Our first night in the small town of Wallowa had been great. Our room at the Mingo Motel was extremely comfortable and we’d gotten ice cream sundaes from the Little Bear Drive-In. We were also conveniently located less than 10 miles from the Bear Creek Trailhead which was our destination for Thursday’s planned hike. This meant we could get an even earlier start in order to avoid as much heat as possible. A quick check of the forecast the night before had shown that it was again going to be in the 90’s in Wallowa and it also showed that there was another slight chance for thunderstorms Friday morning when we were hoping to do our final hike of the trip at the Wallowa Homeland. As we set off from the Bear Creek Trailhead a little after 5:30am we left open the option of doing that last hike when we got back to Wallowa if we felt up to it.
The Bear Creek Trail at the trailhead.
This was a fairly straight forward hike following the Bear Creek Trail 4.6 miles to a junction with the Goat Creek Trail then continuing another three quarters of a mile to the Bear Creek Guard Station. The relatively level trail crosses Bear Creek a quarter mile from the trailhead.
Footbridge over Bear Creek.
Milk-vetch
Mountain lady-slippers
Bug on a thimbleberry leaf.
There were a couple of ups and downs where the trail got above Bear Creek.
Baker Gulch
Cliffs on the opposite side of Bear Creek.
Trail sign marking the junction with the Goat Creek Trail. By this time we had crossed into the Eagle Cap Wilderness but there hadn’t been any signs
indicating that.
Prairie smoke a.k.a. old mans whiskers
A fleabane
The Bear Creek Trail crossing Goat Creek.
Footbridge over Goat Creek.
Goat Creek
The unmarked but obvious spur trail to the (locked) Bear Creek Guard Station on the right.
We took a brief break at the Guard Station and headed back. On the way back we spotted a new to us (at least we think) flower.
Moneses uniflora – one-flowered moneses
We also spotted several bugs and insects.
Hairstreak
Crab spider
Moth
Swallowtail on a bog orchid
Lorquin’s admiral
A fritillary butterfly with some sort of spider on the underside of a leaf below to the right.
The 10.8 mile hike here only gained 900′ of elevation, by far the least amount of any of our hikes during the trip. The lack of elevation gain combined with the cool morning temperatures allowed us to move at a quicker pace completing the hike under 5 hours and 15 minutes.
On our way back we had decided that we would indeed do the Wallowa Homeland hike today too instead of risking having to skip it if thunderstorms did develop in the morning. As convenient as our motel had been for the Bear Creek hike it was even more so for the Wallowa Homeland which started just a couple of blocks from the Mingo Motel at the Nez Perce Visitor Center.
First time we’ve started a hike from a motel room.
Passing the Visitor Center on 2nd Street.
From the Visitor Center we turned north on Storie Street and followed it nearly 3 blocks to a dirt path that crossed rail road tracks then crossed the Wallowa River on a bridge with interpretive signs.
The trail here is on land purchased in 1997 & 2000 but that is also the former site of the Nez Perce’s Winter camp. In one of the more shameful events in U.S. History the Army ordered the Wallowa Band of Nez Perce to leave their home and relocate. This led to a 6 month saga that saw the Nez Perce attempt to flee to safety in Canada with the Army in pursuit for over 1100 miles. Ultimately they were capture or dispersed and their homeland lost. We were visiting a week before the 30th annual Tamkaliks Celebration.
Dance arbor
After crossing the bridge we turned left on a gravel road heading toward the basalt cliffs of Tick Hill (an unsettling name but we did not actually see any ticks during this hike).
We followed the road as it bent to the right below the cliffs for half a mile where a trail pointer sent us climbing uphill via a series of switchbacks.
Marmot
Approaching the pointer uphill.
While it was still before noon it was heating up fast and the exposed hillside allowed the Sun to beat down on us. We distracted ourselves by looking at the different wildflowers that were still blooming amid the tall grasses.
Scarlet gilia
Dustymaidens
Skullcap
Heading up Tick Hill
Yarrow
Lupine
Mock orange and wild rose
Dragon fly
Moth mullien
Blanket flower
Checker-mallow and vetch
The Wallowas from the trail.
Sagebrush mariposa lily
After a steep half mile climb the trail leveled out a bit. We turned left at a post and descended slightly to a viewpoint next to a scraggly juniper tree.
A buckwheat
The Wallowa River and dance arbor from the viewpoint.
The Wallowa Mountians
We returned to the trail which continued to be level for 400 more feet before heading uphill again for a third of a mile to a junction with a spur trail to a gazebo.
Heading back to the post from the viewpoint.
About a quarter mile from the post we crossed this road leading to some radio towers.
Elkhorn clarkia
The gazebo ahead.
Shade!
Plaque near the gazebo.
View from the gazebo.
From left to right: Point Joseph, Hurricane Point, Ruby Peak, and Sawtooth Peak.
We cooled off in the shade of the gazebo before continuing on.
From the gazebo the trail descended slowly recrossing the road after 0.2 miles and passing by the radio towers.
At the junction with the spur trail to the gazebo. We came up from the left and continued on to the right.
Recrossing the road.
Western meadowlark
Heading toward the radio tower.
A fleabane
There were several plaques along this stretch.
Various wildflowers
Cinquefoil
Lots of blanket flower.
Sticky geranium
A little over three quarters of a mile from the gazebo the trail turned steeply downhill descending via another series of switchbacks.
Grand collomia
Scarlet gilia
The last line is great advice.
At the bottom of the switchbacks we turned left on a road bed following the Wallowa River.
Swallowtail
Dragon fly
Bachelor buttons
Swallowtail on hyssop.
Wallowa River
Goldenrod
We followed this road half a mile to the gravel road we’d been on earlier.
We retraced our steps back to the Mingo Motel completing a 4.5 mile lollipop hike with 600′ of elevation gain.
It was now a little after 2pm so after cleaning up and cooling down we headed back to the Little Bear Drive In for burgers, tots, and milkshakes. It was a good ending to what was overall an excellent trip (abdominal pain aside). With all our planned hikes completed we got a really early start on our drive back to Salem on Friday and made it home before Noon giving us plenty of time to unpack and relax. Happy Trails!
Flickr: Bear Creek & Wallowa Homeland
We parked about 200′ north of the actual trailhead per a suggestion by Sullivan in his guidebook.
The Rock Springs Trail at FR 62.
The trail passed a large rock field just below FR 62 and then entered the 
Lupine
Coralroot
The edge of the storm clouds.
Scarlet gilia along the trail.
Oregon sunshine and tapertip onion
Nettle-leaf giant hyssop
View from the trail before the first “viewpoint”.
Oregon checker-mallow
Assorted wildflowers
Blue sky following the storm clouds.
Scabland penstemon
Penstemon near the first “viewpoint”.
Yarrow
Douglas dustymaiden
Looking back from the viewpoint.
Buckwheat
The Point Prominence Lookout atop the high point to the left.
Ballhead sandwort
Heather coming down from the viewpoint.
Blowdown over the trail.
Nookta rose
Wood rose
View to the SE deeper into the Wallowas.
Mountain parnassian?
Back in the trees.
Some pale columbine. At first we thought it might be yellow columbine but it definitely had a red tint.
Thimbleberry crowding the trail. The storm had left a lot of water on the vegetation which in turn wound up on our legs and shoes.
Heading down into the valley.
Elkhorn clarkia
Approaching the second viewpoint.
Backbone Ridge which separates the Minam and Little Minam Rivers. We had crossed over that ridge further south on Tuesday when we took the Horse Ranch Trail from Moss Springs to the Minam River (post).
Grand collomia
Prairie smoke
Mock orange along the trail.
Twin flower and foam flower
Sign marking the junction of the Rock Springs and Little Minam Trails.
Possibly a wasp of some sort near the junction.
The first cabin ruin.
Almost looks okay from this angle.
Not so good from this angle.
The lodge was at the edge of this meadow.
The lodge
The fireplace seems to have held up well.
This cabin didn’t hold up.
Wildflowers near the watering hole.
The Little Minam River. We couldn’t quite see the confluence of the two rivers from here despite being very close.
The dangerous ford.
Here we tried looking for horse hoof prints to stick to the trail.
Butterfly on yarrow.
We think this was the trail.
The campsites where we picked up the Rock Springs Trail again.
Lorquin’s admiral
Looking across the gully we could see the trail cut climbing up the far hillside.
Pincushion plant
Resting moth
A plane taking off from Minam Lodge.
A popular thistle.
A skipper of some sort.
We both missed this yellow columbine on the way down.
View from the upper viewpoint on the way back up.
A final view from the Rock Springs Trail.
The cloud cover that moved in turned out to be a blessing as it kept the temperature reasonable as we made the long climb back up.
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