Lakes Basin and Eagle Cap, Wallowas

The end of summer is coming, and I actually think I'll be ready after this last backpacking trip of the season. I have a couple more day hikes in me at most, including the Enchantments Traverse. I know this might surprise you, but these weekends of marathon training followed by several-hour sleepless pre-dawn drives to backwoods trailheads, backpacking in and out of the wilderness and getting home by dinnertime the next night are sort of... well, exhausting. And I miss my husband, my dogs and my bed when I'm out there, which I guess is part of the allure of the mountains. I had a soul-crushing 20-mile run on Saturday morning, and was tempted to cancel the Wallowas trip due to swollen knees and mental fatigue. But I didn't, probably since I'm feeling regretful about Tank Lakes, and I'm so glad for that. It was great! The drive took six hours on boring I-84... boy, does that part of Oregon feel remote. We hit Two pan Trailhead at 10 a.m. and after about the first rather rugged two miles the hiking was fairly easy. The East Lostine Trail took us straight to our awesome camp at Mirror Lake; in the evening Steve and I hiked to Glalcier Pass for sunset, and then summited Eagle Cap in the morning. Zero bugs, lots of horse poop, and relatively few crowds. Really gorgeous and unusual mix of granite and sandstone everywhere, with views of Sacajawea and Matterhorn. On the return trip we heard the scream of what was likely a large cat echoing off the valley walls, which was very cool. Drove back Monday afternoon. I'd say that Glacier Pass was the highlight - that whole area around Glacier Lake and the jagged ridge leading over to Eagle Cap is just astounding.