Trip: Wallowa River Loop
Total Distance: 35 miles?
Duration: 6 days/5 nights
Location: Eagle Cap Wilderness, Wallowa Mountains
Trip Date: July 22-27, 2007

Summary: Unlike any backpacking trip we have ever done before.

A colleague of mine (let’s call him “Tim”) had been wanting to get back into backpacking since the birth of his daughter three years previous and asked if Bill and I wanted to plan a trip with him. Tim also wanted to bring his best friend from college (and let’s call her “newbie”), a woman who had no backpacking experience but was “up for anything”.

Long story short, we said yes and decided to head out to the Wallowas for a loop trip that would be easy enough for a beginner but with enough to keep the more experienced folks interested. We had never backpacked in a group larger than two plus dog, but we were up for giving it a try. They took on dinners; we provided breakfasts.

We loaded up early, leaving Portland in the gray dark of morning, and headed east stopping in La Grande for late breakfast. Because newbies always seem to be preoccupied with pooping in the woods, our newbie was intent on making sure she stayed regular on the trail. Part of this ritual – for her – included two shots of cheap whiskey which, around the campfire in the company of good friends is not a problem, but at 10 in the morning in a Denny’s was a little both strange and hilarious. Strangely hilarious, really.

We got on the East Fork of the Wallowa River Trail from the Wallowa Lake TH around 3 PM. It was 90 degrees and sunny and we knew we had about 6 miles and 3000′  of elevation gain to Aneroid Lake, our first scheduled camp for the trip.

For some reason, we had a scale in the car and jumped on it to see what each of our packs weighed all loaded up. (This is before Bill and I ventured into “lightweight” backpacking and still carried a lot of traditional gear.) Bill and I were in the 35 pound range. My colleague and his friend were both over 50 pounds! We tried to cull some weight, but they had packed 10 pounds of dried fruit that they didn’t want to let go. They assured us that it was fine and that they’d eat down the weight in no time.

The first couple of miles, Bill and I would slowly pull away from Tim and newbie and then wait 10 or 15 minutes for them to catch up. At around 4 miles, Bill and I stopped next to a little stream and waited…and waited. Forty-five minutes later, Bill headed back down the trail and immediately returned with them hobbling along.

Tim’s boots had exploded around Mile 3 and had to be taped back together.

The photo doesn’t convey the magnitude of the explosion, but it was bad. At that point, the sun had set behind the canyon walls so we decided to make camp at the little stream and figure out a new strategy. It went something like this:

1. At first light, Tim was going to hike back to the car without his pack, drive into Joseph and find someone to fix his boots.
2. After a leisurely breakfast, the rest of us were going to hike up to Aneroid Lake and find a camp.
3. When we were done setting up camp, Bill would hike back to the stream, pick up Tim’s 55-pound pack and hike it up to Aneroid Lake.
4. While Bill was hiking back to the stream, I would build a series of cairns and other signs to help Tim find our camp at the lake.
5. The back up plan was if we didn’t see Tim that day, we were to hike out to the car the following day.

On Day Two, I woke to the sound of Tim breaking down his bivvy sack while eating a granola bar.  The rest of us slowly breakfasted and then continued our hike to Aneroid Lake, where found a lovely campsite in the mid-morning and proceed to set up camp. Bill headed back down the trail to get the pack. An hour later, a group of three men and six tween boys showed up with fishing gear and tents and set up a camp about 20 feet from us. They’re yelling to one another and breaking trees limbs and throwing huge rocks in the water, as boys are wont to do. However, we were having none of it – this is the wilderness and our time for quiet.

As we’re packing up our gear to find another place to camp, Bill comes humping up the hill with the 55 pound pack, sweat pouring down his reddened face.

“Hey,” I said. “We’re moving to another site.”

Bill looks dejected. “Why?”

I point to the boys, who were giving each other wedgies in the shallows of the lake.

Bill unhappily plops down in the shade of a pine tree. “I just need a minute or seven.”

No problem, I say, and head off to scout out an even more fabulous campsite. I found one at the other end of the lake, which allowed us to quickly distance ourselves from the boys. I carried the 55 pound pack this time and it totally sucked.

We had all day to dally around the lake. Just as we were getting ready to make dinner, Tim ambled into camp. “I brought cookies!” he said as he hoisted a plastic bag of gigantic chocolate chip cookies over his head.

Tim ended up buying new boots because the one cobbler in town told him that he couldn’t fix his boots – they were trashed. So he went to the local cowboy outfitter store and tried on the three hiking boots they carried in his size. He ended up buying a pair, plus two pairs of Croc knock-offs – because, really, he wasn’t carrying enough weight already. And because he hiked 6 miles and 3,000′ in new boots, he had blisters.

We set upon building dinner, which was a smoked salmon pasta with shallots and garlic and real butter. I think we ate about five pounds of their weight that night.

As we were eating dinner and enjoying the sunset, a scout leader and eight boy scouts came walking through our camp looking for a camp themselves. There is no emoticon in the world that can express how I was feeling at that moment. But they ended up being good and somewhat quiet despite shouting to us “Is this tree high enough to hang a bear bag?” – and pointing to an 8-foot high subalpine fir with no real limbs to speak of.

Day 3 started at 2AM when we got a surprise thunderstorm. We had to get up and take down all of our clothes, pull back the rain fly, and see to our friends in their Gore-Tex burritos. They didn’t have anywhere to store their gear but we ended up stuffing their clothes and electronics equipment down into the bivy with them until it stopped raining. I could not stop laughing.

Later that morning, we packed up the wet gear, made breakfast, and were on our way. Once we climbed out of the Aneroid Basin, the fun began.

Today was a tough day: over 12 miles, two passes, and it was hot. The first pass was Tenderfoot Pass, which provided a nice view of Aneroid Mountain and the surrounding foothills.

I filled up my 100 oz water reservoir just before climbing Tenderfoot Pass, but it looked from the map as though there would be at least two more water sources before climbing up and over Polaris Pass. This turned out not to be true (dry creeks) and the group was very low on water on the climb. We could have dropped down several thousand feet to a water source close to the Imnaha, but the group decided to continue on to see if we could get some water on the other side of Polaris.

The trail to and over Polaris Pass is “unmaintained.” We had run into a backpacker on our first Wallowa trip who had come over Polaris and said that it was great. Tough, but great. I was really looking forward to the pass but I was worried about our newbie.

Polaris Pass was great.

It was steep.

Once we got down to a place where the terrain wasn’t so steep, I shared the remainder of my water and we set off down an absolutely beautiful, flower-choked finger ridge that takes you 2000′ down on hundreds of switchbacks. The ridge had two watercourses on either side of it but access to the water was too steep. Finally, fearing for our dog’s health, Bill and I bushwacked down a short but steep slope to water and took turns pumping water for the group.

Since our last saga with Chelsea in the Wallowas, we got her some dog boots which really helped keep her paws cool and from being torn up, but they also came off a little too regularly despite tightening and taping them. One of us would have to walk behind her as a spotter for when a bootie came off. When she climbed down the steep slope at the creek, one bootie came off and immediately started floating away. If you look in the photo above, you can see that the creek quickly turns into a waterfall. I did my best A-Rod diving catch by essentially running on the rocks and pouncing on the floating bootie before it took a ride over the falls.

We eventually made it down to the West Fork of the Wallowa River and headed south to Frazier Lake, our camp for the evening. But first we had to ford the West Fork of the Wallowa River.

No big deal. I took of my boots, waded across, put my boots back on. Voila! The others were convinced that they could boulder hop their way across and not have to stop for 40 seconds to take off their boots.

A half-hour later, they’re still on the east side of the river slowly making their way up river to find the perfect spot to cross. Meanwhile, Chelsea and I have gone ahead up the trail and we’re sitting at a nice viewpoint waiting for them. At some point they come into view (still on the other side of the river) and Chelsea goes off to greet them. She jumps in the water and walks over to where they are and emerges from the river missing two boots.

I scramble down from my viewpoint and follow Chelsea’s path, looking closely for her boots. Nothing. We search the area she jumped in the water, looking between boulders and plants. Nothing. Twenty minutes of looking. Nothing. Suddenly, over the roar of the water, Bill yells from down river about 50 yards. I look over and he’s holding two soggy dog boots over his head with a  triumphant smile. He found them in an eddy behind a boulder.The group takes off their boots, crosses the river, put their boots back on and we continue on to Frazier Lake.

We had a nice meal of cashew chicken rice with fruit and coconut that night. Minus 8 pounds.

A note about Frazier Lake: it’s a dumpy little lake. It’s very shallow, muddy in a lot of places and thick with tadpoles. It’s also really overcamped. Most people camp below the trail, closer to the edge of the lake. But we found beautiful campsites above the trail that were more private and had great views of the lake and surrounding area. If you go there to camp, I would encourage you to look around for a better campsite that is not right next to the lake.

DAY FOUR was short. We planned to hike to Moccasin Lake instead of going on farther because the 12+ miles and the heat had taken its toll on the dog, Tim, and the newbie. So we got up and hiked up to Glacier Lake…

And after a snack and hiking around the open slopes of Glacier Lake, a swim…

…and then a short climb up to glacier Pass and a nice descent to Moccasin Lake. All told – 5 miles.

Like last time, we had Moccasin Lake to ourselves. And since we had all day to explore it, we did. There is a hidden waterfall, and caves, and excellent bouldering (if you’re into that), and great swimming, and wild onion everywhere.

The weather started to turn in the afternoon and threatened rain and thunderstorms until evening, but it never did rain.

We restructured our trip at Moccasin Lake to shave off some mileage. Instead of pushing on to Ice Lake and spending another day or two there, we were going to spend the next two days hiking out under very reasonable mileage through the Lakes Basin and along the West Fork of the Wallowa River.

It was nice to have someone else cook dinner for you. They even provided dessert after most of the meals. At Moccasin Lake, the dessert de jour was instant chocolate pudding. We put the pudding powder in a Nalgene bottle, added water, and each took a turn shaking it for several minutes. Then we tied a rope and a rock to the bottle and threw it in the lake to cool for an hour.

Lesson Learned: Even though the lake feels cold when you’re swimming in it, it’s not cold enough to make pudding solidify.

Worst. Pudding. Ever.

DAY FIVE was warm, sunny and clear. We had a long, leisurely breakfast of pancakes and coffee and then set off for the Lakes Basin and, eventually, Six Mile Meadow. We stopped for a two-hour snack and clothes-not-optional-swim at Lee Lake (after all, we do still work together).

After the swim, we shuffled off past Horseshoe Lake and then down, down, down to Six Mile Meadow.

The Lakes Basin trails get a lot of beating from the boot traffic, but also the horsepacking traffic. There is a lot of horse poo on the trail and the treads have been pulverized to a fine sandy dust that gets up your nose and in your eyes. Unless it’s rained recently, it’s a good idea to leave some distance between you and your hiking partner lest they get a mouthful of your poo-laden trail dust.

We had to ford the West Fork again before Six Mile Meadow and, this time, everyone took their boots off and waded across. Just then, the weather turned.

In the span of an hour, the weather had gone from sultry hot swimming weather to thunderstorms and torrential rain. We had about 60 seconds to set up our tent before the rain hit. In his haste (and he will deny this), Bill poked a hole in the tent, which I had to hold closed with my finger until the rain storm was over and we could patch it.

Tim and newbie put on their rain gear and sat out the rain storm under some trees. After the rain, we made soup to warm up and trolled around the meadow.

That night, my colleague and newbie made another delicious dinner and tried to cook cobbler, which didn’t work out so well. But it was a very entertaining process.

On DAY SIX we walked out the six miles on relatively boring forested trail. I was the first back to the car because, after six days with Tim and newbie constantly talking on the trail, I needed some quiet time. Bill couldn’t keep up with my pace so he feigned a tree break so that he could get in behind them for the same reason.

We don’t normally chat all day on the trail. We’re off in our own thoughts, singing our own song over and over in our head, processing all the garbage we brought with us on the trail. We talk when we see something amazing or have a profound thought or just remembered a really good joke, but we don’t chit chat. Newbie and Tim talked the entire time on the trail. Mind you, it was entertaining in camp. These are two very bright, entertaining people. But all day?

And that’s what makes it unlike any backpacking trip we’ve ever done before…or since.

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Slideshow [All the Photos]