MT. HOWARD TRAMWAY & HURRICANE CREEK HIKE

Beautiful blue skies and 80oF – we all went up the gondola to the summit of Mt Howard 8241 ft and spent a great day hiking round the trails at the top. Magnificent views of four states and crazy people jumping off the mountain – paragliding!

SOMEWHERE DOWN ON THE TRAIL IS TERRY AND SALLY

Our last day here, Roy & I hiked about 3 1/2  miles up Hurricane Creek looking for Mountain goats, Bighorn sheep and Elk and saw one red squirrel and a chipmunk! 

WALLOWA LAKE

POSSIBLY MT SACAJAWEA AND MATTERHORN MOUNTAIN

CAMOUFLAGE BUTTERFLY 

HURRICANE CREEK

 

MARK OF ZORRO IN THE ROCK ABOVE THE FALLS

CLOSE UP OF MARK OF ZORRO - SO WHAT IS GOING ON HERE TERRY?

SLICK ROCK CREEK

HIKING AT WALLOWA LAKE

First day's hike was Chief Joseph trail, a short, pretty route to a waterfall where we had to cross on a temporary bridge made of slippery logs. The trail down was a bit more challenging, and very steep and overgrown – a sign told us we were in Wilderness – no kidding!

We were entertained round the campfire by Terry on the guitar and Sally on the Dobro both singing some great songs – sat under the stars eating S'mores - what a wonderful life!

A DISTANT VIEW OF THE TRAMWAY

TRAIL GOT A BIT MORE CHALLENGING!

A BEAUTIFUL END TO A PERFECT DAY !

INMAHA VALLEY ROAD TO WALLOWA LAKE

A BEAUTIFUL MORNING AT OLLOKOT CAMPGROUND

TWO OLD GUYS WAITING FOR A FILL UP

TERRY & SALLY DISAPPEARING IN A CLOUD OF DUST!

We took what we thought was the easy option following the Inmaha River rather than over the steep windy mountain road – it was a gravel road for 26 miles, real pretty road but we had to clean the dust from inside our trailers and the windows when we got to the lovely campground at Wallowa Lake where we bagged the last two electric sites.

MULE DEER AT WALLOWA LAKE

HELLS CANYON & PANNING FOR GOLD

We travelled together with Terry and Sally along the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway, a winding and narrow road that led us to our campground along the Imnaha River. Roy and Terry had a go at panning for gold, armed with instruction book, a spade, tweezers, a huge container for findings, Terry had a proper pan, Roy had a plate! We spent about an hour, the guys played nicely in the water and looked the part – result – several minute bits of what looked like gold …. probably fools gold but at least they tried.

We then drove to the Hells Canyon Overlook which was a bit of a disappointment as we could not see the river and nearby wildfires made it very hazy, but we had a picnic and good company.

PENDLETON TO BAKER CITY, OREGON

Our travels took us back to Baker City and a meet up with our friends Terry and Sally who we are spending some time with as we head to Hell's Canyon and beyond. We revisited Sumpter Dredge on our way down to Baker City coming over the Blue Mountains scenic byway which was quite misty due to smoke from a wildfire somewhere miles away.

We had a days catch up at Baker City and had another look at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center and this time did a walk down to some of the ruts made by the wagon wheels as they journeyed the 2000 miles from Missouri to Oregon - the promised land!