Day 7: Back to Two Pan: 4.5 miles

We reluctantly got out of our tents as it was still really cold - one downside of camping deep in a narrow canyon where it takes a while for the sun to reach. We ate quickly and packed up and headed back to the Two Pan trailhead. The day was pretty uneventful. We did pass several folks who looked really strange to me. I finally figured out that it was because they were clean!

At Two Pan we loaded up the car and started back towards civilization but not before hiding one more letterbox in honor of the French Rabbit. We drove on, found a few letterboxes and most improtantly some showers and then camped at an RV park on the Columbia river in Boardman on nice lush and cushy grass.

Day 6: Copper and Elkhorn Creeks: 9 miles

We got up and packed camp again and headed up the Copper Creek trail. Shortly up the trail we found a nice campsite and while deciding whether to use it a father and two sons came by. They had spent the night before at the campsite and talked with us while we set up camp. They had left in place beds from pine boughs they had made (illegally!) for their tents and thought we were both a strange for not using them. They headed on down the trail and we headed up.

This part of the wilderness was very nice even if not quite as scenic as the Lakes Basin. It consisted of following Copper and the Elkhorn Creek. There would be periodic short rocky climbs in between meadows. Eventually we came to the highest part of the trail where we had the option of hiking down to Swamp Lake. It looked interesting, but neither of us was thrilled with the idea of hiking back up. So we headed down a little way on a different trail just until we could get a good view of the Minam river drainage.

Then it was back down the way we came to our campsite where we had cold showers as I had choosen a poor location for the water bladders.

We decided to play a game of scrabble and it quickly started getting really cold. We put on all our clothes and were still cold. We decided we had to either build a fire or go to bed and we choose the latter.

This was my coldest night ever backpacking. It got down to around freezing. For the first time ever I cinched up my sleeping bag over my face. I was then able to stay warm. Karen would later dub the campsite Camp Witchitit, which I understand is Nez Perce for really cold.

Day 5: Over Ivan Carper: 9.5 miles

All good things must come to an end. Today we would leave the primo campsite. Not only that, but we'd have to pack camp. And carry our full pack. Up almost 1000 feet over Ivan Carper Pass. But it was time to move on and so we did.

For the last time we went back by Mirror Lake and Upper Lake and then started the ascent to the top of the pass. It wasn't too bad. We got to the top and took a break. While sitting there we heard someone coming up from the other side. We greeted him and he ignored us, dropped his pack and headed back down. Several minutes later he reappeared with another pack and shortly after that his wife came along. Despite the earlier snub, they turned out to be friendly and we chatted for quite a while.

Eventually it was time to move on and we headed down into the west Lostine River valley. Along the way we met a woman on a horse who thankfully turned out to be quite friendly. We told the story of my earlier run in and she had a laugh and said if the horse was really that skittish it had no business being out on the trails. Karen had done a llama trek in the Wallowas several years back and the woman knew the tour operator and updated Karen on her and the llamas.

Further down the trail we ran into some young guys coming up the trail. They looked to be fit but one of them was obviously struggling to get up the hill. It made me feel good to know I was in better shape than him!

We quickly came to Minam Lake where we dropped our packs. Minam Lake was once the headwaters of the Minam River but once upon a time the locals decided they wanted the water to go north instead of south. So they built up the south end of the lake until it spilled over to feed the Lostine River. A bit of the water still seeps out to feed the Minam and we walked over the dike where it does that to head up to Blue Lake which is now the headwaters for the Minam.

We stayed at Blue Lake for a bit and then headed back down. Along the way we saw a mama blue grouse and several chicks. We watched them for quite a while as it took took them 20 minutes to cross the trail. They didn't seem too shy, which probably explains why they are endangered. Back down at Minam, we saw another family of grouse, this time including papa.

We picked up our packs and headed down the West Lostine Trail. We had a couple of difficult river crossings but managed to get across without getting wet. At Copper Creek we found a nice meadow with some nearby campsites. We set up camp and headed to the creek to wash up and filter water. There we saw some folks camping in the meadow (which is illegal). One of the guys wandered over and asked us if we knew of a lake nearby that started with an M. We told him Minam Lake was about three miles up the trail. He asked how to get there which was odd since they had to have walked by a hugh cairn with a sign in it pointing out the direction to the lake to get to where they were. We offered to showed him our maps and he said he had one. Apparently he hadn't bothered to look at it.

Day 4: Eagle Cap: 6.5 miles

It was the day to summit Eagle Cap. Eagle Cap is, not surprisingly, the highlight of the Eagle Cap Wilderness. It isn’t the tallest peak (Sacajawea Peak and the Matterhorn are both about 250 feet higher) but it is the central peak with eight valleys radiating in all directions from it and features a 360 degree view. We headed once again towards Mirror Lake. Along the way we met some folks who let us know about the helicopter. It seems that there was a fire which started at one of the campsites. The story was that some people reported showing up at a campsite and seeing a fire smoldering when they got there. They thought they put it out but it flared up again. Fortunately, the forest ranger was nearby and he and other campers in the area started a bucket brigade to put it out. The fire was built right next to a log and apparently got quite big before they got it put out. Fires are generally allowed in the Eagle Cap Wilderness but not within a quarter mile of the most popular lakes so someone not only built an illegal fire, they also built it near a dry log and didn’t make sure it was out.

We headed further down the trail past the turn off for the East Lostine Trail and onward to the junction for Horton Pass and Eagle Cap. We passed Upper Lake, not surprisingly, the highest lake in the Lakes Basin. It is the headwaters of the East Lostine River. From Upper Lake it is about a 25% grade up to Eagle Cap so we were glad to be day packing again. The day was nice and we were running into quite a few people also on the way up. We rested a while and talked to some folks at a trail junction with a choice for Horton Pass or the Eagle Cap summit. We met some folks there and told them about our campsite. They were jealous but we kept the location secret. We would run into them several times going up to the summit. Eventually we talked about having wine and they told us they had Jack Daniels with them. Deciding they were cool enough, we gave them directions to our campsite if they wanted to join us.

At the summit there a crowd was lounging around enjoying the view. It was incredible. We identifed the lakes in the Lakes Basin and we took untold number of pictures. We spied our campsite with Karen’s binoculars – it was tough to find it, without my orange rain fly we probably wouldn’t have been able to. One side of the summit looked almost straight down into Glacier Lake. The view down the East Lostine Valley was incredible; pictures don’t do it justice. It seemed we had just gotten to the top when I looked down at my watch and noticed that an hour had gone by!

We discovered that the summit log was missing so we weren’t sure what to do with the letterbox. We spied around to see if anyone up to might have a container we could beg from them but we didn’t see anything suitable. We eventually decided to just hide it in baggies and hope for the best.
We took a slightly different and longer route down to visit Horton Pass. As we were heading down to the pass I spotted a bighorn sheep on the slope below us. I excitedly pointed it out to Karen but then saw some people on the trail near it and decided that it must be their pack animal and said, “It’s just a donkey.” Karen laughed at me since 1) I should have said mule and 2) it was indeed a bighorn sheep. She though started calling it a bighorn goat and since then we’ve renamed them “donkey goats.” We watched it for quite a while – and it was keeping an eye on us. We took pictures, even trying to take some though the binoculars which turns out to work quite well other than it being really difficult to aim the camera. I got some great close ups of some rocks! We eventually started to continue down the trail getting closer and closer to him. Eventually he headed up hill straight towards the ridge we were descending. We lost sight of him and continued down the ridge. Eventually we came around a tree and saw him right in front of us! We quickly jumped back behind the tree. I didn’t think he would actually charge but I knew that they butt heads at 20 miles per hour and didn’t want to risk the chance of finding out what that feels like. We gave him plenty of time to move on before slowly peaking out to find that he was gone.

We continued down to Horton Pass, which is fairly non-descript but does have a plaque commemorating the elephant who heard the Hoo in the Dr. Seuss book. Not really – it commemorates Floyd Vernon “Jack” Horton a forester who apparently made many contributions to the development of the Wallowa-Whitman and other national forests in the Pacific Northwest. We then headed back to camp.

Day 3: Lakes Basin Day Hike: 8.0 miles

We woke up to a beautiful day with no sign of smoke. We made breakfast and as I was exploring the vicinity I found a nice sized hole in the ground. It was out in the open but out of sight from our tents and just the right size and depth for a latrine. Another feature in our fabulous four star campground! We had breakfast and headed out for a loop tour of the lakes basin. As we were planning to stay in place multiple nights, we took off with just some water, snacks, and first aid in our packs. We also left some water out in a bladder on top of my black rain pants so we could have warm water to bathe with when we got back. We headed out to the trail in a different direction from where we came in in the hopes of finding a better way. We didn’t find a particularly direct route, but it was pretty close.

We headed clockwise on our loop and soon came to Crescent Lake, a pretty lake with a cute little island you can wade to in it. We lollygagged for a while enjoying the water and watching the clouds. Eventually we headed on, past Douglas Lake and little Craig Lake. We looped around Douglas Lake and in view of Moccasin Lake, we looked for an unofficial trail to Pocket Lake. We eventually found it and headed in search of yet another lake. The trail was easy to follow for quite a while until it came to a meadow. We searched for its continuation and found several trails all of which eventually petered out. Eventually we decided to give up and we turned back. We walked along Moccasin Lake and then came upon the east end of Mirror Lake where took the trail back up towards our campsite. We ran into a few of the folks from the big family was saw at Two Pan. They had camped above Mirror Lake and were heading to camp at the east end of the Lakes Basin so we knew we wouldn’t be running into them anymore.

We tried yet another way to the campsite and found a pretty good way in. Back in camp we found yet another feature of the campsite – there was a rock at just the right height to place the water bladder for a shower and there was even a small ledge the perfect size and height for a soap dish! We washed up and got the wine out. I was really starting to like this set up! I gave Karen my letterbox clues and she went to look for it. When I heard a howl of laughter, I knew she had found it as the stamp was just so appropriate for the letterbox. I hadn’t even carved it for this adventure – I had carved it years before for a different place and then decided not to use it. I stumbled on it shortly before the trip and realized it was perfect for a backpacking adventure. If you want to know what the stamp is, you’ll have to make the journey yourself.

We ate dinner and then settled down to making a letterbox. We weren’t fully prepared, but we decided we had to leave something on the top of Eagle Cap. We both carved part of the stamp and decided that baggies would be enough as our plan was to leave it in the summit log box. Soon we heard a helicopter. It flew almost directly over us. Our forest fire fears returned. We couldn’t tell if it was a fire helicopter or not but we stood and listened for awhile. Eventually it went away and didn’t return so we felt safe enough to go to bed.

Day 2: Two Pan to Lakes Basin: 8.0 miles

The morning brought our last real meal compliments again from Don and Gwen and then we said our goodbyes. Karen and I headed out and took a long slow dusty drive down the Lostine River Road to Two Pan Campground (elev. 5600 ft) which is really less of a campground and more of a parking lot and staging area for the hikers and equestrians heading into the Eagle Cap Wilderness. There was a large group of folks getting ready too who all were packing the same green sleeping pad. We found out that they were an extended family out for their yearly backpacking trip. There were a couple dozen of them so we were hoping that they wouldn’t be camping near us. Several months earlier Karen had gotten some info on a primo campsite off trail complete with a granite table. We had some vague directions to it which consisted entirely of a low resolution topo map with a circle on it. It was a little bit away from the Mirror Lake, the most popular place to camp, so we weren’t too worried about camping near the crowd, assuming we could find the secret spot.

We headed up the East Lostine Trail which starts out fairly steep gaining about 1500 feet in about 2.5 miles. In this section we stopped so Karen could hide a letterbox and I could get yelled at by a grumpy old woman on a horse. While I was sitting on the side of they trail waiting for Karen, the woman and two others on horses came up. She yelled at me to move our packs off the trail – they were resting along the edge of a six foot wide trail. I moved them and sat back down. She then yelled at me to move our poles, which weren’t even on the trail. Apparently she had the most skittish horse in the world. I’m not sure what she did when there was a stick on the trail. Perhaps she yelled at Mother Nature to move it.

With the horses gone and the letterbox hidden, we finished the climb up to a marvelous three mile stroll through the meadows of the East Lostine River Valley. The valley in this portion has the classic U-shape of a glacial carved valley and better yet is very flat! Soon enough though, the trail leaves the meadows and climbs up the valley walls to the Lakes Basin. This basin is the home of an abundance of lakes both large and small. The first we came to was Mirror Lake. We walked along it spotting a few tents here and there. We were a bit tired but continued on though intent on finding the secret campsite. We headed north past Sunshine Lake and spotted a faint trail which headed generally towards where we expected the secret spot to be. We followed it for a while and it petered out. We navigated mostly by feel until we came to a cliff overlooking Moccasin Lake. Using this as a data point we headed generally north. The terrain was rocky, but not too rough. Our topo maps were of minimal use since the contours were 40 feet apart and the area was rampant with 20 - 30 foot outcroppings. We were getting a little grumpy. It isn’t much fun carrying around 35 pounds of weight on your back when you aren’t exactly sure where you are going.

Eventually we spotted a small lake. Our campsite (elev: 7800 ft) was supposed to between two small lakes so our spirits were lifted a bit. The problem was that the lake was 30 feet below us. Straight down. We tried traversing around but soon ran into a deadend unless we wanted to try going further on a foot wide ledge. Instead we wisely hiked away from the lake looking for another way around. We lost sight of the lake, but found a way up and over and spotted the other lake! We were close. Now all there was left was to find the table. I dropped my pack and went on ahead and soon spotted the table! I ran back singing “table, table, table” and dancing a silly dance – all of which I’m quite happy wasn’t captured on video.

The table was a giant slab of granite, about three by five feet and 6 inches thick resting on cut logs. There were even four more cut logs for chairs. In addition to the table, the camp had a nice view of Eagle Cap and the Matterhorn and was no where near the trail – what more could you ask for?! We set up camp and broke out some wine. Yes wine. Karen had a few months earlier discovered some French wine that came in liter boxes (http://www.frenchrabbit.com/) and we both brought some of that along. I also brought a half liter box of Vendange wine.

After dinner, I hid my letterbox and then we were treated to an incredible sunset. We took tons of pictures of both the Matterhorn and Eagle Cap. We did have a bit of a scare when we could smell some smoke. We knew that there were forest fires in the vicinity. The big one was over in the Hell’s Canyon area and wasn’t of much concern. There was another one to our southwest but it was supposed to be contained and wasn’t particularly close either. But it is always a possibility for another one to start. We figured that the smoke was just being carried by the winds from the Hell’s Canyon fire and that it was actually a bit of a blessing in that it probably helped make the sunset more spectacular.

Day 1: Drive to Wallowa County: 0 + 2.0 miles

Sunday morning I woke up early to drive to Portland to pick up Karen and begin our drive to the Wallowa Mountains. From Karen’s house, the drive was mostly on I-84. The drive was mostly uneventful, though at one point I saw some bighorn sheep on the side of the highway. I tried to point them out to Karen but she missed them. I have since learned that they are around that area quite often and the government has plans to relocate them as they are deemed a hazard as they tend to distract drivers on the highway. We stopped in Pendleton for lunch and then went to replace one of Karen’s letterboxes. Being in Pendleton, we had to also make a stop at the Pendleton Mill Store. Karen bought her umpteenth blanket, I managed to resist. From there we headed up to Deadman Pass where we made a quick stop for a letterbox and then over to La Grande. There we stopped at Wal-mart so I could buy some rain pants as our insurance policy against bad weather.

From La Grande, we left the interstate to begin the journey up into the Wallowa valley. Along the way we stopped for one letterbox and at the Terminal Gravity Brewery for a quick beer. From there we headed further down the road to the Mountain View RV Park where we met up with Don and Gwen, some letterboxers from California. They seemed perplexed when we drove up. When we got out, they wanted to know why we showed up on Saturday when we had planned to meet them on Sunday. I thought they were trying to be funny but soon enough we realized that they had actually lost track of the days and really though we were early. But they managed to whip up a delicious dinner while Karen and I set up our tents. Kwene B, a local letterboxer joined us later and we all took a drive to Wallowa Lake to find some letterboxes in the dwindling light.