Hello all! Very excited to join the forum and looking forward to a ton of adventures, with advice from you fine folks.
Pretty new to hiking so any of your advice and insight is welcome. Mostly looking for: off the map, beginner hikes where we can camp and fish with our dog. Pretty willing to drive anywhere in the PNW, we are based in the Portland metro area, and are hoping to do 2 and 3 day trips throughout the summer and fall. Not a huge fan of crowds, so am willing to hike for a bit to get someplace isolated.
Thanks for hosting this forum and am so looking forward to learning from you all.
Newbie - but committed!
Re: Newbie - but committed!
Welcome to the forum!
"Off the map" and "beginner" are two pretty different things around here... there are some good off-trail adventures to be had but I would never recommend them to somebody without plenty of backcountry experience.
But if by 'off the map' you just mean more remote but still established trails, you'll generally need to get east of the Cascade Crest. A few areas come to mind:
Badger Creek: very nice late spring to early fall, loops can be made up around Lookout Mountain, etc. Fishing in season at Badger Lake (and maybe the creek itself).
https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guid ... Creek_Hike
Mill Creek Wilderness loop: great once it starts cooling off in September, the only negative is water sources get pretty spaced out that late in the year... and no fishing but the varied terrain and scenery is very nice.
https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guid ... _Loop_Hike
Strawberry Mountain Wilderness: set up a base at Strawberry Lake and do some nice day hikes up into the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness, or do the loop hike with nights at Strawberry and Slide Lakes.
https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guid ... _Loop_Hike
Wallowas: it's just getting into prime season in the Wallowas, so I would get out that way soon. But avoid the crowds of the Lakes Basin and visit the south side of the Eagle Cap Wilderness... a trek up from Main Eagle to Lookingglass Lake or up West Eagle to Traverse Lake would be pretty great, and even the field guide says that Lookingglass has excellent trout fishing.
https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guid ... Lakes_Hike
https://www.outdoorproject.com/united-s ... verse-lake
Steens Mountain Wilderness: wait until September for this one when it cools down, but there are a lot of remote hiking trails to explore, then car camping on the Alvord Desert playa cannot be missed. Time your visit for a new moon to see the most incredible display of stars. The loop mentioned below is one possibility, otherwise you could just do a few shorter day hikes in the area.
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/oreg ... g-headwall
As always, go with a good map and GPS and plenty of prior research.
"Off the map" and "beginner" are two pretty different things around here... there are some good off-trail adventures to be had but I would never recommend them to somebody without plenty of backcountry experience.
But if by 'off the map' you just mean more remote but still established trails, you'll generally need to get east of the Cascade Crest. A few areas come to mind:
Badger Creek: very nice late spring to early fall, loops can be made up around Lookout Mountain, etc. Fishing in season at Badger Lake (and maybe the creek itself).
https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guid ... Creek_Hike
Mill Creek Wilderness loop: great once it starts cooling off in September, the only negative is water sources get pretty spaced out that late in the year... and no fishing but the varied terrain and scenery is very nice.
https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guid ... _Loop_Hike
Strawberry Mountain Wilderness: set up a base at Strawberry Lake and do some nice day hikes up into the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness, or do the loop hike with nights at Strawberry and Slide Lakes.
https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guid ... _Loop_Hike
Wallowas: it's just getting into prime season in the Wallowas, so I would get out that way soon. But avoid the crowds of the Lakes Basin and visit the south side of the Eagle Cap Wilderness... a trek up from Main Eagle to Lookingglass Lake or up West Eagle to Traverse Lake would be pretty great, and even the field guide says that Lookingglass has excellent trout fishing.
https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guid ... Lakes_Hike
https://www.outdoorproject.com/united-s ... verse-lake
Steens Mountain Wilderness: wait until September for this one when it cools down, but there are a lot of remote hiking trails to explore, then car camping on the Alvord Desert playa cannot be missed. Time your visit for a new moon to see the most incredible display of stars. The loop mentioned below is one possibility, otherwise you could just do a few shorter day hikes in the area.
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/oreg ... g-headwall
As always, go with a good map and GPS and plenty of prior research.
instagram: @remyodyssey