Wandering the Wallowas

Hi Blog!

Friday, April 19, 2019, was our first full day in the Wallowa Valley. We are camped in the town of Wallowa on the banks of the Wallowa River. If you follow the Wallowa River upstream it takes you into the Wallowa Mountains. This mountain range runs approximately 40 miles northwest to southeast. It is the easternmost mountain range in Oregon. The Snake River, which is the border between Oregon and Idaho, is just east of the Wallowa Mountains.

As we drove into Joseph, Oregon, we got our first good look at the Wallowa Mountains.

We made a quick stop at the National Forest Office in Joseph to get as much information as we could on Jeep drives and hiking trails. Unfortunately, with this year's record snowfall, most of the roads to the trailheads are snowed in. After chatting with the forest ranger, we drove on through downtown Joseph to the bottom of Wallowa Lake.

After a short beach walk, we drove around to the top of the lake. In addition to the state park, there is a small alpine village. The Matterhorn Village tries to emulate a Swiss village, complete with gingerbread chalets and log cabins. The businesses in the area like to market the Wallowa Mountains as the Oregon Alps!

After a quick tour of the village, we stopped at the state park marina. We are hoping to be able to kayak in a day or so. This end of the lake seems more suitable for our type of kayak adventure.

After checking out Wallowa Lake, we drove back toward Joseph to pick up the road to Imnaha. Imnaha is a small community at the confluence of Big Sheep Creek and the Imnaha River. Imnaha is best known as the gateway to the Hat Point scenic lookout on Hells Canyon at the Snake River. As we left Joseph, we followed Big Sheep Creek as it wound its way down toward the Imnaha River.

The geologic history of the rocks of Hells Canyon began 300 million years ago with an arc of volcanoes that emerged from the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Over millions of years, the volcanoes subsided and limestone built up on the underwater platforms. The basins between them were filled with sedimentary rock. Between 130 million and 17 million years ago, the ocean plate carrying the volcanoes collided with and became part of the North American continent. A period of volcanic activity followed, and much of the area was covered with floods of basalt lava, which smoothed the topography into a high plateau. The Snake River began carving Hells Canyon out of the plateau about 6 million years ago.

As we drove toward Imnaha, the evidence of the volcanic activity was all around us.

As we began our drive up Hat Point Road, we stopped to look down on the Imnaha Valley. The small community of Imnaha is toward the right.

We soon found ourselves driving higher and higher.

We made a quick stop to take in this bucolic scene, when we met a group of hunters coming down from a scouting trip. They advised that the snow kept them from Hat Point, but they were still able to make it to the Imnaha River Overlooks. We thanked them for the intel and proceeded up the mountain.

We stopped to stretch our legs at the entrance to the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area. Hugging the borders of northeastern Oregon and western Idaho, this national showcase holds 652,488 acres of beauty and adventure. Unfortunately, most it is currently under feet and feet of snow!

We stopped again at the Imnaha Scenic Overlook. If you would like to see what we saw, click the link to the 360 degree view of the Imnaha River Valley from Hat Point Road.

While we never made it to Hells Canyon, we were fascinated to learn that Hells Canyon is deeper than the Grand Canyon. At its lowest point, the Snake River sinks an astonishing 7,993 feet beneath the canyon rim, nearly 2,000 feet deeper than the “Grand” Canyon. Here we got just a little taste of what we missed. Next time!

It wasn't long before we ran into the snow. As we made our turn around, we stopped to explore a roadside camping area. As we scanned for elk, Dave did his best Julie Andrews impression..."The hills are alive with the sound of music."

Wow! Not many people get to see the Wallowas from this vantage point.

Dusty waited patiently as we scanned the surrounding valleys.

We finally spotted the elusive elk on our way back down.

After a quick lunch in Joseph, we had another trailhead to explore. On the way to Hurricane Creek, we passed a family of deer enjoying lunch in the neighborhood park.

We made it within a mile of the Hurricane Creek Trail Head before the snow stopped us. We'll have to decided whether or not to come back with our snowshoes.

Having reached our turnaround point, we drove back toward Wallowa. On our way, we decided to explore the Lostine River Valley. Lostine Road is 17 miles long and ends at the Two Pan Trail Head. Unfortunately, we only got about seven miles before heavy snow stopped us. However, we did get some really great photos of Lostine River.

We made it back to camp just before the thunderstorms rolled in. Rain is predicted to continue for another day or two, so we'll just have to wait and see what the next adventure will be. Until then, stay thirsty my friends.