Eureka Wagon Road-Cemetery Ridge Loop Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
| This page is marked as a Lost Hike. The "trail" may be dangerous and hard to follow and is not recommended for beginning hikers without an experienced leader. Carry detailed maps of the whole area and/or a GPS unit and compass. |
- Start point: Eureka Wagon Road Trailhead
- Ending point: Eureka Creek Cabin
- Hike type: Loop
- Distance: 16.2 miles
- Elevation gain: 5200 feet
- High point: 5,240 feet
- Difficulty: Difficult
- Seasons: Spring through fall
- Family Friendly: No
- Backpackable: Yes
- Crowded: No
|
|
|
Contents |
Hike Description
In 1898, copper ore was discovered at Eureka Bar, near the confluence of the Snake and Imnaha Rivers in Hells Canyon. It was not a particularly spectacular find, so in 1902, miners spread the story that the seams also contained gold. Soon, about 2,000 gold fevered men were camped at Eureka Bar, and the hotel/saloon, post office, and building for a stamp mill were constructed, financed by East Coast investors. The miners built a wagon road down from Cemetery Ridge to Eureka Bar. A sawmill near Buckhorn Lookout supplied the settlement with timber for construction. In 1903, the Lewiston Southern Mining Company ran a sternwheeler, the Imnaha, up the Snake carrying a stamp mill. The steamer met with an unfortunate accident at Mountain Sheep Rapid, with all hands getting to shore safely before the boat and the stamp mill became prey to the whitewater. With no stamp mill and no discernable presence of gold, everyone left Eureka Bar.
The track of the Eureka Wagon Road remains, however, and today hikers can follow it down to the river or enjoy a long day hike that loops up to Cemetery Ridge. The trails on this loop are rarely maintained and, in places, have disappeared into the vegetation. Bring a good track that you can follow or, at the very least, a map and compass. Also, bear in mind that summers in the area are very hot, so spring and fall are the best times to backpack. Finally, the last 1.2 miles to the trailhead might not be accessible to low clearance cars, which will have to park nearer to the Buckhorn Lookout, which should be visited anyway for its far-reaching views of the Imnaha River canyon leading down to the Snake.
At the trailhead, there are great views down into the Imnaha River valley and southwest to the Wallowa Mountains. Walk around the closed gate on the left side of the parking area into a stand of ponderosa pines. In half a mile, after emerging from the trees, you’ll reach the junction with the Cemetery Ridge Trail on an open ridge about half a mile from the parking area. This is the beginning of the loop, and you’ll bear right to follow the rough, grassy track of the Eureka Wagon Road Trail #1732 east and then southeast below a prominence on the ridge. Then you’ll pass through a fence to turn northeast on a gradual descent, keeping to the south side of the ridge at first. Lupine, penstemon, woolly sunflower, clarkia, and scarlet gilia bloom along the track. You may or may not notice the unsigned Tulley Creek Trail #1724, which leads down a drainage to your right and eventually fetches up at Dug Bar Road.
At Spain Saddle, about two miles from the trailhead, you’ll get a view down to the Snake River in Hells Canyon. The track passes through a fence opening and slips over to the west side of the ridge to traverse a brushy headwater bowl above Eureka Creek. Small copses of pine and fir shelter the steep draws, with some burn snags from recent fires still standing. Then, where the ridge angles northeast, you’ll hike below the crest on the east side until you reach the Eureka Viewpoint about 3 ¼ miles from the trailhead. The prominence is slightly off the trail across a fence line, and from here you can get views east to the Imnaha River and north to a small segment of the Snake. Directly below you to the south is Hilliker Gulch, which runs into Toomey Gulch, both of which contain a number of early 20th century prospects. Balsamroot blooms profusely on these slopes in mid-spring.
From the Eureka Viewpoint, the old wagon road begins a winding 1,500-foot descent to Eureka Creek on open slopes, first passing through a fence line. You’ll pass across a couple of small streams and below rocky parapets. It’s a short distance down brushy Eureka Creek to the Eureka Creek Cabin, a small, primitive structure with corrugated iron siding just across the creek from the wagon road. If you’re doing this loop as a backpack, this is probably your best campsite. Stay on the west side of Eureka Creek, and keep going about 100 feet to the junction with the Imnaha Trail, marked by a cairn with trail signs so weathered they are illegible. (The Imnaha Trail continues down the creek another 1 ¼ miles to Eureka Bar - see the Lower Imnaha River Hike. All reports say the route is brushy, eroded, and often obscure, crossing the creek several times.)
The Imnaha Trail #1713, as it ascends to Cemetery Ridge, is often more lost than found, sometimes a mere indentation in the grass as it traverses just over two miles to Knight Creek, a possible campsite since there is running water here. (This is one trail where having a GPS track is probably essential.) At the crossing of Knight Creek the trail disappears. One way, there’s an impenetrable thicket of thorny bushes. The other is blocked by a wall of poison ivy. Take the poison ivy route, because at least you’ll get through, but make sure you’re wearing long pants! From Knight Creek, the next stretch of the Imnaha Trail climbs 1575 feet in 1 ¼ miles. It’s steep but there’s good traction, and you’ll get great views of the Knight Creek drainage and Idaho ridges from the bunchgrass slopes.
The Imnaha Trail meets the Cemetery Ridge Trail #1731 at a signposted cairn on the east side of Cemetery Ridge crest. From here, switchback directly up to your left and then begin to follow Cemetery Ridge south. (The tread can be indistinct, but initially it is just to the west of the crest.) Cemetery Ridge is so called because a battle between the Nez Perce and a renegade band of the Snakes took place here around the middle of the 19th century. The casualties were buried here.
In almost a mile, you pass the unsigned junction with the Old Man Trail, which drops down steeply to Cherry Creek Road. This is an open ridge with numerous exposures of basalt rimrock and clumps of balsamroot. You’ll make a couple of switchbacks as you pass to the west of one of these rock outcroppings. The steep slopes on your right descend to Cherry Creek, and soon you’ll pass above the headwaters of Knight Creek on your left. The last 1.6 miles of the Cemetery Ridge Trail follows an old road bed about 200 feet below the ridge crest on its west side. You’ll pass over a saddle on a connecting ridge and keep heading south. At a fence line close to another saddle, a road bed leads up to the left, reaching the site of the Dobbin Cabin in half a mile. At the saddle itself, you’ll reach the Eureka Wagon Road-Cemetery Ridge Trail Junction, where you should bear right to return to your vehicle.
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- Dispersed camping area at the trailhead
- Nearby Buckhorn Campground is 1 ¾ miles from the trailhead, just off FR 46-780.
- Cars with low clearance should begin near the junction before Buckhorn Lookout (adds up to 2.4 miles round-trip to the hike)
- The Imnaha Trail will be indistinct in many sections; come prepared with a good tracks, maps, compass, etc.
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Hells Canyon National Recreation Area and Wilderness
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Wallowa-Whitman National Forest
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Eureka Wagon Road-Cemetery Ridge Loop Hike
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Eureka Wagon Road-Cemetery Ridge Loop Hike
Guidebooks that cover this destination
- Hiking Hell’s Canyon and Idaho’s Seven Devils Mountains by Fred Barstad
- 50 Hikes in Hells Canyon & Oregon’s Wallowas by Rhonda & George Ostertag (Spain Saddle)
- Oregon Hiking by Sean Patrick Hill (Eureka Viewpoint)
- 100 Hikes: Eastern Oregon by William L. Sullivan (Eureka Wagon Road)
- Hiking Oregon’s Geology by Ellen Morris Bishop (Buckhorn Lookout)
More Links
- Oregon’s Buckhorn Lookout & Hells Canyon Breaks, June 2017 (Evans Outdoor Adventures)
- Eureka Wagon Trail (Less Traveled Northwest)
- Hells Canyon: Eureka Wagon Road (SomeHikes)
- Buckhorn Lookout (Oregon Adventures)
- Buckhorn Tower Viewpoint (USFS)
- "Buckhorn Lookout gives view of Imnaha River where it enters Hells Canyon" (Oregon Live)
- Hells Canyon National Recreation Area (USFS)
- Hells Canyon National Recreation Area Comprehensive Management Plan (USFS)