Elkhorn Crest Trail 8/12 - 8/16/18

[derwoodynck]

We spent 5 days backpacking along the Elkhorn Crest Trail in the Blue Mountains from 8/12 - 8/16. Had good weather for most of the trip, just a few brief showers on our last night/day. It got a little hazy after the second day which limited our views but the air in the Elkhorns never got too smokey. There were no biting flies and we only saw a couple of mosquitoes the whole trip. Most of the flowers were past but there was a lot of wildlife to see.

We started on Sunday from the Elkhorn Crest Trailhead near Anthony Lakes and ended that day at Summit Lake. We detoured to Black Lake a half mile into the hike otherwise we stuck to the Elkhorn Crest Trail until Cracker Saddle (which was a confusing area). Just beyond the saddle we took the Summit Lake Trail down to the lake for the night.


Gunsight Mountain


Black Lake


One last columbine




Antone Creek valley


Paintbrush


North Fork John Day Wilderness sign at Dutch Flat Saddle


Crawfish Basin


Monkeyflower




Lost Lake


Wallowas




Summit Lake


Mountain goat at Summit Lake

Monday we left Summit Lake and continued south to Twin Lakes. We detoured up Rock Creek Butte, a non-technical scramble up the highest peak in the range.


Summit Lake in the morning


Doe along the Summit Lake Trail


View back to the north of Mt. Ruth from the Elkhorn Crest Trail


Rock Creek Valley


Rock Creek Butte


Mountain Goats on the trail


Route up the SW ridge of Rock Creek Butte


Climbing Rock Creek Butte


Summit cairn and register


Rock Creek Lake


Lower Twin Lake from Rock Creek Butte


Twin Lakes from the Elkhorn Crest Trail


Lower Twin Lake


Mountain goat passing by camp


More goats near camp


Upper Twin Lake

Tuesday we headed back to Summit Lake. We saw a lot of goats that day, never had any issues with any but we did come around a corner on the Elkhorn Crest Trail and wound up face to face with one. It was as startled as we were and raced downhill a bit.


Goat passing by during breakfast




Deer near Lower Twin Lake


Leaving Twin Lakes


Goats that crossed the Elkhorn Crest Trail ahead of us


A little more smoke in the air








Back at Summit Lake



Wednesday we left Summit Lake and headed back up towards Cracker Saddle but instead of taking the Elkhorn Crest Trail north we dropped down to the Lost Lake Trail to visit Lost Lake and Meadow Lake. The Lost Lake Trail was a jeep track that was unnecessarily steep and rocky. We also were unable to find the actual trail to Meadow Lake but it was a short bushwack through young lodge pole pines to reach it. From Lost Lake we followed the trail back up to the Elkhorn Crest Trail and took that to Dutch Flat Saddle where we took the Dutch Flat Trail a mile down to Dutch Flat Lake for the night.


Jeep track from Cracker Saddle down to the Lost Lake Trail


Meadow Lake


Lost Lake Trail between Meadow Lake and Lost Lake


Mt. Ruth


Lost Lake


Last bit of uphill before regaining the Elkhorn Crest Trail


Dutch Flat Lake


Paintbrush along the Dutch Flat Trail


Rain shower at Dutch Flat Lake


Dutch Flat Lake

Thursday we climbed back up to Dutch Flat Saddle and dropped down the other side on the Crawfish Basin Trail. We took that around to the Anthony Lakes Ski Area where we picked up the Hoffer Lakes Trail, visited them, and then continued past Anthony Lake and Lilypad Lake back to the Elkhorn Crest Trail and then back to the trailhead. We did see a small group of elk near the ski area.


Another rain shower at Dutch Flat Lake


Cloudy sky as we headed up to the saddle


Crawfish Basin Trail


Crawfish Lake in the basin


Hoffer Lakes Trail


First Hoffer Lake


Footbridges between the lakes


Second Hoffer Lake


Anthony Lake


Black Lake Trail at the Anthony Lake boat ramp


Gunsight Mountain from Lilypad Lake

We were staying in Sumpter that night and on the way there stopped at the Upper Crawfish Lake Trailhead and took that 1.4 mile trail to Crawfish Lake.


Crawfish Lake Trail










Trail maintenance fail


The Lakes Lookout from Crawfish Lake

We had originally planned on hiking up to the lookout atop Mt. Ireland on Friday but the thunder storms rolled in Thursday afternoon and the forecast called for them to last into Friday night so we cut the trip short and came home Friday instead.

[retired jerry]

That looks really good, thanks

I got to do a trip there some time

[Pick-a-Pika]

Awesome photos ! You captured the beauty of the area so well. The pix beckon me to return. Was there last July, between north TH and Twin Lakes. Looks like you had a fine trip.

[romann]

Nice report! You really covered best of Elkhorns in one trip. I try to visit Elkhorns once every summer, adding different bits west and east of the Crest each time. It's a beautiful area.

[Webfoot]

I am not a backpacker but that's very attractive. I am happy to see that there is a mix of roads and Wilderness that should allow me to experience part of this too.

[cfm]

So wonderful, thanks for sharing!

[Chazz]

Excellent trip report and I am amazed at the number of goat encounters you had.

Do you happen to know when typically the majority of the trails are melted out? It's pretty high elevation for Oregon but I don't have much experience in the eastern part of the state to be able to guess very accurately.

[derwoodynck]

Excellent trip report and I am amazed at the number of goat encounters you had.

Do you happen to know when typically the majority of the trails are melted out? It's pretty high elevation for Oregon but I don't have much experience in the eastern part of the state to be able to guess very accurately.

That's a good question, we only saw two small patches of snow left on NW facing slopes but this was a low snow year. I'd imagine early to mid-July depending.

[justpeachy]

Excellent report! That looks like a great backpacking trek. How cool that you saw so much wildlife!

[MariposaMan]

Thanks for the report and all of the lovely pictures. I'd like backpack this trail one of the years, so the info is much appreciated.

Glad it didn't get too smokey for you. I drove through Baker City on 8/15 and could barely see the Elkhorns through the smoke.