Lakes Basin, Wallowas snow status?

[Jaime]

Hey hey! I've been searching for trip reports out of the Wallowas, specifically Glacier Lake and the Lakes Basin, to judge current snow levels and viability of planning a backpacking trip there in Late July. Anyone have any info they could share? Much appreciated!

[Aimless]

If snow is your worry, rest assured, by late July you'll be safe from problems caused by too much snow. I've spent many years backpacking in the Wallowas and I usually aim for a start in the last week of July. By then the snow has retreated to at least 7500 ft, and normally above 8000 ft. This year the melt-out is well ahead of schedule from all indications I can gather. You are more likely to experience smoke from nearby wildfires than to be stopped by snow.

[justpeachy]

As Aimless said this year your problem will either be local wildfires that cause closures or more distant wildfires that bring smoke into the region. In 2018 we backpacked to Ice Lake and day hiked up the Matterhorn where our views were pretty hazy from smoke. The day we hiked back out to the trailhead the skies were very smokey and we were glad we hadn't planned any additional nights out there.

[retired jerry]

August 2012. Lots of forest fire smoke from Eagle Cap.

But it was just visibility. Not painful to breath like recently.