply uphill to the lookout.
Smoke rising from the Town Gulch fire to the south.

Scarlet gilia

Paintbrush

Town Gulch Fire

Penstemon

Pearly everlasting and aster

Big Lookout Mountain

Summit Point Lookout from below.

At the 0.7-mile mark the Cliff Creek Trail split off to the left while FR 7715 continued right.

Cornucopia Peak

The Summit Point Lookout with the Town Gulch Fire behind the forest below.

The lookout staffer came out to greet us and she was a bit surprised that we were there. She asked if the forest order had been rescinded or amended to which we said no but then we explained the conversation between Heather and the Forest Service employee at the Pine Field Office. She still seemed puzzled, but a little less so after learning we’d come up from Carson. She did mention that she had thought she’d seen someone else up at the trailhead a couple of days before. She then asked us where we were headed and told us to enjoy and that while there is a wolf pack in the area she hadn’t heard or seen any wolves. We left the lookout and returned to the junction with the Cliff Creek Trail and turned right, once again confused as to if we really had been allowed to drive up here. (If we did in fact violate the Forest Order we apologize as it wasn’t our intent, and we do not condone or encourage anyone to intentionally do so. As of 8/22 the closure area has been lessened and the drive to the trailhead is clearly outside of the closure.)

The Cliff Creek Trail followed another old roadbed gradually uphill to a crest with a view of Little Eagle Meadows below Cornucopia Peak.

The Elkhorn Range (post) in the distance.

The Elkhorns

Finch

The trail crossed a fence at the southern end of Little Eagle Meadows.

Little Eagle Meadows and Cornucopia Peak.

The trail descended through the meadow passing into the Eagle Cap Wilderness along the way.

The wilderness sign in the distance.

Birds on a wire.

The views along the trail were amazing. In later July there is also a plethora of wildflowers along the route.

Trail marker

Ground squirrels

We veered right here but had to be careful not to follow one of the many cow trails leading off into the meadows. Our GPS maps were helpful.

Looking back up the hillside.

Dry pond along the trail.

Sullivan gives three options for his featured hike here. The shortest option is the 2-mile out-and-back to the lookout. His second option is to continue on the Cliff Creek Trail for an 11.8-mile out-and-back gaining 2120′ to Tuck Pass above the Pine Lakes, and the third continues down to Pine Lakes before turning around. That final option is 16.2 miles and 2950′ of elevation gain round trip. With four more days of challenging hikes ahead both of his longer options seemed overly ambitious. That and the fact that the next featured hike we had planned was Pine Lakes (via the Cornucopia Trailhead) led us to a different destination, the Schneider Cabin. Hike Oregon includes the hike to the cabin on here website. It is one of her members only hikes and her write up convinced us that the cabin would be a worthy destination. This out-and-back would be just over 7 miles with only 1480′ of elevation gain. (BTW – We would highly recommend checking out Hike Oregon and considering becoming members. While we haven’t had the opportunity to meet Franziska, she puts a lot of effort into her content and provides good information on a number of hiking related topics.)

Following the Hike Oregon route when we reached an unsigned fork near the pond we veered right on the Cornucopia Trail.
Savage Peak is the round peak at the center.

Heading toward Cornucopia Peak.

The cabin was visible in the distance at times from the trail.

Near the cabin we ran into a herd of cattle who had a lot to say about our presence.

Yarrow along the trail.

Green around a small stream.

The Schneider Cabin

Cow at the cabin.

The cabin is still used by hunters and snowmobilers and possibly hikers.

View from the loft.

Summit Point from the cabin.

Summit Point Lookout

After visiting the cabin we returned the way we’d come, disturbing the cattle again as we passed by.
Torn up trail tread.

Cricket

Tree full of mountain bluebirds.

Arriving back at the fence.

Hawk

Northern flicker

Butterflies on Greene’s goldenweed.

Fritillary butterfly

Becker’s white

Smoke from the Town Gulch fire.

Insect on chicory.

Arriving back at the trailhead.

The GPS put this hike at an even 7 miles with the 1480′ of elevation gain.

An enjoyable hike with great views that would have been even better in the latter part of July when the flowers were blooming. We drove back to Carson without incident and then returned to Baker City to clean up and then head out to dinner at the Oregon Trail Restaurant. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Summit Point to Schneider Cabin

Tags Cliff Creek Trail, Cornucopia Peak, eagle cap wilderness, hiking, Oregon, Schneider Cabin, Summit Point, Summit Point Lookout, Summit Point Trailhead, Town Gulch Fire, Wallowa Mountains, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Blue Mountains - North Hiking Oregon Trip report

Emigrant Springs State Heritage Area – 08/17/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 26, 2024
4 Comments on Emigrant Springs State Heritage Area – 08/17/2024

For the second time this year we headed east to the Wallowa Mountains for a week of hikes to further our goal of hiking all 100 featured hikes in William L. Sullivan’s “100 Hikes Eastern Oregon” 1st edition (2022). The eastern book is the final of the five areas covered by Sullivan that we need to finish in order to reach our goal of hiking all 100 featured hikes from a single edition of each area (post).

We would be staying in Baker City for the first few nights which is a six-and-a-half-hour drive from Salem so we’d planned for Saturday to simply be a driving day, but on the way we realized we were going to arrive before check-in time. We decided to sneak a quick hike in to kill the time and landed on a short loop at Emigrant Springs State Heritage Area.

The park is located at one of the stops along the Oregon Trail where pioneers could find water (at the nearby springs). Located in the Blue Mountains this was the first forested area along the trail in Oregon. We couldn’t find much information on actual trails in the park, but there was an entry on AllTrails which we used as a guide. It has been our experience that AllTrails is best used as a secondary source of information, but in this case the park’s website didn’t seem to contain a map nor was there one at the Oregon Trail Picnic Area where we parked.

We attempted to follow the AllTrails map, which was a combination of road and trail walking, in a clockwise direction. We picked up a dirt trail near a set of interpretive signs at the day use area.

Memorial to pioneers dedicated by President Harding in 1923.

This path led us back to the park entrance and campground.

The map we had led us through the campground, but it was difficult to tell exactly where we were supposed to be so we did a bit of winding through the campground loops.

We eventually spotted a large signboard and a sign for the “Cabin Loop”.

The Cabin Loop sign pointed up this hill.

We followed the Cabin Loop pointer which led us uphill to the park’s rentable cabins then veered left and followed a dirt path downhill. This path crossed a paved road to a small pullout on the far side where the dirt trail continued.

Thistle

Foam flower

Coneflower

We followed this path uphill and stayed left at the first junction we came to.
There were virtually no signs to indicate what any of the trails were or where they led.

We quickly came to a second junction at an old roadbed. Based on the AllTrails route we wanted to turn right onto the roadbed so that is what we did. While doing research for this trip report I found a photo online of a paper trail map posted in 2018 which shows the “Nature Trail” continuing across the roadbed and swinging out to make a loop back to the roadbed further along. I have no idea if that trail still exists or what condition it is in, but I wish we’d have discovered that map sooner. We stuck to the roadbed which climbed uphill and looped around to an open grass area behind the park’s community building.

We had to duck under this tree.

Mountain lady slippers that had bloomed many weeks ago.

Pearly everlasting

Paintbrush

Thimbleberries

Aster

It was hot (pushing 90 Fahrenheit) which made the climbing less enjoyable.

This was most likely the Nature Trail rejoining from the left.

Not sure if this is native or invasive.

Wedding set up behind the Community Building.

Soon after passing the Community Building we arrived at the Horse Camp where we turned right on a gravel road.

Bee on fireweed.

Horse Camp

The gravel road led us downhill to another parking lot in the day use area. From there we simply followed a path along the road back to our car.

Our version of the loop came to 1.6-miles with approximately 150′ of elevation gain.

This was a nice leg stretch during our long drive which would have been nicer earlier in the year when more of the flowers were blooming, but the scenery was pleasant and the history interesting. It isn’t a quiet hike with I-84 so close by along with the campgrounds, cabins, and other park amenities, but we enjoyed the hike for what it was. From the park we continued on to Baker City where we arrived at our motel just after check-in time and got ourselves settled before the more intense hikes we had planned over the next five days. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Emigrant Springs State Heritage Area

Tags Blue Mountains, Emigrant Springs Campground, Emigrant Springs State Heritage Area, hiking, Oregon, Oregon Trail

High Cascades Hiking Mt. Jefferson Area Oregon Trip report

Gooch and Downing Creek Falls – 08/10/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 12, 2024
1 Comment on Gooch and Downing Creek Falls – 08/10/2024

Before getting to the post please note that Gooch Falls is located on private land and access may be restricted at any time. Please be respectful of the landowner’s property and requests.

A busy weekend combined with the large number of wildfires currently burning across the state we decided to stick closer to home and check out a pair of waterfalls that we’d been wanting to see in person. Our son Dominque was also in town and was able to join us for the outhing.

Neither of these hikes use an official trail, so neither has a trailhead either. As I mentioned before the route to Gooch Falls in primarily on private land. Due to these circumstances, we’ve decided not to go into much detail on how to drive to either fall. However, as of the date of our outing they could both be found on AllTrails and other websites, so they aren’t exactly a secret.

We started off with Gooch Falls by parking on the shoulder of a gated forest road.

After confirming that there were no “Private Property or “No Trespassing” signs we continued up the road and picked up a clear trail leading into the forest.

We followed this path to Gooch Falls where there was a rope to assist with the steep descent to a viewpoint partway down the hillside.

The rope for the steep (and slick) section.

Gooch Falls

After admiring the falls for a while we headed back to our car. This hike was roughly two thirds of a mile round trip with a little over 100′ of elevation gain. This was an impressive waterfall and we were glad to have the opportunity to visit. In order to keep access open if you do visit please be sure to pack out any trash and don’t damage any trees or plants.

We headed for our next stop to visit Downing Creek Falls. Be aware that the short forest road to the trailhead described on AllTrails is truly one lane except for a small pullout near the highway meaning there is no way for vehicles to pass one another.
The road widened briefly near the pullout that acts as the trailhead.

We walked up the road following a description posted by Off the Beaten Trail! to its end where a use trail began.

Delicious red huckleberries provided morning snacks along much of the road and trail.

We followed the path as it brought us to Downing Creek.

We forked right when the ancient roadbed headed uphill.

The trail continued along the creek to Downing Creek Falls.

Not Downing Creek Falls, just one of many streams along the mossy hillside flowing into the creek.

Downing Creek Falls

This was another wonderfully scenic waterfall and worthy of a nice break before heading back. On the way back we took a right-hand fork that led us out to the ancient roadbed uphill just enough to see the tops of Coffin and Bachelor Mountains (post) over the tress.
The flat top of Coffin Mountain to the left of the tall trees at center and Bachelor Mountain to the right.

Coffin Mountain

We followed the roadbed downhill to rejoin the trail, but I soon split off to find the creek again to see what was making the creek roar with sound.
It took us a bit to realize that this was indeed a really old roadbed.

As I headed cross-country toward the creek I picked up a fainter trail running between the creek and the trail we’d come in on. I could still see Heather and Dominque so I communicated to them that I was going to try and follow it as far back as it would allow and I’d meet them at the car. I made several stops along the way to look at the creek flowing through the green forest.

There was sporadic flagging along the creek.

Another flag ahead.

The faint trail running along Downing Creek.

When I lost the path a couple times I just looked for signs like this old log cut for where the tread might be.

Sun starting to rise above the forest.

I wasn’t expecting to see caution tape. Maybe that’s all the person had because I couldn’t identify any hazard here.

A forested island in Downing Creek.

I was able to follow the creek all the way back to the pullout where I found Heather and Dominique waiting.
It was a short climb back up to the road.

This hike is just over a mile round trip with just under 300′ of gradual elevation gain giving us a grand total of just over 1.75-miles for the day (and a little under 400′ of elevation gain). Both of the waterfalls were impressive, especially given the time of year. We tend to avoid waterfall hikes in the Summer when flows tend to be lower, but that wasn’t an issue with these creeks. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Gooch & Downing Creek Falls

Tags Downing Creek, Downing Creek Falls, Gooch Falls, hiking, Off the Beaten Trail, Oregon, Willamette National Forest

Crater Lake Area High Cascades Hiking Oregon Trip report

Merriam Point and Wizard Island (Crater Lake NP) – 08/04/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 8, 2024
1 Comment on Merriam Point and Wizard Island (Crater Lake NP) – 08/04/2024

When we decided to try and hike all 100 featured hikes in a single edition of each of the five areas covered in William L. Sullivan’s 100 Hikes books (post) we decided that the criteria for being able to check off a hike was doing (or attempting to do) at least a portion of the hike. Sullivan often provides multiple options for each featured hike with some options being 20+ mile one-way trips or nearly 30-mile loops. Doing every option in their entirety just wasn’t feasible when you also factor in having to deal with trail closures due to fires, damage, or restricted access.

In 2023 we completed the southern Oregon & northern California area (post), but missed out on a portion of three hikes in Crater Lake National Park. On Saturday we’d finished up two of the hikes, The Pinnacles and Lady of the Woods (post). The third hike that we’d been unable to do in its entirety was on Wizard Island which requires taking a boat from Cleetwood Cove (post). The boats did not operate in 2023, an issue caused by the previous contracted concessionaire, so we were only able to hike down to the docks at the cove on that trip.

We reserved tickets ahead of time for the Wizard Island shuttle which is a 15-minute boat ride from Cleetwood Cove to Wizard Island. There were two other tours available, one a trip around the lake, and the other stops at Wizard Island on its way around the lake. Had we not needed to get home the same day we would have opted for the latter, but a tour around the lake would need to wait for another time. We nearly blew the whole thing though.

Somehow we got it into our heads that our shuttle left Cleetwood Cove at 12:30pm. We slept in and left our room so that we’d arrive at Beckie’s Cafe in Union Creek when it opened at 8am. After eating, and buying a whole blackberry pie to share with my parents, we made our way to the park and stopped at several viewpoints along the rim to admire the views. The overcast and smokey skies from the day before had given way to big fluffy white clouds and relatively blue sky.
Llao Rock and Wizard Island

The docks on Wizard Island.

The views were so good even the golden-mantled ground squirrels were taking them in.

Mt. McLoughlin (post) and Union Peak (post).

Cassin’s finches

Mount Scott (post) across the lake.

Wizard Island’s Fumarole Bay

The Watchman (post)

Mt. Bailey on the left and Mt. Thielsen (post) on the right. You can’t really make it out in the photo but with the naked eye we could see Diamond Peak (post) in between the two in the distance.

Smoke from the Middle Fork Fire burning inside the park boundary.

Fire information at one of the viewpoints.

At this pull out we got out and hiked a little of the Rim Trail. I decided to just continue on to Merriam Point while Heather was nice enough to drive the car down and meet me.

Western pasqueflower seed heads.

Silvery raillardella

Hillman Peak (post)

The Watchman and Hillman Peak

Dwarf lupine

We were intentionally taking our time so we wouldn’t arrive way too early for our boat tour. We had been targeting 11am to give us an hour and a half but wound up arriving a little before 10:30. That wound up being a good thing because when we went to check in we noticed that there were two shuttle times listed, 9am and 11:30. After some confusion with our tickets, Heather inadvertently pulled up our Wallow Lake Tram (post) tickets from 7/26 (issued by the same online company Fareharbor), the attendant was able to find our reservation. It had been for the 9am shuttle and there was never a 12:30 shuttle. We’d messed up pretty good. The young man was very understanding and let us know that they still had three openings on the 11:30 shuttle and that he could move us to two of those spots. We were very thankful and quickly headed down the 1.1-mile Cleetwood Cove Trail to the check in at the dock there.

From left to right: Dutton Cliff, Applegate Peak, and Garfield Peak (post).

Our shuttle arriving at the docks below.

We checked in and got our boarding instruction then spent some time watching people jump into the lake from the rocks.

When it was time we boarded the boat which zipped us over to the island.

The boat traveled at about 35mph so I didn’t have too many chances to take photos. The exception was when we had to briefly circle back to retrieve someone’s hat that had flown off into the lake.

Nearing the island.

There are two short trails on the island, one leads to Fumarole Bay and the other to the top of Wizard Island’s cone. Most of the people in our group headed for the cone with a few heading to the bay to either fish or swim. We were also going to head up the cone first and had decided to split up and do our own thing then meet back up at the docks later.
The trails shared tread for the first tenth of a mile. (Toilets were to the right.)

In the line heading up to the cone.

Part of the reason we’d decided to hike our own hikes is because I have a slight competitive streak and tend to speed up when there are people ahead of us. It wasn’t long before I’d passed most of the other hikers and was just following a pair of younger guys from San Diego.

Looking up the cone.

The Watchman and Hillman Peak from the trail.

These two were setting a crisp pace and the only reason I was able to keep up was because they would occasionally stop for pictures and to admire the views.

Mount Scott

The trail was well graded keeping the 750′ climb from ever feeling too steep.

Prince’s pine

Buckwheat

Paintbrush

I managed to pass the Sandiegans shortly below the summit while they were taking a few more photos. Just before the summit a hiker from a different tour passed me as she was descending and mentioned that there wasn’t anyone left at the summit.
The summit crater also known as the Witches Cauldron.

A 0.3-mile loop circles the crater so I headed clockwise around the loop. The pair from San Diego caught up while I was taking photos and asked if I could take one of them before continuing on.
Mt. Scott from the loop.

Llao Rock

Dutton Cliff, Applegate Peak, and Garfield Peak

Crater Lake lodge on the rim to the right of Garfield Peak.

Crater Lake lodge.

Hikers across the crater starting the loop.

Looking down toward the dock area.

The Watchman and Hillman Peak.

Looking toward Cleetwood Cove.

Fumarole Bay is to the left of lava flow.

Pool in the lava flow.

After completing the loop I headed down for the Fumarole Bay Trail.

Dwarf alpinegold

Another boat tour heading around the island.

I had passed Heather on her way up and we spoke for a moment before going our separate ways.

Heading toward Fumarole Bay.

It’s approximately a half mile to Fumarole Bay on a very rocky trail due to it being in a lava flow.

The Watchman from the trail.

Fumarole Bay. Note the person fishing on the rocks to the right.

Fumarole Bay

Stream flowing into Crater Lake.

Hillman Peak

The trail continued around the bay for almost another half mile.

Bleeding heart

The Watchman

I believe this may be Felt-leaf everlasting.

An even fainter, rockier, trail continued beyond the sign marking the end of the maintained trail. I followed it for just a bit before losing it in the lava where I decided to turn around.

I made my way back around the bay and returned to the dock where I found Heather soaking her feet in the water.

Heather below at the edge of the lake. She had opted not to visit the bay.

I joined Heather as we waited for our return shuttle. In the meantime she took a quick dip in the lake to cool off.

Here comes our ride.

Once they herded everyone back to the dock we boarded the boat and rode back to Cleetwood Cove.
Arriving back at the cove.

We split up again on our way up the busy Cleetwood Cove Trail.

It got a little hazier as the day went on.

I was glad to make it back to the parking area where I changed into cooler clothes before using the restroom.

I ran into Heather as I came out of the restrooms so we walked back to the car together and prepared for our drive home. My Wizard Island hike came to 6.6 miles including 2.2 miles to and from Cleetwood Cove. Total elevation gain was a little over 1450′. Seven hundred of that was up from Cleetwood Cove which was steeper in sections than anything on Wizard Island had been.
Track including the boat rides.

My Wizard Island track.

It had been a beautiful day and a lot of fun to see the lake and surrounding peaks from the island. The smoke had somehow stayed away and so had the thunderstorms. Unfortunately storms did hit other parts of the Cascades along with central and eastern Oregon igniting more wildfires. We hit heavy smoke on our drive home between Odell Lake and Oakridge reminding us of just how bad this fire season has been. A big thank you to all the firefighters working hard to try and minimize the damage. Hopefully conditions will improve sooner rather than later. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Merriam Point and Wizard Island

Tags Beckie's Cafe, Cleetwood Cove, Crater Lake, Crater Lake National Park, Furmarole Bay, Govenor's Bay, hiking, Merriam Point, Mount Scott, Oregon, the watchman, Witches Cauldron, Wizard island, Wizard Island shuttle

Crater Lake Area High Cascades Hiking Oregon Trip report

The Pinnacles & Lady of the Woods (Crater Lake NP) and Pearsony Falls – 08/03/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 7, 2024
1 Comment on The Pinnacles & Lady of the Woods (Crater Lake NP) and Pearsony Falls – 08/03/2024

In 2023 we took a trip to Crater Lake for a series of hikes as we pursued our goal of hiking at least some of all 100 featured hikes in William L. Sullivan’s “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Southern Oregon & Northern California” edition 4.2 (post). During that trip we were only able to complete part of three of the featured hikes due to two trail closures, The Pinnacles (post) and Lady of the Woods (post) and the boat tours to Wizard Island not operating (post). While we did check off those featured hikes for the purposes of our goal we vowed to return when the two trails reopened and the boat tours were operating.

The two trails reopened in 2024 and the company that had been contracted as the concessionaire for the park was replaced by ExploreUS. When the boat tours were announced for 2024 we planned a trip and made reservations. We scheduled a shuttle to Wizard Island for Sunday allowing us to do the other two trails on Saturday on the way to our lodging.

It was a smokey and overcast drive to park, but visibility was pretty good at the Pinnacles Trailhead.

The pinnacles are a result of gasses escaping superheated rocks after a volcanic eruption through vents and welding the pyroclastic deposits in their immediate vicinity

Mount Scott (post)

We followed the trail nearly half a mile to the former East Entrance to Crater Lake National Park.

Wheeler Creek below the trail.

Golden-mantled ground squirrel

Coming up on the park boundary.

The former east entrance.

You can continue another half mile to FR 2304, but the best views are behind you at this point. We turned around here and returned to the car and headed for our next stop.

The second trail that had been closed in 2023 was the Lady of the Woods loop. The 0.7-mile loop starts at Park Headquarters, but we opted to park at the Castle Crest Trailhead instead.

Starting here allowed us to re-hike the 0.5-mile Castle Crest Wildflower loop then take a 0.4-mile connector trail to Park Headquarters for the Lady of the Woods loop.

Monkshood

Lewis monkeyflower

Monkeyflower

Lupine

Bistort

Hummingbird

Columbine and a visitor.

Fireweed

Bog orchid

Scarlet gilia

After completing the loop we headed for the headquarters.

Rim Drive and Park HQs.

Steele Visitors Center

We followed a pointer for the loop to the left of the visitors center.

Note the “The Lady of the Woods” sculpted in the boulder in 1917 next to the sign on the upper left side of the photo.

The loop climbed gradually through an open forest then passed an educational center that was formerly the superintendent’s residence.

Numbered posts were located along the interpretive loop.

Approaching the educational center.

Snow below the educational center.

Beyond the educational center the trail descended along a meadow and looped back to the Steele Center.

Arriving back at Park HQs.

Penstemon

Spirea

Completing the loop behind the visitor’s center.

We stopped in the visitor’s center for a moment then headed back to our car. The Pinnacles hike had been just under a mile and this hike came in at just 2.2-miles.

The Lady of the Woods and Castle Crest loops.

We had plenty of time and energy left for another hike and we’d chosen Pearsony Falls in Prospect, OR for our finale, but first we made a pit stop at Beckie’s Cafe in Union Creek for lunch. After our meal and securing a couple of slices of pie for later we drove to the Pearsony Falls Trailhead.

The trail starts at a large signboard and follows a wide path that soon reaches Mill Creek.

Oregon grape

We arrived at the falls approximately a third of a mile from the trailhead.

Pearsony Falls

The mist generated by the falls was hovering in front of them making it impossible to get a clear photo, but they were nice to look at none the less.

Random dude in front of the falls.

The trail continued beyond the falls another third of a mile to a viewpoint of the Avenue of Boulders on the Rogue River.

Madrones

We’d seen this feature from the other side during a hike to see Mill and Barr Creek Falls (post).

The trail continued beyond the viewpoint, so we did too, at least for another quarter mile. It was getting brushy and fainter as we neared Mill Creek again. When we looked at the GPS and saw that we had reached the end of the trail shown on that map. We turned back opting not to try and reach the lip of Mill Creek Falls.

Our turnaround spot.

We headed back passing quite a few other hikers along the way.

There was a slightly clearer view of the falls on the way back.

This hike came to 1.7-miles giving us a total of 4.8 for the day with just a little over 300′ of total elevation gain.

Ignore the “Barr Creek Falls” label to the upper left, the map has the placement wrong. Those falls are located along Barr Creek in the lower left corner.

We stayed in Shady Cove for the night with a view of the Rogue River. It was a little too smokey to sit out on the balcony, but we could see rafters drift by occasionally through the glass doors. Happy Trails!

Flickr: The Pinnacles, Lady of the Woods, and Pearsony Falls

Tags Avenue of Boulders, Beckie's Cafe, Castle Crest Trailhead, Castle Crest Wildflower Loop, Crater Lake National Park, hiking, Lady of the Woods, Lady of the Woods Loop, Mill Creek, Mount Scott, Oregon, Pearsony Falls, Prospect, Shady Cove, Steele Visitor's Center. Park Headquarters, The Pinnacles, The Pinnacles Trailhead, Union Creek

Hiking Oregon Trip report Wallowas

Mount Howard – 07/26/2024

For the final hike of our week in Enterprise we had purchased tickets for the Wallowa Lake Tramway. The tram was built in 1970 as the steepest 4-person gondola in North America. It takes 15 minutes to travel the 1.83-miles from the 4450′ lower terminal to the 8150′ upper terminal.

The operating hours vary but the tram was running from 9am to 4:30pm so we had some extra time in the morning which we used to check out the Sugar Time Bakery in Enterprise before driving to the tram. We were a little early and did some wandering around Wallow Lake before the tram opened and then were the first riders of the morning.

View after coming back down.

The ride provided some nice views. Fortunately for us it was the clearest morning that we’d experienced all week. When we arrived at the upper terminal we exited our gondola and prepared to set off on our hike.

The tramway from the top.

We were continuing to check off featured hikes toward our goal of completing at least part of each of the 100 hikes featured in William L. Sullivans “100 Hikes Eastern Oregon” (post). He describes two options for hikes on Mount Howard – a 1.9-mile loop and a 5.5-mile hike that adds an out-and-back to a spring below nearby East Peak. Heather had opted for the 1.9-mile loop and I was going to try the longer hike so we split up and I headed for the Royal Purple Overlook.

Pointer for the Royal Purple Overlook (right) and Summit Overlook (left).

Penstemon

Heading out to the Royal Purple Overlook.

They do hold weddings up on the mountain.

Lewis flax

Mountain coyote mint

The Hurwal Divide, Point Joseph and Ruby Peak from left to right.

Pete’s Point, West Aneroid Peak, Eagle Cap the furthest away (post), and Craig Mountain.

Closer look at Eagle Cap.

Craig Mountain and the Matterhorn (post).

East Peak

Heather arrived at the overlook just as I was ready to move on to the Summit Overlook. We took a minute to appreciate the view together and then I headed back to the loop.
Pano that Heather took with her phone.

Buckwheat

Pointer for the Summit Overlook.

View from the Summit Overlook. Heather is standing on the Royal Purple Overlook.

Buek’s groundsel

Point Joseph

East Peak as I neared the Summit Overlook.

The Seven Devils poking up above the smoke from Idaho.

Seven Devils

Mount Melissa to the left and East Peak straight ahead.

Sullivan’s 5.5-mile option included taking a short-cut near the Summit Overlook to link up with the trail leading to the spring. While the short-cut path was obvious it was also clear that the Forest Service doesn’t want people using it based on the sign asking people to stay on official trails and the wood placed over the start of the path.

As a compliance officer it’s my job to follow the rules and guidelines and that’s what I did here. It would add roughly half a mile to my hike, but I remained on the loop for another 0.2-miles dropping to a 4-way junction where I turned right.
The 4-way junction.

East Peak from the 4-way junction.

This trail was clearly less utilized than the Summit Loop and it dropped down a ridge before turning toward East Peak and traversing to a saddle below the Summit Overlook.

Mountain bluebird

Climbing to the saddle.

The view from the saddle.

Wood blocking the lower end of the “short-cut”.

From the saddle the trail climbed steeply through some trees gaining 200′ in 0.2-miles.

Looking back at the Summit Overlook during one of my several breaks during the climb up.

The trail continued to climb, but a bit less steeply, for another 0.4-miles to a second saddle.
There were a few obstacles to avoid along the climb as well.

Meanwhile Heather was admiring a spring along the Summit Loop.

The Royal Purple Overlook from the trail.

Up, up I go.

Golden-mantled ground squirrel watching me navigate some blowdown.

The views helped keep my mind off the climbing.

The second saddle in sight.

The angle was enough different from the saddle that I could see a couple of additional peaks.

The Matterhorn on the left and now Sacajawea Peak behind the Hurwal Divide to the Matterhorns right.

The saddle provided a brief level stretch before the trail launched steeply uphill again.

I was now in the Eagle Cap Wilderness. The trail gained nearly another 300′ over the next 0.4-miles where I arrived at a faint fork.

East Peak

Lots of buckwheat along this section.

Buckwheat and lupine above the trail.

The fork. According to Sullivan the righthand fork peters out in about 0.2-miles and then it’s possible to scramble up East Peak in another three quarters of a mile. I went left heading for the spring.

The trail lost just a little elevation then made a nearly level traverse below a tiny snow field to arrive at a series of springs.

The McCully Creek Trail which we hiked a couple of days earlier (post) is on the far side of the near ridge.

A phacelia

Lyall’s Goldenweed

Wallflower

Looking back at the trail.

Flowers near the springs.

Shrubby cinquefoil surrounded by bistort and mountain death-camas.

Mountain death-camas and bistort

Looking up at the springs.

Monkeyflower

I ventured past the first large spring and hiked to an open rocky ridge where I gained a view of Aneroid Mountain.
There were several smaller streams below East Peak.

Aneroid Mountain

Ground squirrel

View from my turn around point.

Looking back at my route to the second saddle.

I headed back to the Summit Loop where I continued around the outer loop to the Valley Overlook.
Dusty maidens near the springs.

Heading down to the saddle.

Cairn at the saddle.

Milbert’s tortoiseshell

Pale agoseris

Climbing back up to the 4-way junction.

Back on the Summit Loop.

Crossing the service road coming up from McCully Creek.

Mountain Heather

Pointer for the Valley Overlook.

Spur trail to the Valley Overlook.

Flag at the Valley Overlook.

Wallowa Lake below the Valley Overlook.

Wallowa Lake

East Peak peaking up over the trees.

I returned to the loop and continued another half mile back to the upper terminal of the tramway.

Wallowa Paintbrush

The upper terminal.

It was hard not to stop and order some food from the Summit Grill since it smelled so good when I met back up with Heather, but we had a 6:30 hour drive home ahead of us so we simply hopped back on the tram for the 15-minute ride back down to the car.
Apparently Heather was busy making a friend while I was visiting the springs even though she did not feed any animals.

My hike wound up being 6-miles with a little over 1200′ of elevation gain.
The straight line is the tram ride.

The hiking portion highlighted.

This was a nice way to end our trip, but it would have been even nicer if we’d have felt like we had more time to just hang out up on the summit. Knowing that this had been the best day for the views helped us not wish we’d have scheduled this hike earlier in the week though.

We headed home through the smoke from the various fires and felt fortunate that we were able to get our six days of hiking in and check off half (6 of 12) of our remaining featured hikes putting us at 494/500. We’re still hoping to finish this year but given the fire situation that may be a longshot. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Mount Howard

Tags Aneroid Mountain, eagle cap, eagle cap wilderness, East Peak, Gondola, hiking, Mount Howard, Oregon, Royal Purple Overlook, Sacajawea Peak, Summit Loop, Summit Overlook, Valley Overlook, Wallow Lake Tramway, Wallowa Mountains, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Hiking Oregon Trip report Wallowas

Minam Lake – 07/25/2024

After an excellent hike to Bonny Lakes (post) followed by a night of intense thunderstorms I woke up extra early Thursday morning to check various fire and lightning strike maps and the Forest Service website online. While there had definitely been some lightning strikes, the various satellites weren’t showing any hot spots in the area of the Minam Lake Trail so we set off as planned to the Two Pan Trailhead

Even at 6am on a Thursday the trailhead parking was nearly full.

Most of the people parked at the trailhead were likely headed for the Lakes Basin below Eagle Cap (post). It’s 7.4-miles to Mirror Lake in that popular basin by following the East Fork Lostine River Trail. We however were headed for Minam Lake which is the headwaters for the West Fork Lostine River. The trails share tread for the first tenth of a mile before splitting.

This was a neat feature.

We both counted our steps, for me it was 50 and Heather 60.

The Lostine River.

Entering the Eagle Cap Wilderness just before the trails split.

Trail sign at the fork.

We headed right on the Minam Lake Trail which climbed steadily for 2.7-miles to a junction with the Copper Creek Trail.

Bridge over the East Fork Lostine River.

East Fork Lostine River

The storm overnight had provided a little much needed rain.

Huckleberries (I’d already picked the ripe ones.)

Elkhorn Peak

Monkshood

Some of the river channels were very calm and crystal clear.

We passed through a section of bent and snapped trees which were probably a result of an avalanche.

The trail climbed more steeply at times over the next 1.5-miles before arriving at a crossing of the West Fork Lostine River. Views also began to open up along this section.
Glacier Mountain

Talus field along the trail. We encountered a gentleman hiking out who we spoke with about the storm. He said it was wild from about 4pm to 9pm with multiple strikes very close. He said he’d had enough between the excessive heat, bugs, and then the storm and was thinking that his days of summer visits might be over and Autumn trips might be his new go to.

Looking back at the other side of Elkhorn Peak.

Nuttal’s linanthus

Looking back down one of the steeper sections. We passed another couple heading out along this section.

Looking up the Copper Creek drainage. Glacier Mountain on the left and Elkhorn Peak on the right.

Off-trail waterfall. We could hear this from the trail, and it was a fairly easy bushwack to get a good view.

The river crossing.

It was another 1.5-miles from the crossing to Minam Lake but only a 300′ elevation change. This section of trail passed along a beautiful, large meadow and recrossed the river after just over a mile.

Yellow columbine

A little hazy looking toward the Sun.

Elephants head

Unnamed creek

An easier crossing of the river here.

First view of Minam Lake.

Minam Lake

Common mergansers

We took a nice break at one of the outlets of the lake then explored a little further along the lake shore before heading back.
Needle Point is the peak in the distance to the far left.

Shooting stars

We could have stared at the rocks along the ridges for hours.

Heading back.

It was a pleasant hike back as the temperatures were finally reasonable. We did hear a helicopter shortly after leaving the lake which then came into view. It didn’t have a bucket so it wasn’t getting water, but we surmised it was performing a smoke check. We had been on the lookout for any signs of smoldering trees that might have been struck by the lightning but didn’t notice any. We found out a couple of days later that there was indeed a fire burning in the Copper Creek drainage due to a lightning strike Wednesday night. We however remained blissfully ignorant.

Violet

Groundsquirrel

Robin

Fritillary

Orange agoseris

The fire was burning up in that basin somewhere.

The talus section in the afternoon.

Spirea

Butterflies and moths were out in force.

Police car moth and another interesting looking pollinator (out of focus).

Prince’s pine

Back at the junction with the East Fork Lostine River Trail.

Left for hikers and right for stock.

Our hike to Minam Lake came to 12.5-miles and approximately 1800′ of elevation gain.

We left the busy Two Pan Trailhead and drove back to Enterprise for one more night. We had purchased tickets for the Wallowa Lake Tramway for Friday which we needed to ride up Mount Howard in order to do the final hike of the trip. The good news was that Friday was going to be the coolest day of the week with improved visibility.

As of 7/28/24 the Elk Horn Fire is just 1.8 acres so hopefully it will remain a small one. There were several other fires sparked by the lighting as well with the Big Canyon Fire being the most likely to grow significantly. It’s already been an ugly year for fires, and we just pray that we get some relief soon. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Minam Lake

Tags Copper Creek Trail, East fork Lostine River, Elkhorn Peak, hiking, Lostine River, Minam Lake, Minam Lake Trail, Oregon, Two Pan Trailhead, Wallowa Mountains, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, West Fork Lostine River

Hiking Oregon Trip report Wallowas

Bonny Lakes – 07/24/2024

With dozens of fires already burning across Oregon another round of thunderstorms were forecasted for Wednesday afternoon/evening. We’d decided on the hike to Bonny Lakes which Sullivan had a 7.8-mile option, an 11.8-mile option, and a 16.3-mile loop. Once again we opted for the shortest option to avoid the heat and storms and to try and to keep the strain on my left leg as low as possible while still finishing one of the featured hike’s options.

After driving the very rocky Forest Road 100 we parked at the Tenderfoot Trailhead and set off on the Tenderfoot Wagon Road which quickly entered the Eagle Cap Wilderness.
We managed to get started about ten minutes before 6am.

The trail brought us to a ford of Big Sheep Creek. We could have forded across, but then we noticed an old log bridge downstream. We backtracked up the trail and found a spur trail leading to the birdge.

Bugbane and paintbrush

A 2022 wildfire burned the first 3-miles of the trail and left the old footbridge damaged. A steep scramble trail led down to it.

Big Sheep Creek

After crossing on the damaged bridge we rejoined the Wagon Road and began climbing through fields of wildflowers.

Paintbrush and lupine

Wildfire smoke filling the valley behind us.

The trail leveled out and continued to climb gradually arriving at a junction just before the North Fork Big Sheep Creek at the 1.1-mile mark.

Phacelia

Butterfly on buckwheat.

Some of the trees survived the fire.

White mariposa lilies in a meadow along the trail.

Junction with the Wing Ridge Trail.

North Fork Big Sheep Creek

Lewis Monkeyflower along the creek.

The trail crossed the creek and continued the gradual climb past more wildflowers and several more streams for 1.2-miles to another junction. Portions of this section of trail burned fairly intensely damaging the soil and leaving little vegetation, but other areas were covered in colorful flowers.

Canada milk-vetch

Grass-of-parnassus

Bog orchid

Checker-mallow

Bee heading for some monkshood.

<Me in some fireweed.

Getting eyed by a western tanager.

When fires burn too hot they damage the soil which makes it difficult for all plants to obtain the necessary nutrients to grow.

A few plants had been able to take hold.

A healthy patch of paintbrush.

Middle Fork Big Sheep Creek

Monkeyflower

Brook saxifrage

Another severely burned section.

The Bonny Lakes Trail forking to the right off of the Tenderfoot Wagon Road Trail.

We turned onto the Bonny Lakes Trail which continued through the fire scar for approximately another half mile before reaching unburned forest.

Wildflowers along the Bonny Lakes Trail.

The wildflowers were profuse along this stretch of trail.

American sawwort

Police car moths

Larkspur and fleabane

The trail recrossed the Middle Fork Big Sheep Creek.

Orange agoseris

After recrossing the Middle Fork Big Sheep Creek the trail followed along it as it climbed toward the Bonny Lakes.

Taper tip onions

White mariposa lilies

The trail came to a rock outcrop a half mile before reaching the lakes where it suddenly steepened. As I approached the rocks I heard an animal sound an alarm. A moment later I spotted a pika.

False hellebore

Checker-mallow

Penstemon on the outcrop.

Mountain larkspur

Pika!

Gathering plants for the Winter store.

On the steep climb.

Mountain heather

After the steep section the trail relented a bit and soon rejoined the creek on the final climb to Lower Bonny Lake.
Ground squirrel

The creek was below between the ridges here.

Stonecrop

As we were passing above a marshy area along the creek filled with swamp onions Heather spotted a monarch butterfly.
Swamp onions

Wallowa paintbrush

Aneroid Mountain and Lower Bonny Lake.

Aneroid Mountain to the right and an unnamed peak on the left.

The lake was beautiful. We followed the trail around the east side of the lake crossing a connecting creek between the two lakes.

Shrubby cinquefoil

Cutleaf anemone seed heads.

Possibly a sandwort.

We followed the trail up a knoll to get a view of Upper Bonny Lake, then left the trail to climb to the top of the rocks to get a view down to the meadows behind the lower lake.

Upper Bonny Lake

Lower Bonny Lake

Aneroid Mountain from the knoll.

After exploring the knoll we headed back down to the lower lake to admire the view once more before starting back.

Spotted sandpiper

Elephants head

White mariposa lily and buckwheat

Jacob’s ladder

Checker-mallow and white mariposa lilies along the trail.

Scouler’s woolly-weed

Gentians

Goldenrod and yarrow

Nuttal’s linanthus

North Fork Big Sheep Creek

The McCully Creek Trail is shown on maps as joining the Tenderfoot Wagon Road Trail just to the west of the North Fork Big Sheep Creek crossing but neither of us noticed any sign of its existence. That trail theoretically climbs to Big Sheep Basin then over a pass to McCully Creek where we’d hiked the previous day (post). After taking a short break at the creek crossing we hiked the 1.1-miles down to the damaged bridge and then back to the trailhead.

The haze from the morning had improved now that the Sun had moved on from the east.

Looking down at the un-damaged bridge over a side stream.

Yellow columbine

Big Sheep Creek.

This hike came to 9-miles with a little under 1500′ of elevation gain due to us wandering around a bit at the lake and a couple of other times along the trail.

We drove back to our room in Enterprise and ordered pick-up from Thai Enterprise which Heather picked up shortly before a strong thunderstorm passed through. A little before 5pm we heard the first boom then the wind really picked up. Emergency vehicles were racing through town and debris was flying all over for about 15-20 minutes. The winds calmed down, but the thunder continued off and on for several more hours. We were watching fire reports closely and a new start, the Camelback Fire, was reported at 4:43pm near Highway 82 which was our route home on Friday. Interstate 84 was already closed along with several other highways due to various fires so we were starting to wonder if we would be able to get home. Fortunately the Oregon Department of Forestry was able to jump on this start quickly had managed to have it contained shortly before 10pm. We were also uncertain as to if we would be able to do our planned hike to Minam Lake the next day or if new fires would be ending our vacation early. If that were the case at least we’d gotten to see the wonderful wildflowers and Bonny Lakes which was our favorite hike of the trip thus far. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Bonny Lakes

Tags Aneroid Mountain, Big Sheep Creek, Bonny Lakes, Bonny Lakes Trail, eagle cap wilderness, enterprise, hiking, McCully Creek Trail, Middle Fork Big Sheep Creek, North Fork Big Sheep Creek, Oregon, Tenderfoot Trailhead, Tenderfoot Wagon Road Trail, Wallow-Whitman National Forest. Main Eagle Trailhead, Wallowa Mountains, wildflowers, Wing Ridge Trail

Hiking Oregon Trip report Wallowas

McCully Basin – 07/23/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 30, 2024
4 Comments on McCully Basin – 07/23/2024

For the third hike of our vacation we landed on McCully Basin. While it was supposed to be slightly cooler than it had been Sunday or Monday and also than what the forecast for Wednesday was it was still going to be in the mid-80’s. McCully Basin was another hike where Sullivan describes three options: a 9.2-mile hike to a creek crossing, an 11.6-mile hike to McCully Basin, and a 12.8-mile hike to a pass. While we’ve typically tried to do as much of Sullivan’s featured hikes as possible (post) the combination of the weather and my problematic left leg had us focused on just doing as much of the hikes as we felt comfortable with. For this hike Heather set a goal of the creek crossing, and I was hoping to make it to McCully Basin if my leg, which had been feeling progressively better, wasn’t bothering me.

We again arrived at the McCully Trailhead just before 6am to avoid hiking in the hottest part of the day.

We took a short trail which brought us to the service road for Mount Howard.

We turned right on this road and followed it uphill for a third of a mile to a sign for the McCully Creek Trail.
East Peak

Spreading dogbane

The start of the McCully Creek Trail (to the left).

The trail initially follows an old roadbed before becoming single track.

Shortly after becoming single track we came across a pair of spruce grouses.

The trail climbed gradually through a nice forest with lupine and other wildflowers arriving at the creek crossing 4.6-miles from the trailhead.

Paintbrush and pussytoes along with the lupine.

Pink pyrola

Monkshood

Tall bulebells

Penstemon

Entering the Eagle Cap Wilderness.

Yellow columbine

Arnica and fleabane

Coiled lousewort

The McCully Creek crossing.

Elephants head at the crossing.

I was feeling good so I forded the creek and continued on while Heather stopped at the creek for a break. There was a small meadow on the far side of the creek then the trail made its steepest climb yet before leveling out again and passing through several small meadows.

Paintbrush in the meadow.

Fleabane (or aster) in the meadow.

Wallowa paintbrush

Cusick’s speedwell

The first blowdown we encountered.

To reach the meadows in McCully Basin I needed to leave the trail and hike cross-country. Sullivan described leaving the trail just as it begins to steepen 0.6-miles from the creek crossing. It was easy enough to find where the trail steepened.

His description was to turn right and recross McCully Creek in 200′ then climb a 60′ sandy hillside and continue another 200′ to find the first of three main meadows.
Heading cross-country to McCully Creek.

Where I recrossed the creek.

I don’t think I angled right enough when I left the trail because I found myself on a steep hillside that would have been more than a 60′ climb. Checking my GPS I could see that I was near a ridge end, so I traversed up and round it using game trails. I then dropped down to what looked like a seldom used campsite near the edge of the first meadow.
Heading down to a flat opening which could serve as a campsite.

Arriving at the first meadow.

The meadow was very wet which made it tricky to get very far out. Once I had made it far enough to get a good view I declared victory and didn’t attempt to go further.
Aneroid Mountain

A few flowers in the meadow.

Bistort

Shooting stars

After taking in the meadow I headed back. I stayed lower around the ridge this time but then crossed the creek above where I’d crossed earlier and climbed steeply uphill on the far side to find the McCully Creek Trail above where it steepened.

Looking down toward where I left the trail to bushwack to the meadow.

I headed back to the creek crossing where Heather was waiting and then we hiked back to the car. We didn’t see any other hikers, but the butterflies were out in force.

Jacob’s ladder

Orange agoseris

Fritillary

Crescent

Bog orchid

Tortoiseshell

Red-breasted nuthatch

The gate on the service road had been opened at some point.

Swallowtail

My hike wound up being an even 11-miles with a little over 2000′ of elevation gain. It was a little shorter than Sullivan’s description, but he showed going 0.6-miles off-trail while I only proceeded 0.3-miles to reach the meadow. There did appear to be a path I could have followed had I wanted to walk through a lot of mud so maybe later in the year the meadow is more dried out and easier to pass through.

We drove back to Enterprise, cleaned up and changed, then had an early dinner at Heavenly’s. There was still a red flag warning for heat and afternoon thunderstorms forecast for Wednesday so we stuck with our plan to hike to Bonny Lakes the next day. Happy Trails!

Flickr: McCully Basin

Tags butterflies, eagle cap wilderness, hiking, McCully Basin, McCully Creek, McCully Creek Trail, Oregon, Range Rider, Spruce Grouse, Wallowa Mountains, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest