Hiking in the Eagle Cap Wilderness Area in the Wallowa Mountains of Northeastern Oregon

                                                                                            photo by Scott Mattoon

     After seven days in the mountains, the twelve of us on this Sierra Club backpacking trip hiked 2 1/2 miles to the trailhead, found our cars, then reassembled for lunch in Joseph. Then we hugged good-byes and headed back to Pennsylvania, New York, California, Missouri, Illinois, and various places in Oregon. I drove to a sub-par Motel 6 in The Dalles, took a shower, ate some dinner, and lay down to sleep in a real bed again.

    But I couldn't sleep. I missed the hum and thrash of the river outside my tent. I missed the chill of the night and the warmth of the sleeping bag. I missed the other hikers who had been sleeping in their own tents near me, those eleven good friends who had been strangers to me only a week before. The mediocre dinner from the Indian-cuisine food truck had left me missing the amazing camp-food dinners Leah, trip leader, had prepared for us—risotto with three kinds of cheese and tuna, noodles with Thai peanut sauce, curry-and-rice. And I knew that whatever I found for lunch on my way home the next day couldn't match Nutella on lavage bread with dried bananas, mangoes, and turkey jerky. Such imaginative meals Leah had planned!

    I missed the mountains. Several days before, as I was hiking the 1000-foot elevation gain up 8540-foot Glacier Pass, then down the other side along the West Fork Wallowa River—

                                                                                            photo by Gabe Oprea

the steep slopes streaming with wildflowers, the river cascading white through black rock, the peaks rugged and stark above the narrow valley—I thought, "I have hiked in the Dolomite Mountains of northern Italy, in the French and Swiss Alps, in the mountains of Costa Rica and Corsica, in the Rockies, the Sierra Nevada, the Cascades, and the Appalachians, and I can say that this is world-class hiking." 

                                                                       photo by Mark Dumont

    Everywhere wildflowers amassed in stunning arrays—purple asters splotched with scarlet firecracker flower and Indian paintbrush, sunshine-yellow groundsel, sunflower-bright arnica—occasionally a rein orchid, catchfly, pearly everlasting. Horse mint scented the air. I grew dizzy trying to name all the flowers and finally gave up.

                                                                                            photo by Gabe Oprea

    We saw picas and mountain goats. At one campsite we were awakened by a large herd of horses galloping past camp. When it rained (and it rained a lot), we just donned rain gear, covered our packs, and kept on walking.

                                                                                        photo by Mark Dumont

    Was the best day the day we hiked up to Ice Lake, a good steady climb from camp at 5500 feet to the lake at 7849 feet, followed by a beautiful long swim,

Swimming in Ice Lake. I am behind Leah.    photo by Mark Dumont

lunch lakeside (watching mountain goats descend to the lake), then a walk halfway around the lake to a remarkable white-sand beach, where I swam again? 

                                                                                    photo by Mark Dumont

    Or was the best day the day we climbed Glacier Pass (where I sprinkled some of Mike's ashes; see post on June 21, 2020, for an explanation), then hustled down the other side through that gorgeous scenery, on and on until it was starting to get dark and Leah and John, our leaders, found a possible campsite ("It would be miserable, but it would only be one night of misery"), which we rejected in favor of walking another two and a half miles in hopes of finding there a better place to camp? What a fast walk it was! But we got to a large meadow and threw up our tents just before dark.

                                                                                        photo by Mark Dumont

It had been a long, beautiful, and exhilarating day.

    The lakes were superb. I loved my swims, and the stream crossings, too, which I usually did barefooted. 

I am about to cross behind Traci, my boots in my hands. photo by Mark Dumont

    Have I mentioned the food? Did I say the leadership was great? Did I say the scenery was breathtaking (to say nothing of the breathtaking hiking)? Did I mention the company? We were teachers, a pianist, a farmer, an engineer, people who worked in tech, in non-profits, in academia. We spanned the ages of 39 to 79. Phenomenal hikers all.

                                                                    photo by Mark Dumont
Everyone is in this picture but Gabe, who is taking it. Note Leah, our leader, far right. She and John, assistant leader (4th from left), carried enormous packs.

    No wonder I had a hard time going to sleep that first night off the trail. My body was there in Motel 6, but my spirit was still in the Wallowas, among those wildflowers, in those lakes, with those friends.

                                                                                            photo by Gabe Oprea