Needle Point Loop – Wallowa Mountains (Eagle Cap Wilderness)
Originally headed to the Honeycombs on the shore of Lake Owyhee, but the weather forecast was calling for upper 90’s, so we changed our plans to the Wallowa Mountains where the forecasted highs were still down in the upper 70’s, plus still lots of snow patches.
Our route started at the Main Eagle Trail and took us up to Cached Lake for the first night. The next day we got an early start and summitted Needle Point, the lowest 9k foot peak in the Eagle Cap Wilderness…at 9018’. After getting back to camp we packed up and continued on the Main Eagle Trail for a few miles, jumping on the Bench Canyon Trail which would take us to Arrow Lake where we were hoping to camp for the night, but there was still too much snow cover making it hard to find a dry camp spot so we continued to Heart Lake. As we go near the lake, we found a large dry camp spot. We were still a half mile from Heart Lake so we walked in to it the next morning. When we got to Heart Lake the next morning we discovered the lake was filled with avalanche debris…snow, mud, and trees. A very interesting sight. The hike out was a nice downhill hike back to the trailhead.
Great backpack in a very scenic area. The views were awesome from the summit of Needle Point.
Leaving the trailhead…
Eagle Creek
Avalanche debris along the trail…a few miles in from the trailhead.
First view of Needle Point…
I’m a little surprised that the FS lets us cross this bridge…
One of five ticks found on Karl…none on Deb.
And then I said “hey look, there’s a smiley face in the snow!” 🙂
One of several tricky creek crossings…
Arriving at Cached Lake. Ground is saturated and water (snow melt) is running everywhere…
Was able to find a dry spot for camp…
We had seen signs of goat, so we kept our eyes open for them… The next day we spotted four on the way up Needle Point.
At the base of Needle Point…
From the summit of Needle Point. The views were incredible…
A view of our route from Cached Lake to Arrow and Heart lake, later in the day.
Looking down into the Eagle Creek canyon that we hiked up the day before…
Looking down at Eagle Lake, still mostly frozen but melting fast…
Summit posers…
Looking down into the Minam River canyon…
On our way to Arrow and Heart Lakes…
Our route up to Needle Point…
Arrow Lake, mostly melted out but couldn’t find a dry spot to set up camp…
Two of five ticks found on Karl…none on Deb.
A partially shaded view down at Heart Lake…
We were able to find a dry spot to camp near Heart Lake…
The next morning, the view outside the tent…
We walked overt to Heart Lake, to find avalanche debris scattered across the lake…
It looks like the avalanche slid into and across the lake, carrying snow, trees, and mud into the lake…
Back at camp, it’s warming up…only shade I could find.
Another stupid creek crossing…
Three of five ticks found on Karl…none on Deb.
Heading back down to the Eagle Creek canyon, and back to the trailhead.
Our weekends track…
Sure neat to see the mountain goats. The ticks though are a different matter.