THE BLUE MOUNTAINS TRAIL BECKONS by Jared Kennedy
W
e live in a time in the Pacific Northwest when the trails we once hiked for solitude are often busy midweek. More and more, finding a place to park, or getting a backcountry camping permit in a national forest, causes the anxiety that we are trying to escape by getting outside. Many of us have come to prize landscapes and trails that are “off the beaten path,” but finding that means going a little farther than it used to. Nestled away in the northeast corner of Oregon, the Blue Mountains offer an opportunity to find yourself for days on a trail with no one else around. Here you find solitude in intact forests, snowcapped mountains, undammed rivers, deep canyons, and alpine lakes where you’re more likely to encounter wildlife than another person. The Blue Mountains are home to diverse wildlife populations; recent hiking reports from parts of the Blue Mountains Trail have included sightings of wolves, cougars, bears, pine martens, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, badgers, eagles, owls, and songbirds galore. The Blue Mountains Trail is more than a long distance trail. It’s an opportunity to solve some of the pressing challenges for the recreation infrastructure that needs the investment that comes with more visitation. It opens the door to the associated benefits that well maintained
trails and broader exposure bring to recreation-minded rural communities. It brings more people into the conversation on the role intact landscapes and thriving ecosystems can provide to the region’s future. The trail runs 530 miles from end to end and winds through all seven wilderness areas of Northeast Oregon. The northern terminus is Wallowa Lake State Park, where the trail heads due south and quickly climbs into the Eagle Cap Wilderness, avoiding the overcrowded Lakes Basin and opting for Hawkins Pass and the headwaters of the Imnaha River. It passes the foot of Cusick Mountain and its ancient limber pine, thought to be the oldest tree in Oregon. It turns back north to follow the Western Rim Trail high above Hells Canyon, before descending to the Snake River at Dug Bar, the site where the nontreaty bands of the Nez Perce crossed into
Above: Eagle Cap Wilderness as seen from the Blue Mountains Trail. Photo: Renee Patrick
18 MAZAMAS
Idaho on their flight from the U.S. Army when they were forcibly removed from their homeland. It climbs the Nee-Me-Poo Trail before touching the Zumwalt Prairie and crosses Joseph Canyon, the birthplace of Chief Joseph. From Troy, a town known best to Grande Ronde River runners, it follows the Wenaha River, the North and South Forks of the Umatilla River, the community of Tollgate, on to Mt. Emily, and then to La Grande, the trail’s midpoint and the headquarters of Greater Hells Canyon Council, the organization that is leading the effort to develop the Blue Mountains Trail. From La Grande, the trail’s southern half continues to Anthony Lakes and then along the impressive geology on the Elkhorn Crest Trail to reach Sumpter, a historic Gold Rush town. The trail returns to the Greenhorn Mountains before descending into the wilderness along
