Tag: Wallowa Mountains

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

Hiking Oregon Trip report Wallowas

Hurricane Creek – 07/22/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 29, 2024
4 Comments on Hurricane Creek – 07/22/2024

After our short hikes along Hat Point Road on Sunday (post) we had shuffled our planned hikes for the rest of the week. It was going to be hot for the first half of the week with the possibility of thunderstorms Monday afternoon and evening. In addition, I was dealing with a couple of nagging left leg issues which had me wanting to avoid overly strenuous hikes.

For Monday we decided to try Hurricane Creek. Sullivan lists three options for this featured hike in his “100 Hikes Eastern Oregon” guidebook. The options are a 0.6-mile hike to Falls Creek Falls, a 6.2-mile hike to Slick Rock gorge, and a 15.4-mile hike to Echo Lake. The latter gains 3400′ of elevation, most of which comes in the final three miles to the lake. We had originally hoped to make it to the lake, but that was obviously off the table now. Our plan now was to try and make it to the gorge, but we were prepared to turn around if needed.

We arrived at the Hurricane Creek Trailhead just before 6am to try and beat both the heat and any potential thunderstorms.

We set off on the Hurricane Creek Trail and after 0.1-miles detoured right on the Falls Creek Trail to see the falls.

Canadian milk-vetch

The Falls Creek Trail on the right.

Less than a quarter mile up this trail we arrived at a view of the falls.

Mock orange

After visiting the falls we returned to the Hurricane Creek Trail and continued on.

The Falls Creek crossing.

Twin Peaks from Falls Creek.

The trail followed Hurricane Creek fairly closely which provided plenty of views of it.

Geranium

Paintbrush

A paintbrush hiding in fleabane.

Robin

The trail crossed a rocky area caused by an avalanche.

Doe with one of her two fawns that were down at the creek at the avalanche area.

Mountain death-camas

The Hurwal Divide to the left of Sacajawea Peak.

Rosy pussytoes

Hurricane Divide (south)

At the 1.7-mile mark we came to Deadman Creek with a view of Deadman Falls.

Deadman Creek

Western tanager

Hurricane Creek

Slick Rock Creek flowing down from the right in the distance.

The trail made a couple of switchbacks to climb above Hurricane Rapids.

Just over the 3-mile mark we arrived at Slick Rock Creek.

The creek crossing.

We took a nice long break at this creek to enjoy the views and flowers.
Harebells and stonecrop

Paintbrush below the falls.

Arnica

Wallowa paintbrush, yellow columbine, milk-vetch, and northern sweetvetch.

Faint rainbow in the falls.

Butterfly on Rocky Mountain goldenrod.

Yellow fleabane

This may be common butterwort, but I’m not positive.

Yellow columbine

Spider hunting a moth. There was a brief scuffle, but the moth escaped unharmed.

Penstemon

After our rest we headed back. We detoured at the base of the switchbacks to check out Hurricane Rapids.

Sagebrush mariposa lily

It was a warm but pleasant hike back to the car.
Despite all the wildfires the views were pretty good as long as the Sun was at our backs.

Nuttal’s linathus

Wood nymph

There was haze to our backs though.

Rose along the trail.

A Sulphur butterfly.

A pale crescent on fleabane.

Our hike including the two detours came to 7.3-miles with approximately 900′ of elevation gain.

My leg held up pretty well and we were finished just after 11am so we had stayed ahead of the worst of the heat. The afternoon and evening thunderstorms mostly avoided the areas where our remaining hikes for the week were located. The only bad news was that another red flag warning had been issued to Wednesday when temperatures were forecast to hit the 90’s again and more afternoon thunderstorms were possible. We adjusted our schedule again to have our next shortest outing be that morning and moved the slightly longer hike to McCully Basin up to Tuesday. It was shaping up to be an interesting week, and one that we were going to need to be very flexible with. After cleaning up in our room in Enterprise we headed to dinner at Range Rider. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Hurricane Creek

Tags Deadman Falls, eagle cap wilderness, falls creek, Falls Creek Falls, hiking, Hurricane Creek, Hurricane Creek Trail, Hurricane Creek Trailhead, Oregon, Slick Rock Creek, Slick Rock Gorge, Wallowa Mountains, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

Hiking Oregon Trip report Wallowas

Echo & Traverse Lakes (Eagle Cap Wilderness) – 08/17/2023

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 24, 2023
1 Comment on Echo & Traverse Lakes (Eagle Cap Wilderness) – 08/17/2023

Progress Report – 500 “Featured Hikes” – January 2023 UpdateTo wrap up our backpacking trip in the Eagle Cap Wilderness we targeted the hike to Echo and Traverse Lakes along the West Eagle Trail. The heat during this trip had been an issue and Heather had skipped the challenging hike to Tombstone Lake on Wednesday and opted for this hike instead while I tackled Tombstone (post). She came back from her hike with some good information regarding the trail conditions including a tangle of downed trees between the lakes where she decided to turn around instead of attempting to scramble up and around it.

The plan for our last day was for me to visit the two lakes while Heather worked on packing up and then when I returned we would hike out and head back to Salem. After breakfast I set off hoping that it wouldn’t be too hot this morning.
It was a little before 6am when I started up to the lakes.

I kept a steady pace for the first half mile having hiked this section of trail to the Tombstone Lake Trail junction the day before. This time at the junction I stuck to the West Eagle Trail.

Another switchback filled climb followed as the trail made its way up to Echo Lake’s basin.
There was an interesting amount of sagebrush along the lower portion of this hike.

There was still some smoke in the air, but it was quite a bit less than it had been the day before.

The trail initially seemed like it is heading up this valley before it crosses over a ridge and heads for the Echo Lake basin.

From this trail the route of the Tombstone Lake Trail was visible.

Waterfall along Olive Lake’s outlet creek. One of the switchbacks along the Tombstone Lake Trail is just to the right.

Tasselflower brickellbush

There was a lot of paintbrush along the trail.

Paintbrush and I believe fading false sunflowers.

Penstemon and paintbrush

Western snakeroot

Pika!

View across the valley.

The trail approaching the outlet of Echo Lake.

Above Echo Lake Falls which wasn’t visible from this trail.

Groundsel, lupine, and fireweed along the creek.

Sunrise in the basin.

The trail arrived at a creek crossing 1.7-miles from the Tombstone Lake Trail junction.

The trail leveled out after crossing the creek as it passed through a meadow above a pond.

The pond.

Gray sagewort

Looking back toward the valley and pond.

Approximately 0.7-miles from the creek crossing I began to get views of Echo Lake.

The trail stayed above the lake but near the far end I followed a spur trail down to a campsite and then the lakeshore.

The spur trail.

Spotted sandpiper

I returned to the trail and continued toward Traverse Lake. The trail climbed via several switchbacks and crossed several inlet creeks with various flowers.
Spirea

A no fires beyond this point sign. Several of the lakes in the Eagle Cap Wilderness are in no campfire zones.

Fleabane or aster lining the trail.

Two types of lousewort.

Echo Lake hidden by the trees.

Pearly everlasting along the trail.

Just after the final switchback I arrived at the blowdown where Heather had turned around.

A short steep scramble took me over the top of the downed trees and then I side hilled back down to the trail below.
Looking down at that trail from above the blowdown.

Back on the trail it passed through a granite boulder field then rounded a ridge and descended to Traverse Lake 1.3-miles from the side trail I’d taken to Echo Lake.
Bluebells

Echo Lake from the ridge end.

The Elkhorn Mountains (post)

Arriving at Traverse Lake.

Golden-mantled ground squirrel

Yellow Wallowa Indian paintbrush

Columbian ground squirrel

Cusick’s speedwell

I headed for the East end of the lake hoping to minimize the effect of the Sun on the view of the lake. I took a use trail to a campsite on a granite outcrop.
Remember that no fires sign? (Sigh)

I was able to drop down to the lakeshore where I took a short break and changed into some dry socks (sweaty climb).

After my break I headed back stopping numerous times to take in the views.

Monkeyflower

Globe penstemon

Gentians along the lake.

A lone paintbrush.

The blowdown at the far end of the boulder field.

White mariposa lily

Arnica

Swamp onions

Echo Lake

The pond below on the left.

Passing through the meadow.

Paintbrush and fireweed

Above Echo Lake Falls.

West Eagle Meadows in the valley in the distance.

Zoom in on West Eagle Meadows.

Looking down at the switchbacks.

Heather had also warned me about this blowdown over one of the switchbacks. There was a steep reroute that bypassed the trees.

There were some interesting cloud formations on the way back.

There was also an increase in the smoke.

Can you spot the pika?

Pika (possible the same one from earlier given the location).

Paintbrush and buckwheat

Yellow columbine

Another pika at the end of this switchback.

The Tombstone Lake Trail junction ahead.

I had arrived back at the trail junction a little before 10:15am and arrived back at camp at 10:23am. Heather was just finishing packing up the last of our items. I changed socks once again and got my day pack into my backpack so we could head for the car. It was 10:35am when set off for the final 2.5 miles of our trip.

Swallowtail photo bomb.

West Eagle Creek Crossing.

Sphinx moth

Leaving the Eagle Cap Wilderness.

Squirrel

West Eagle Meadows

It’s hard to see here but there is a trail post at this fork with a point to the left. This is for the horse camp and not the way back to the West Eagle Meadows Trailhead.

The trailhead in sight.

My mileage for the day came to 12.2 with a little over 1700′ of cumulative elevation gain.

Heather spotted a couple of flowers on her hike to Echo Lake the day before that I did not notice.
Flax

Jacob’s ladder

This was a great hike to finish the trip. For me Traverse Lake was my favorite of the week followed by Tombstone, Echo, Culver, Bear and Eagle in that order. All of them were great though. The only downside to the trip was the excessive heat. These hikes would have been even more enjoyable in reasonable temperatures. The trip did allow us to check off three more of Sullivan’s featured hike (post) putting us at 83/100 for his “100 Hikes: Eastern Oregon” guidebook. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Echo & Traverse Lakes

Tags backpacking, eagle cap wilderness, Echo Lake, hiking, Oregon, sphinx moth, Tombstone Lake Trail, Traverse Lake, Wallowa Mountains, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, West Eagle Meadows, West Eagle Meadows Trailhead, West Eagle Trail, wildflowers

Hiking Oregon Trip report Wallowas

Tombstone Lake (Eagle Cap Wilderness) – 08/16/2023

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 23, 2023
2 Comments on Tombstone Lake (Eagle Cap Wilderness) – 08/16/2023

We woke up at our campsite near West Eagle Creek early hoping to once again get a jump on the oppressive heat. I was planning on hiking from camp to Tombstone Lake and back, but Heather had yet to decide what her plans for the day were. We discussed it over breakfast, and she decided that she would instead follow the West Eagle Trail to Echo and possibly Traverse Lake. The heat had really been taking a toll on her and the shorter distance coupled with much less elevation gain seemed a smarter option all the way around. This was also one of the options for Sullivan’s Tombstone Lake featured hike so she would still be able to cross that one off the to-do-list (post).

Before we could set off we divided up our supplies making sure we each had ways to get more water (she took the pump and I took the purification tablets) and go to the bathroom if necessary. I took the Garmin inReach because let’s face it, I’m much more likely to do something stupid.

I’ll be covering my hike to Tombstone Lake for the remainder of this post. As soon as I was ready to go I said goodbye to Heather and set off on the West Eagle Trail.
The path from camp meeting the West Eagle Trail.

It was a little before 6:30am when I started.

After a brief gradual climb the trail began a series of 10 switchbacks before reaching the junction with the Tombstone Lake Trail a half mile from camp.
Switchbacks would be a theme for these last two days.

The trail junction on the ridge ahead.

I turned onto the Tombstone Lake Trail which gently climbed at first as it traversed a slope above West Eagle Creek.

After a quarter mile the trail crossed the creek and then began a long climb via 45 switchbacks to a basin.
The West Eagle Creek crossing.

There was a large waterfall on West Eagle Creek flowing from Echo Lake’s basin on the right.

Echo Lake Falls

There was a waterfall ahead at the end of the switchback here, but it was mostly obscured by vegitation.

It was fairly smokey looking ESE in the morning.

Wildflowers along the trail.

Several switchbacks were along this tributary of West Eagle Creek. This particular spot would provide me with much needed water on my descent.

It looked like there might be a bit of a waterfall along this stream as well.

Looking up the stream at another cascade.

The upper portion entered an old fire scar and sunlight which heated things up quickly.

Northern flicker

Every time I thought I was at the basin the trail would switchback to find more hillside.

Mountain bluebird

Surely that is the crest.

It was not, up I go.

Smoke to the South.

Echo Lake across the valley.

Finally done with the switchbacks I could see the next climb in the distance ahead, but for now I had a bit of a reprieve.

Sullivan’s map had made the section of trail passing through the meadowed basin appear decently long, but it turned out to be just over a half mile. This more level section still managed to include a pair of switchbacks as the trail went from a smaller lower basin to a much larger meadow.

Lousewort

Columbian ground squirrel

Gentians, one of my favorite wildflowers.

The larger meadow ahead.

We had spoken to a couple of women at the trailhead the day before, and they had mentioned that a group with llamas was heading into Tombstone Lake. I wound up passing their camp at the start of the meadow.
Their camp was uphill to the left. The stream here was lined with wildflowers.

Lewis monkeyflower, aster (or fleabane), and fringed grass of parnassus.

The trail all but disappeared on the far side of the stream, but small cairns helped mark the way.

Cairns along the trail through the meadow.

Yellow Wallowa Indian paintbrush

At the far end of the meadow the trail began another series of over 20 switchbacks as it climbed to a pass. Luckily it was quite a bit cooler near the meadow and there were a lot more flowers which made this climb a little more tolerable.
Heading up again.

Larkspur

White mariposa lily

Looking back down into the basin.

False hellebore

Coiled lousewort

As I was climbing I heard a helicopter that sounded very nearby. I wondered if it was possibly getting water from one of the lakes for a fire, but then it flew overhead from the direction of the pass.

It looked like it had stretcher not a bucket hanging underneath. Hopefully if anyone was in it they’re okay.

View of the basin headwall.

View back down the valley.

Phlox

Chipmunk

Golden-mantled ground squirrel

Arriving at the pass.

Smokey view from the pass.

Tombstone Butte, Swabb Mountain, with Granite Butte behind in between, and China Cap to the right.

The pass at nearly 8200′.

After a short break at the pass I started my descent toward Tombstone Lake. After a pair of switchbacks the trail straightened out and traversed a hillside below a ridge for half a mile.

The views along this section continued to improve the further I went.
Tombstone Lake below.

Sturgill Peak

Tombstone Lake is a series of connected bodies of water.

A phacelia.

At the end of the half mile the trail turned toward the lake and descended another series of switchbacks, 16 in all, before again straightening out and gradually descending to the lakeshore.

Rosy paintbrush

Finally at the lake.

Gentian along the lakeshore.

Swamp onion along the shore of one of the smaller bodies of water.

Trout

After exploring the lakes and taking a short break I checked my water supply and decided that I still had half my supply left. I decided to hold off on getting more until I was on the other side of the pass and headed down. I headed back and began counting down the 16 switchbacks as I climbed.

All trip I had wondered if there were any pikas in the area but we hadn’t seen or heard any, so I had come to believe that maybe there weren’t any. As I passed through a granite boulder field though I spotted a brown flash carrying a clump of greens.
Pika!

At the top of the switchbacks I left the trail just below a gap in the ridge and climbed to see what the view might be like.
The Tombstone Lake Trail from the gap.

Eagle Cap in the middle and Needle Point in the distance to the right.

Eagle Cap (post) is the tallest hump in the middle.

The East Fork Elk Creek valley below.

After checking out the view I made the half mile climb to the pass where I took another break.

After the break I headed back down. I paused near the meadow to let the llama group pass as they headed for Tombstone Lake. I let them know that I hadn’t seen anyone else at the lake and then continued on into the meadow.
Starting the switchbacks down.

I spent a little more time looking at the wildflowers this time through.

Hawk

Sphinx moth visiting some Lewis monkeyflower

Some nice paintbrush

Clumps of gentians

Gentians

Swamp onion

Leaving the basins to start the giant set of switchbacks down.

The smoke had become less of an issue on the way down allowing me to see Echo Lake a little more clearly.

I ran out of water in my bladder and was down to half a hydro flask when I arrived at the stream along the switchbacks, so I stepped off the trail and took the opportunity to refill the bladder and use the Iodine tablets.
This little cascade was perfect for filling the bladder.

From my spot along the stream I could see some of the West Eagle Trail on the far hillside, so I started looking for Heather. It took a few minutes, but I eventually spotted her descending her own set of switchbacks.

After the first 5 minutes were up I shook the bladder then started another 30-minute timer and started hiking again.
Echo Lake Falls straight ahead.

Recrossing West Eagle Creek.

One last look up at where I’d come from.

My timer went off just before arriving at the junction with the West Eagle Trail where I ran into Heather who was taking a short break.

We headed back to camp together.

Small unnamed waterfall on an unnamed creek.

It was again way too hot at camp so after we rested for a bit we headed to the creek to find some shade and soak are feet in the cold water. After we’d finally cooled down a bit we replenished our water supplies and returned to camp for dinner and bed.
Sphinx moth at camp.

Not sure what type of caterpillar this is but it was pretty. It was on the same larkspur the sphinx moth was visiting.

While we don’t intentionally feed the wildlife this green comma seemed to like the sweaty socks.

The hike to Tombstone Lake wound up being 13.3 miles with 3000′ of elevation gain, and a whole lot of switchbacking.

Heather had made a good choice by passing on this one given the heat, but it was a beautiful hike. She had really enjoyed her hike which we’ll cover in the next post, and she had some helpful information for me regarding trail conditions for my outing the next morning. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Tombstone Lake

Tags backpacking, eagle cap wilderness, Echo Lake Falls, hiking, Oregon, Pika, Tombstone Lake, Tombstone Lake Trail, Wallowa Mountains, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, West Eagle Creek, West Eagle Trail

Hiking Oregon Trip report Wallowas

Iwetemlaykin State Heritage Site – 06/13/2023

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date June 21, 2023
No Comments on Iwetemlaykin State Heritage Site – 06/13/2023

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

Tags Embers Brew House, enterprise, Farmer's Ditch, hiking, Iwetemlaykin State Heritage Area, Jospeh, Knight's Pond, Nez Perce National Historic Park, Old Chief Joseph's Gravesite, Oregon, Silver Lake Ditch, Wallowa Mountains, yellow warbler

Hiking Oregon Trip report Wallowas

Minam River via Rock Springs – 07/13/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 21, 2022
1 Comment on Minam River via Rock Springs – 07/13/2022

No Summer trip to Eastern Oregon is complete without at least one thunder storm and ours came early Wednesday morning. When we awoke at 4am in La Grande one was passing overhead nearby. I pulled up the weather forecast for the hike we had planned that day and much like the forecast had been for Mt. Ireland on Saturday there was a slight chance of a thunder storm. We packed up and headed for the Rock Springs Trailhead which was between La Grande where we had been staying and Wallowa where we had reservations for the next two nights. We were following the storm as it passed over the Wallowas but it stayed ahead of us and things looked pretty good when we parked along the shoulder of FR 62 where the Rock Springs Trail headed downhill toward the confluence of the Minam and Little Minam Rivers.
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 loses approximately 2500′ in the first 3.5 miles, sometimes steeply, passing viewpoints at the 0.7 and 2.0 mile marks. There were views along other stretches of trail though as the trail alternated between open wildflower filled hillsides and forest. It was the least maintained trail that we were on all week with quite a bit of grass and brush encroaching on the trail. It was also the only trail on which we encountered multiple ticks, about a half dozen, during the trip. (The only other tick we saw all week was one on my pants at Mt. Ireland on the first day (post).
The trail passed a large rock field just below FR 62 and then entered the Eagle Cap Wilderness.

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.

We turned left at the junction and descended another tenth of a mile where we spotted the first of several structures that used to be part of a lodge.
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.

Beyond the lodge several faint trails led off into the meadow.

The map in Sullivan’s book appeared to show the main trail turning left after passing the lodge with a spur continuing straight to the Little Minam River and a drinking hole for horses.

We had intended on taking the left hand fork but we wound up at the watering hole instead.
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.

We headed north using our GPS units in an attempt to locate the actual trail which should take us to a dangerous ford three quarters of a mile from the old lodge. After a bit of searching we picked up the faint trail.

The dangerous ford.

According to Sullivan, horses are able to cross later in the Summer but hikers should follow the Little Minam Trail south to the Horse Ranch Trail and cross the Minam on the footbridge that we had crossed on near Red’s Horse Ranch.

We sat on the rocks along the Minam for a bit before heading back.

On the way back it was a little easier to follow the faint trail which led us to some campsites above the old lodge.
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.

We made the 2500′ climb back up, watching for things we missed (and ticks) as we went.
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.

Our hike here came in just a tad over 9 miles to go with the 2500′ of elevation gain.

The ticks had been a bit of a distraction but the views had been good and there were a lot of wildflowers along the way. At the end of the day it was our least favorite hike of the trip but there was still plenty to enjoy. From the trailhead we drove to Wallow and checked into the Mingo Motel which turned out to be a surprisingly nice room. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Minam River via Rock Springs

Tags cabin, eagle cap wilderness, hiking, Little Minam River, Minam River, Mingo Motel, Oregon, Point Prominence Lookout, Rock Springs Trail, Rock Springs Trailhead, Wallowa, Wallowa Mountains, wildflowers

Hiking Oregon Wallowas

Minam River via Moss Springs – 07/11/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 19, 2022
2 Comments on Minam River via Moss Springs – 07/11/2022

Following a great first two days of hikes (Mt. Ireland & Catherine Creek Meadows) on our visit to Eastern Oregon Monday’s hike was set to be the longest in the trip, a visit to the Minam River via the Moss Springs Trailhead. We’d set our alarm for 4am in order to try and get as much hiking done during the cooler morning hours as possible. We’d left our motel at 5am and I started having abdominal pain as we drove to the trailhead. We think it was a side effect of my having preemptively taken some over the counter heartburn medication the previous nights since we had been eating richer foods than we typically do. Whatever the cause the my stomach seemed constantly cramped which was affecting my lower back and hips as well. I hoped that whatever was ailing me would subside soon as we set off on the Horse Ranch Trail (Trail 1908).

Entering the Eagle Cap Wilderness.

The trail descended from the trailhead 1.4 miles to a bridge over Horseshoe Creek. Going downhill was particularly painful for me as my cramped muscles protested each time I stepped down.

Scarlet gilia along the trail.

Tapertip onion

Scarlet gilia

Lewis flax, we were hoping to see it opened up on the way back up to the car but somehow we both completely missed it.

Arrowleaf groundsel

Bog orchid

False sunflowers

Paintbrush

Sticky geranium

Footbridge over Horseshoe Creek.

Horseshoe Creek

Shortly after crossing Horseshoe Creek the trail came close to the Little Minam River.

The trail gradually descended along the river for approximately three miles to a bridge crossing it.

Spotted coralroot

Mountain lady slipper

Little Minam River

Coral fungus

Huckleberry Creek

Bridge across the Little Minam River.

Little Minam River

I had been forced to take a number of breaks due to the abdominal discomfort including several bouts of dry heaves. Other than my core though I felt good and being just a tad stubborn we continued on from the bridge. On the far side of the bridge we stayed left at a junction with the Jim White Ridge Trail.

The Horse Ranch Trail briefly descended then climbed to a pass a little over 2 miles from the river crossing.

The only area that we encountered showing signs of having burned in the not too distant past.

Elkhorn clarkia

Junction with the Little Minam Trail (left) just below the pass.

At the pass the trail turned left and began to descend along a ridge.

Soon the trail left the ridge and began a steep descent to a meadow along the Minam River.
The meadow from the trail.

Arriving at the meadow.

The U.S.F.S. owned Red’s Horse Ranch is located in the meadow. This historic ranch was acquired by the Forest Service in 1994 and still has a caretaker. Due to how I was feeling we didn’t actually visit the ranch but instead continued past it to the Minam River where we crossed on another bridge and took a long break across the river from the ranch.

Horses at Red’s Horse Ranch.

Minam River

I was hoping the long break would finally help my stomach relax but alas it wasn’t to be; so after our break we began the 8 mile trek back up to the car. We stopped at a spring on the way up to the pass to top off our water. For whatever reason I felt way better going uphill than I had downhill or even on level trail which was nice.
Landing strip near Red’s Horse Ranch.

A plane coming in for a landing at the nearby Minam River Lodge.

Lousewort

Diamond clarkia

Grand collomia

Millipede

The pain was back as we descended from the pass but alleviated again every time we climbed. It was the first time I was happy to be climbing on a trail. We missed the flax on the way back up to the car but we did spot several white mariposa lilies which we hadn’t noticed that morning as well as a large patch of broomrape.
Pink pyrola

Little Minam River

Coral fungus

We saw a bunch of these black moths? but they seldom sat still long enough to get a photo.

An Orobanche

Penstemon

Butterfly

White mariposa lily

Large-flower triteleia

Arriving back at the trailhead.

We arrived back at the car around 3:15pm after the long hike. It was a nice hike but admittedly my issues were a distraction for both of us which kept us from appreciating it as much as we should have.

Heather drove us back to La Grande where I tried taking a bath and eating half a sandwich was the only thing other than water and Gatorade that I’d had all day. Neither helped immediately so I laid down in bed and soon fell asleep. We kept the alarm set in hopes that I would be feeling better in the morning but if I didn’t we’d have to delay our planned hike to Burger Pass. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Minam River via Moss Springs

Tags eagle cap wilderness, hiking, Horse Ranch Trail, Horseshoe Creek, Huckleberry Creek, Jim White Ridge Trail, Little Minam River, Little Minam Trail, Minam Lodge, Minam River, Moss Springs Trailhead, Oregon, Red's Horse Ranch, Wallowa Mountains, white mariposa lily, wildflowers

Hiking Oregon Trip report Wallowas

Catherine Creek Meadows – 07/10/2022

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date July 18, 2022
1 Comment on Catherine Creek Meadows – 07/10/2022

We’d spent the night in Baker City following our hike to the Mt. Ireland Lookout (post). Our plan for the next six days was to do five more of the “featured hikes” (post) from Sullivan’s 3rd edition “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Eastern Oregon” then before heading home on Friday do the Wallowa Homeland hike which is featured in Sullivan’s most recent 2022 edition of “100 Hikes Eastern Oregon”. Because the hikes were spread out along the western and northern sides of the Wallowas we would be moving our base of operations a couple of times during the week starting with a move to La Grande for Sunday through Tuesday nights.

Sunday morning we packed everything up and headed for the North Fork Catherine Creek Trailhead. After navigating the pothole filled FR 7785 we pulled into the large trailhead parking area.

A $5 fee is required here and at several other trailheads we visited during the week. (An annual NW Forest Pass can be used instead.)

The trail doesn’t start at the parking area but rather another tenth of a mile up the road so we road walked to the official trailhead.

The trail initially climbs above the creek to an open hillside, that was putting on a pretty good wildflower display, before descending to a bridge a little after 1.5 miles.
Lots of purple venus penstemon.

There were also some white scabland penstemon on the hillside.

Buckwheat

Venus penstemon

Lupine and stonecrop

Paintbrush

North Fork Catherine Creek

Douglas dustymaiden

Spreading dogbane

The trail crossed several side creeks, all of which were we were able to cross dry footed.

A brief stretch along North Fork Catherine Creek.

Queen’s cup

Another side creek.

Bog orchid

Spotted coralroot

A fleabane

One of the more interesting things we’ve witnessed was watching carpenter ants removing sawdust from a dead log and dropping it in a pile below.

They’re a little blurry but you can see the ants in the cracks where they would drop their sawdust. It was fascinating to watch and we paused for quite a while.

Columbine

Mountain lady slippers

Large-flower triteleia

Back above the creek.

The bridge over Catherine Creek.

Bluebells next to the bridge.

The trail climbed gradually for the next three and a half miles before reaching Catherine Creek Meadows.

Crab spider

Another type of penstemon

Rosy pussytoes

A side creek running down the trail.

Yellow columbine

Entering the Eagle Cap Wilderness.

Jim Creek, this was one of the trickier crossings.

Hound’s tongue

Nettle-leaf giant hyssop

One of several smaller meadows along the trail.

Jacob’s ladder

California corn lily and bluebells.

Boot Hill Creek was also tricky as it had taken over the trail.

A large patch of coralroot.

A few remaining balsamroot blooming above North Fork Catherine Creek.

Arriving at Catherine Creek Meadows.

Up until this point we had been very lucky this year with mosquitos but the meadows were very wet and the recent warm weather had the bugs out in decent numbers so we couldn’t linger in any one spot too long but we did take a short break at a campsite near a side creek.

All the black dots in the blue sky were gnats flying over the stream at the trail crossing.

Heart-leaved bittercress

Our goal for the day lay about a half mile away, an early 1900’s log cabin at the far end of the meadow. After our break we set off across the creek following what became an increasingly wet trail to a junction where we forked left.

Looking back at the sign post in the meadow marking the trail junction.

Another dry section of trail.

It wasn’t dry for long.

Yellow buttercups and pink elephant’s head.

Elephant’s head, one of our favorites.

Ladybug

Nearing the cabin.

Ground squirrel

Squatter running from the cabin.

We checked out the inside of the cabin before heading back.

It was only 9:45am when we started back so we took our time and kept an eye out for anything we’d missed on our first pass.
Beetle

Another beetle and Nevada bitterroot.

Brunch

A comma of some sort.

Big mushroom

Something from the Lycaenidae family.

Coneflower

Swallow-tail on red clover.

Fritilary on clover

Mourning cloak perched overhead.

Lorquin’s admiral

A tortoiseshell

Skullcap, one of the hardest flowers to get a decent picture of for some reason.

Tapertip onion

Yarrow and other wildflowers up the hillside.

Our hike came in at 11.8 miles with approximately 1450′ of elevation gain.

From the trailhead we drove to La Grande and checked into our Motel, after hanging out at a park for about an hour because we’d arrived a bit too early, and then headed to Side A Brewing for an early dinner. It was going to be a warm week so we turned in early planning on another 4am wake-up the next morning to beat as much of the heat as we could. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Catherine Creek Meadows

Tags Catherine Creek Cabin, Catherine Creek Meadows, eagle cap wilderness, hiking, La Grande, North Fork Catherine Creek, North Fork Catherine Creek Trail, North Fork Catherine Creek Trailehad, Oregon, Side A Brewing, Wallowa Mountains, wildflowers

Hells Canyon Hiking Oregon Trip report

Freezeout Saddle

Day two of our Memorial Day Weekend trip to NE Oregon was set to be our first visit to the Hells Canyon Wilderness. Our planned hike was a loop described by Sullivan as “rugged” starting from the Freezeout Trailhead and utilizing the Saddle Creek, Summit Ridge, and Freezeout Trails.

According to the weather forecast, day two was also the most likely to provide precipitation with a 90% chance of showers as the day wore on. It had rained a bit overnight at Wallowa Lake so we were pleasantly surprised to have a nice view of the mountains as we drove into Joseph that morning.

From Joseph we drove to Imnaha where we turned right onto the mostly gravel Upper Imnaha Road for 12.3 miles. Just before a bridge we veered left from the wide gravel road onto a much narrower, steep, more dirt than gravel road for 2.7 miles to the large trailhead.

Two trails leave from this trailhead, the Saddle Creek and Freezeout. We took the Saddle Creek Trail on the left side of the informational signboard.

There was a decent amount of blue sky behind us to the east as we began to climb up the trail.

Ahead of us the Sun was still rising in the east where a few lighter clouds filled the sky.

We also noticed a few cows on the hillside ahead of us.
(The black dot in the center of the hill is one such cow.)

We were busy looking for flowers and ignoring the cattle.
Western stoneseed

Prairie stars

Lupine

We couldn’t ignore them for long though as we soon rounded a bend to find several of them in the trail. They began to head up the trail so we followed having played this game before (post). More cows began to hurry down the hillside and cross the trail and then we noticed the bull. He didn’t look overly please with us but he managed to get the rest of the herd off the trail and uphill a bit. We passed on by and then promptly heard several of the cows coming up quickly behind us. I knew this game too from my time moving irrigation pipes in Central Oregon as a teenager. I turned and they stopped then we repeated (like the school yard game “red light, green light”). Knowing this could go on for awhile when we got into a brushy section of trail we sped up and left them behind.

Heather emerging from the brushy section.

We could relax and start enjoying the hike again. The trail climbed up through open grass hillsides with occasional stands of trees. Views abounded.

About a half mile from the trailhead the Saddle Creek Trail made a wide arc into the tress to Saddle Creek.

The trail crossed the creek only to recross it moments later.

The forest hosted a few different flowers than the grassy hillsides.

The trail climbed away from the creek and began a series of switchbacks leading back to the open hillsides.

As we gained elevation the number of blooming flowers increased.

Blue Dicks

Balsamroot

Balsamroot, paintbrush and biscuitroot

The views also got better as we climbed but we also began to notice showers passing by. A bonus result of the showers was a faint rainbow that framed the snowy Wallowa Mountains to the west for a time.

The Saddle Creek Trail kept climbing, sometimes via switchback and others up and around ridges.

There was a good number of flowers in bloom with quite a few more to come.
Larkspur and monkeyflower

Paintbrush

Chickweed

Possibly going to be a penstemon

Unkown

Lupine

We finally arrived at Freezeout Saddle after gaining over 1900′ in what our GPS claims was 3 miles.

A trail signpost marked the junction with the Summit Ridge Trail.

Despite the showers nearby we had a pretty good 360 degree view.
West to the quickly vanishing Wallowa Mountains.

North

South

IMG_7509_stitch East into Hells Canyon

We rested briefly at the saddle admiring the view.

After the break we headed south on the Summit Ridge Trail passing more views into Hells Canyon and some different wildflowers.
Cutleaf daisy

A little white alpine pennycress

Largehead clover

The view toward the Wallows had taken a hit though as some dark clouds and rain showers now lay between us and them.

We began to run into quite a few yellow glacier lilies when we reentered the trees as we traversed around the west side of a rise along the ridge.

There were also a few kittentails present.

We ran into our first non-bovine obstacle in the form of a downed tree in this section.

Oh if that had been the only other obstacle. As we came around the hillside and spotted a snowfield in the distance.

The rain “showers” had made their way over to us and at an elevation of approximately 6200′ we were partly in the clouds.

We hoped it would pass quickly and stuck to looking for more flowers which we found in a clump of hairy clematis.

We arrived at the snow field and sized it up. There was a clear track crossing from the side we were on.

We had brought our microspikes for just such an occasion but the snow looked narrow and the footprints were well established from what we could see so we eschewed the spikes and started across. Big mistake as the footprints had smoothed over on the far side of the snow (which was icy and even slicker than usual with the rain falling). I managed to heal kick some footholds and get off the snow without too much trouble but Heather had gone higher thinking it would be easier to get off by going up. Luckily she was able to kick in a little bit of footing and jam her poles into the snow to help keep her from sliding down the hill. I was able to the get a hold of her pack and we got her off the snow as well. Lesson learned, we carry the microspikes for a reason, use them!

A bit shaken we continued on stopping to admire a yellowbell.

The rain was not letting up so we’d thrown on our rain jackets which we had put off putting on thinking that we were liable to get wetter from sweat while we climbed than wearing them in the rain. The trail had leveled off along the ridge now and we began encountering more patches of snow.

Just under three miles from Freezeout Saddle we arrived at another signed junction.

In our guidebook Sullivan has you go straight at this junction showing the fork to the right petering out after a short distance. The Forest Service map which is also on the GPS unit shows the right hand trail (Marks Cabin Trail) going all the way over to the Freezeout Trail. We initially headed straight but the footprints that we had been following through the snow patches disappeared and so had the trail. After about 450 feet we decided to go back to the junction and try the other way which would be shorter and we hoped less snowy. Incidentally the 450 foot excursion from the junction officially took us into the Hells Canyon Wilderness so we at least were able to mark off another wilderness area as visited.

Marks Cabin Trail was no easier to follow as it was faint even when there was no snow.

We used the maps to stay close to where the trail was supposed to be having to correct course a number of times due losing sight of it under the snow only to find it again by spotting cut logs or a bit of tread.

After crossing over a barbed wire fence we spotted a cairn in the grass but there was no sign of a trail anywhere near it.

More map work led us to what at least looked like a trail.

By now the rain shower had not only not passed over but it was now a snow shower. At some point we wound up a 100 feet or so above the trail and had to climb over a number of logs to get down to it.

Luckily we managed to get back to it near the junction with the Freezeout Trail which was marked by a small piece of white flagging (not shown as my hands were too cold to unclip the camera from my waist) 1.5 miles (they route we took) from the junction. Heather kept asking where the cabin was which I thought was a strange obsession to see some private cabin while all I wanted to do was get down below the snow. A couple days later she pointed out that we might have been able to warm up at the cabin (if it had been open or if someone from one of the vehicles at the trailhead had been using it) or use it to orient ourselves and make sure we were on the right trail.

We headed down the Freezeout Trail which quickly became faint in the grass.

The good news was it reappeared and the rain/snow was finally starting to let up.

The bad news was that after passing over a ridge the trail headed into a gully that was holding quite a bit of snow among trees and other vegetation (again not pictured due to cold hands and a bit of frustration). The trail is described as an old cattleman’s trail in the guidebook and that description fit in the steep gully. We knew the trail crossed the gully but we couldn’t see where and we didn’t want to try and cross any of the steep snow even with our spikes so we picked our way through the best looking gap in the snow patches and found what turned out to be the trail somehow.

We were now done with the snow for the day and soon we were back traversing an open hillside with views albeit more limited than those from the morning.

(The rest of the photos were a fight with moisture and numb fingers so please excuse the numerous water spots. 🙂 )

Despite being cold and soaked we were still looking for flowers.
Brown’s peony getting ready to bloom.

Mariposa lily starting to open.

This portion of trail alternated between grassy open areas and ponderosa pine forest.

After the first mile from where we’d turned onto it, the Freezeout Trail steepened a lot as it headed downhill fast to an unsinged junction with the Long Ridge Trail.

Shortly beyond the junction we crossed a scenic unnamed creek that refused to sign a waiver forcing me to blur out its identity.

The trail leveled out somewhat beyond the creek and at another opening we were able to look back up towards the ridge where we’d come from.

We were now traversing a hillside above Freezeout Creek and gradually making our way down to it through the forest.

Along this strecht we spotted this cute little flower.
Small flower miterwort

20190524_125157

As we neared Freezeout Creek we passed a junction for the Morgan Ridge Trail.

Our final obstacle of the day was navigating around Freezout Creek which has claimed a chunck of the trail as its own. A scramble path led up and around a tree which was lucky because the water actually looked quite deep where the trail had been.

From there it was just over a quarter mile back to the trailhead where we were more than happy to put on some dry clothes and warm up. The GPS tallied a 13 mile hike and it felt every bit of one with approximately 3700′ of elevation gain. The climb up really wasn’t all that bad but we were feeling the steep decent in our knees.

The day had one more bit of adventure in store for us as we headed down the narrow road from the trailhead. A pair of trucks, one with a horse trailer, were heading up and where we met the road was too narrow to pass. Heather had to back up a good distance until we found a spot where they could pass.

After the trucks went by we were able to get back to Joseph with the only other excitement being a pair of turkeys along the road.

In Joseph we stopped at the R & R Drive In for some comfort food which really hit the spot. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Freezeout Saddle

Tags brown's peony, Cows, Freezeout Creek, Freezeout Saddle, Freezeout Trail, Hairy clematis, Hells Canyon, hiking, Imnaha, Joseph, Marks Cabin Trail, Oregon, Saddle Creek Trail, Snow, Summit Ridge Trail, Wallowa Mountains, Wallowas, wildflowers