At the trailhead. No fees or Forest Pass required to park here!
Let's go!
It was mostly sunny and warm all along.
All smiles :)
We took the trail that follows the West fork of the Wallowa river.
West fork of the Wallowa river.
I don't know the name of this flower (which was the case with most flowers we saw on the trip - and we saw plenty).
On the trail towards Ice Lake. The trail forks off East from the West fork trail after 2.1 miles. From the fork, its ~5.5 miles to the lake.
I don't have that big a tummy as this photo suggests.. I swear!
There were numerous waterfalls on the Adams creek, which flows out of Ice Lake (our camp destination).
Plenty of switchbacks on the trail.
This is the start of Adams creek. We had to cross the creek on some interesting (but stable) logs to get to the camp spot.
We were greeted by the rising full moon!
With the last-minute plan-to-return-for-full-refund camera from Walmart, our ranges were limited as far as taking pictures went. Here is the moon and Divya's headlamp, with the tent looking like some piece of white rock.
The calm and beautiful lake in the morning. The winds were howling all night though - welcome to the alpine zone! With the full moon to add to the mix, the waves on the lake were pretty loud starting from 2 AM-ish. I had to go out a couple of times to make sure the outer cover of the tent will not fly away in the wind. It was surprisingly warm despite the winds, though.
Matterhorn is beyond the ridge (skyline) in this picture.
Time for cafe-au-lait!!
More wildflowers.
The bees were enjoying the flowers too!
The whole area reminded me very much of Colorado alpine territory.
A Kazhak lady who was hiking in the area was collecting these flower shoots to make medicinal tea. She apparently has to keep them stored for several months before the tea gets the medicinal value.
Looking back at the lake. We will look back several times to admire its beauty. Our tent is at the top-left corner of the lake in this picture.
The trail was mostly well-traveled, even if moderately steep at places, requiring the use of your hands.
We are almost above the tree-line now.
We took a break at this bench-like meadow.
A family of six were on the hike along with us. The three boys ran ahead, and their uncle was mostly hiking close to us. We did not start until 10 AM, and it was already getting hot.
There is a huge wall/face on the ridge connecting Sacajawea Peak and Matterhorn. People should've explored rock climbing routes up this face, but info is scant on the same. The rock quality is quite poor though, and hence it is not surprising that climbing is not so popular on this face, and all over Wallowas in general.
Some weird looking colors on the side of the rock face.
Remnants of a snowfield.
The somewhat loose scree part of the scramble lies ahead. Thanks to the well-trodden path, it was not too loose though.
The big wall, and the remnant snowfield at the bottom. It should be interesting to do this ridge (from Matterhorn to Sacajawea) in the winter.
Some looseness.
The Hurwal ridge, connecting the Matterhorn-Sacajawea ridge and Chief Joseph mountain. Really interesting color formations (the white patches are limestone).
The wind picked up once we crested the summit ridge. Divya had to hold on to her hat quite often.
While quite warm overall, the wind did make it a bit chilly at times. It was okay as long as we were moving though.
Looking down a notch on to the West face of Matterhorn. The west face is a 3500-foot wall. Some years back, Steve House and partner(s) apparently put up a rock route up this face. Thanks to the poor quality of rock, it does not see much traffic.
No, its not our blood! Some interesting lichen on the rock close to the summit.
Folks often go over to Sacajawea by scrambling the ridge. Here, you can see a person on the ridge (possibly on his/her way back from Sacajawea).
The wind was blowing pretty wild on the summit.
First summit with the lady!
We rested for a few minutes, but the weather was forecast to move in later in the afternoon, so didn't linger too long.
The summit register box had all sorts of things - old M&Ms, a bible, some retro cigarette lighter, and the business card of one Mr Fagan!
Start of the way down.
There was a steep perch overlooking on to the West face.
We took some shortcuts and scrambled down on good rock on the way down.
You can see the clouds looming on the background.
By now, the part of six were lingering almost too long. Just like in Colorado, the Wallowas are known for thunderstorms. Luckily, it only drizzled a bit, and then the clouds moved out.
Back at the lake. Divya was craving for something salty (we did not have any habanero potato chips:), so we made some Maggi noodles before packing our camp out. Divya had to sit on the mats and tent pieces to keep them from flying off in the blowing wind!
A shorter, but more exciting set of logs to cross the Adams creek.
A reasonably big waterfall (~60ft) on Adams creek.
This waterfall is quite short - may be 15 feet. Not sure how the camera settings got switched to capture this image - I certainly did not try hard. It came out pretty nice though.
Ponderosa motel in Enterprise. Their caption reads "You will sleep like a log"! And we did indeed.
View out from the deck of Mutiny, a new restaurant/brewery in Joseph.
Breakfast feels good!
The clouds were already moving in and out. We were happy to get out of the alpine zone before weather turned bad.
A bronze eagle sculpture in Joseph.
Must've been blustery up in the mountains.
We drove the Hells Canyon road to a view point.
Hells canyon is supposed to be deeper than the Grand canyon, but is far less accessible. We only took a peek from far.
More wildflowers (on the Hells Canyon lookout).
Mmmm.. coffee beans? No! Just some bitter-tasting berries (yes, I did taste one:).
We drove the Imnaha river road, roughly 30 miles of dirt road that follows the Imnaha river to the small hamlet of Imnaha. The canyon walls were steep at places, and there were old and discarded farm equipment littered all over the area.
Sunflower and butterflies.
View up the Imnaha canyon.
We stopped at a shallow spot in the river, sat around and enjoyed the water for a bit.
The really small hamlet of Imnaha.
The topography already started looking like the rolling brown hills typical of the Palouse and Lewiston area. Home, here we come!
