Lostine Valley Hike 4/15/17

[phijef]

It's been a long time since I posted on Oregon Hikers, because I couldn't ever get my password to reset, so I finally created a new account. I thought it would be a good idea so that ya'll can follow me around on my get-to-know-the-Wallowas hikes. I just moved to Wallowa, Oregon from downtown Portland last February.

Right now, there is not a lot of accessible hiking. For instance, the following hike was discovered when we tried to get to the Two Pan trail head. We were not even half way when the road became inaccessible. So, I found this trail that was on my "Topo Maps+" app on my iPhone. The trail starts well before the Two Pan trail head in the Lostine Nature Preserve. Here's the map from my phone:



It's an old road that runs up into the foothills. It's not maintained. As you can tell from this tree that's been growing in the road for a bit of time:



We managed to lose the trail on the final switchback, so we went off trail for awhile and got some shots. Unfortunately, I only had my large lens, because I was hoping to find some mountain goats (they didn't show up)







On the way down, we there were nice views of Lostine in the distance:

[phijef]

BTW, it's tick heaven up here! We were constantly fending off the little creatures as they crawled up our legs. I scraped off several that were on my neck and when we got home we found more and more. They are really horrendous up here right now. I'm told that they are especially horrible in April and then it gets better. Let's hope so.

[RobinB]

Beautiful! What a wonderful place to live.

[pablo]

Thx for the trip report and I look forward to more. Looks like a lifetime of hiking ahead of you. Nice little town.

I stayed in Wallowa for a few days mid-May of 2015 and did my first ever hikes in the area. Notable was the quantity of ticks as you've observed. On one hike I did I just stopped counting after 30-40. None latched on, though.

--Paul

[Greens47]

Great info - thank you as we are headed there this week. When you say the road to Two Pan was inaccessible - is it still snowed in?

[phijef]

Great info - thank you as we are headed there this week. When you say the road to Two Pan was inaccessible - is it still snowed in?

Yes, the road to Two Pans is still snowed in. I heard (not confirmed) that you can get to Hurricane Creek trail head. I will be heading up there either Tuesday or Wednesday. Rumor is you can get up to slick rock without snowshoes, although it snowed a bit last night and today, so we shall see.

[Greens47]

Thank you! Have you been to Zumwalt yet this spring? We were thinking of checking the nature reserve out.

[Smith]

Nice pics! I grew up hiking in the Wallowas, the East Lostine trail is my favorite. I do not think the Two Pans Trailhead will be open until Memorial Day or at least the trails are not. You'll probably have to wait until late July or August for the snow to clear up at the lakes, but the valleys of the Lostine trails should be mostly clear so snow by late June or early July. Also, bring bug spray the mosquitoes can be terrible!

[phijef]

Thank you! Have you been to Zumwalt yet this spring? We were thinking of checking the nature reserve out.

I have yet to be out to the Zumwalt area yet, but ,ay do so tomorrow. Be sure to bring DEET to deter the hordes of ticks.

[phijef]

Nice pics! I grew up hiking in the Wallowas, the East Lostine trail is my favorite. I do not think the Two Pans Trailhead will be open until Memorial Day or at least the trails are not. You'll probably have to wait until late July or August for the snow to clear up at the lakes, but the valleys of the Lostine trails should be mostly clear so snow by late June or early July. Also, bring bug spray the mosquitoes can be terrible!

Yeah, there's still a lot of snow everywhere around here.