Thanks to COVID, we opted to do an out-and back to Summit Lake instead of a thru-hike shuttle out the Twin Lakes trail. So we drove from the PDX metro separately... I got a 6:30 AM start from Hillsboro. We met up in La Grande and waited a couple of hours while he had a tire issue looked at, and we were finally headed out from the Elkhorn Crest TH adjacent to Anthony Lakes a bit later than expected at 2:15 PM.
The trail starts off in decently shaded forest, and for the first mile is crisscrossed by ski trails. Eventually the roots give way to rocks as the trail ascends to Angell Pass, around 2.8 miles and 1000' of gain.
- Approaching Angell Pass from the north
- Approaching Dutch Flat Saddle
- Trail between Cunningham Saddle and Nip and Tuck Pass
- Nip and Tuck Pass
- Ridge crest north of Lost Lake Saddle
- South of Lost Lake Saddle
At the junction, the trail coincides for a short while with a 4x4 road and passes near a high trailhead at the end of FR 5505, losing another 200 feet over a half mile before regaining trail tread and reaching the junction with the Summit Lake trail.
Our late start and slower than desired pace meant that we hiked the remaining 1.5 miles to Summit Lake in fading twilight. The trail loses 350 feet but also gains 150 feet, and those uphill pitches were slow at the end of the day.
- Little Summit Lake at sunset from Summit Lake Trail.
Early Sunday morning, all of the groups camped around us packed up and left, and we were left alone with the lake and its resident Osprey, along with a couple families of mountain goats. We hiked around the lake, did some swimming and reading, and had the most perfectly relaxing day.
- Summit Lake
I found my zen, chilled out, and enjoyed the rest of the evening as much as I could between the screaming.
We packed up and headed out early Sunday morning, after being awakened by gunfire before 7 AM from our respectful lake neighbors. We were both feeling much better physically than we did on the hike in, we decided to take a detour on the way back. We hiked the 1.5 miles back to the crest and the upper trailhead, and sure enough saw the lifted 4x4 vehicles that had transported the families to Summit Lake. We took off down the east side into the North Powder River drainage, along a road that looked frequented by 4WD vehicles, and then grabbed the Lost Lake trail just south of Harmony Lake. The trail, shared with ATVs, climbs gently past Harmony Lake and then drops sharply (about 300' elevation) before climbing sharply (about 450') to Lost Lake at 5.2 miles. We took a quick break and then started the remaining steep climb back to the crest at Nip and Tuck Pass.
The rest of the trip from Nip and Tuck back to Anthony Lakes was the same as the way in, just reversed. The weather was slightly cooler than Saturday, but the sun was at an angle earlier in the day that provided less shade. We stopped for a lunch break at the high point at Angell Pass, and saw some goats in the meadow below lunching as well, before traversing down the remaining rocky trail to a cold IPA stashed away in a cooler in the car.
- Looking north from Angell Pass
Outbound: 10.7 miles, 1610 ft gain, avg. pace 30:02, 8 people
Inbound: 11.7 miles, 2034 ft gain, avg. pace 28:14, 0 people
