After cooking my girlfriend breakfast (it always helps to kiss a bit of @ss now and then, right?
), we left John Day around 10:30 and headed further east on US 26. Just east of Prairie City (another cute down at the base of the Strawberrys), the road suddenly ascends north out of the John Day Valley ascending to Dixie Summit around 5,100 ft. The terrain changes drastically, exchanging the grassy yellow valley for a cool rolling plateau of pines. The scenery isn't dramatic like it is around here, but for lack of a better term I found it to be extremely "pleasant" (OK, that description sucks but I found myself repeating the same word over and over while driving through it, so I apologize). After turning north on OR 7 toward Baker City and crossing Tipton Mtn., the Elkhorns suddenly emerged from the departing low clouds. Rising over 5,000 ft. from the valley around Sumpter, they were a beautiful site, and looked more typical "Rocky Mountains" than the Cascades (which of course makes perfect sense). Anyway, our goal was the Twin Lakes Trailhead (5,400 ft), about 6 miles north of OR 7 up a moderately crappy Deer Creek Rd in Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, Baker County. The first 3 miles are fine, then it narrows suddenly and can get pretty steep and rudded, but the CRVs 4WD only kicked on once. The 6 miles takes a good 25-30 minutes, but the rewards are worth it.OK, I've been worthlessly blabbering for awhile, so let's get to the good part. The Twin Lakes Trail ascends steeply (2500 ft. in 3 miles) from the end of the road, at first traversing east around a ridge, crossing a stream, then going pretty much straight up. 2 steep (and occasionally miserable) miles into it you reach beautiful meadows that you stay in until you reach lower Twin Lake. After passing lower Twin Lake, the trail switchbacks directly up the side of the valley (though not steeply) until reaching the Elkhorn Crest Trail. From there, we walked 1.5 miles north to the base of Rock Creek Butte. I was going to climb it, but my dumb (yet adorable) dog started to munch on goat poo, so I figured we should start the trek back to the car. Overall, the GPS said it was 11.8 miles, with a nice 3,100 vertical climb. AND THERE WERE LOTS O GOATS IF YOU'RE INTO THAT SORT OF THING!!
the first 1.75 miles are viewless and rather steep, this is the first hint of the grandeur to come after breaking out of the dense forest
meadows!
west side of the valley
looking south back toward the trailhead...what is that group of higher mountains in the distance? At first I thought it was the Strawberrys, but we're looking due south, not southwest
the mountains here reminded me of the Wasatch Front in Utah
lower Twin Lake (7,700 ft)...if it wasn't 55 degrees, I'd go swimming
Upper Twin Lake is just above that little meadow in the left center of this shot
and then, the goat party wandered in. Taz the dog was like "i'll show these big white puffy dogs with horns who's the boss!"
anyone remember the goat skit from the Adam Sandler album from 1994? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IhNuUjK6CI (some may find it offensive, but I think it's relatively harmless - memories of 8th grade!)
and more goats...
ascending up toward the Elkhorn Crest Trail, we can see lower Twin Lake from a bit of altitude
this pic could have been great...but aimed a bit too low
this valley really drops off in a hurry
there's upper Twin Lake
Rock Creek Butte (9,100 something) is the highest point in the Elkhorns
another member of the goat gang is blocking our progress at the intersection with the Elkhorn Crest Trail...I didn't care, but our dog has a tendency to not notice cliffs whilst chasing other dogs (he thinks everything is the world is either a dog or something that should feed him sausage)
looking east down the Pine Creek drainage to the Powder River Valley and Baker City
lower Twin Lake it its entirety
Taz
pretty cool trail construction
me and the pups
looking east from the saddle directly south of Rock Creek Butte
they're leaving me!
finally, both Upper and Lower Twin Lakes together
self to the ie
Dana loves Taz as well
Taz please don't jump, your life is actually pretty damn good!
as the afternoon wore on, the goat party moved to the shady slopes west of Lower Twin Lake
changing light
And that does it - the Elkhorns were freakin' beautiful. I'd love to go back again! This is more of a typical Rocky Mountain landscape than I'm used to in Central Oregon, but it was a lovely change of pace!
Thanks,
Chris
Bend, OR
