Photo Friday: Dayhiking the Wallowa Mountains

Since some of you may be wondering where the Wallowas are: they are a small range in the far NE corner of Oregon, in part at least renowned for having a bit of a feel of California's Sierra Nevada Mountains--without so much altitude!

Back in September I did a road trip with my brother- and sister-in-law, beginning with several days around the Wallowa Mountains and three scenic dayhikes, mostly within the Eagle Cap Wilderness.

Hike #1 was a 7 1/2-mile round trip to Bonney Lake. The road to the trailhead was a little rough, but passable with my Prius. YMMV.

After a short stretch of pleasant valley bottom and a stream crossing, a big chunk of the middle of the hike to the lake was through an area that had burned in a fire within the last year or two--very fresh still.

Nothing like finding your trail signs well-blackened.

We eventually climbed above the burn and into the sub-alpine meadows. This part felt more like the Rockies than the Sierra.

Pretty sure that was volcanic, though, so not quite the Rockies!

Eventually we had lunch by a pretty, though not spectacular, lake, gradually giving way to grasses.

Hike #2 the next was a quarter of the way around the range from Bonney Lake, a nearly 8-mile climb to Maxwell Lake. This trailhead is on the Lostine Creek Road, which though unpaved ranged from high-speed gravel to very good dirt. The Maxwell Lake trail suffered from a split personality. The first half was an almost too-well-graded climb up broad switchbacks through the thick forest. And then--suddenly they decided not to bother, and the rest of the climb was pretty much straight up the slope.

Started right off with a stream crossing--on a lovely big bridge; the last flat bit we saw for a long time.

Eventually we reached the high country again and the grade slackened and the views opened up.

Finally, we passed through a low gap and found ourselves in a stunning lake basin.

The lake is just visible at the base of the peak.

Maxwell Lake

Maxwell Lake

Hike #3, still further around to the south side of the Mountains was to Echo Lake, out of the West Eagle Meadow campground. This was a treat, because we ended the hike in camp, so there was no drive before we could get cleaned up and fed! It was an 11 1/3-mile round trip so we were glad of that. It also helped to make an early start.

West Eagle Meadow in the morning light.

The hike was definitely scenic, with lots of variety and views to keep us from getting tired of it.

We finally reached a high basin and what we hoped was the lake, but turned out to be a pre-lake pond, with another half mile to go. But there was geology.

Impressive dikes intruding into the granite.

The meadow and the pond, as we climb on to the real thing.

In this case, I found the lake to be less of a scenic treat than the hike itself, though the setting was good. Water levels were down and we may have been too tired to appreciate it fully.

Echo Lake

My take-away from this sampler of the Wallowa range is that there is some good hiking there, including (or maybe especially) some nice-looking backpacking routes. And they are a very reasonable drive from Seattle. I'll be back.

©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2023    
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