The Blue Mountains Trail

THE BLUE MOUNTAINS TRAIL BECKONS

by Jared Kennedy

We 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 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

Above: Eagle Cap Wilderness as seen from the Blue Mountains Trail. Photo: Renee Patrick

the North Fork John Day River, climbing back over Vinegar Hill, and continuing past Austin Junction to Monument Rock Wilderness. The trail’s final 45 miles run along the Strawberry Mountains crest before ending in John Day.

While some of the mountains and rivers may sound familiar, for most Oregonians these are unknown landscapes. The Blue Mountains ecoregion is mountainous, with diverse dry, wet, and alpine forests. Many who venture from elsewhere are surprised just how much water there is in a part of the state known for its aridity. The Blues connect the Rockies, the Cascades, Great Basin and Columbia Plateau and serve as a critical migration corridor for wildlife moving between and across these ecoregions. The mountain ranges through which the trail courses have more peaks above 9,000 feet than any other part of the state, including the Cascades.

The Blue Mountains Trail goes along the highest points of Wallowa, Elkhorn, Greenhorn, and Strawberry Mountains where the snow melts in July and returns by October. It also descends to the base of Hells Canyon where summer temperatures consistently stay above 100 degrees. It is a trail best hiked from late August to early October, and doing the whole route will take 30-45 days depending on your daily mileage. As with most long distance trails, it is set up to hike in shorter sections, to day hike, or to do a shorter backpacking trip from one of the many nearby communities, campgrounds, or trailheads.

The development of the Blue Mountains Trail by Greater Hells Canyon Council (GHCC) is the culmination of over 40-years of vision and groundwork led by Loren Hughes and joined by Dick Hentze, Greg Dyson, Mike Higgins and countless others. There are many benefits of GHCC leading trail development efforts. GHCC was founded 54-years ago to stop the damming of the Snake River through Hells Canyon and was instrumental in the creation of the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area. As a conservation organization, GHCC is well suited to resolve any potential environmental impacts caused by increased recreation with an ecocentric approach. We believe that time spent immersed in these landscapes will make continued on next page

Groundtruthing while hiking the Blue Mountains Trail. Photo:Renee Patrick

Strawberry Mountain as seen from the Blue Mountains Trail. Photo: Renee Patrick

Blue, continued from previous page.

you fall in love with the area and join the efforts of GHCC and other conservation organizations to see these areas protected.

The Blue Mountains, such a critical wildlife connectivity corridor, are also home to forests and rivers that will play an increasingly important role as a climate refugia. Yet all too often, the voices that seek to protect the region’s intact landscapes, large trees, diverse wildlife, and functioning ecosystems are brushed aside. The overly simplistic “urban/rural divide” narrative gives short shrift to the large percentage of Oregon’s eastsiders who also want to see more of the state’s public lands protected from taxpayer subsidized overgrazing and intensive logging practices.

This past summer, we were lucky to get extraordinary assistance from Renee Patrick (Trail Coordinator for the Oregon Desert Trail), Whitney La Ruffa, Naomi Hudetz, and Mike Unger. All four completed the whole route. With their help, we worked together to modify the route and eliminate many of the obstacles that they encountered. Blogs, podcasts, and trip reports describing their trail experiences are linked to on the Blue Mountains Trail website. Additional input from others, including the recreation staff at the Malheur National Forest, have enabled us to create a route that is ready this year for experienced backcountry hikers, with significant segments ready for less experienced hikers.

Maps and in-depth town guides are available on the Blue Mountains Trail website. With support from Travel Oregon, we’ve been able to develop these guides to help thru hikers plan the logistics for shipping resupply boxes and picking up food and other gear in the towns that offer them. But hikers need to also prepare for a long gap in resupply between Joseph and Troy. Finding a friend to meet you at Hells Canyon or Buckhorn Overlooks is the best option at present, as we work to create a long term resupply solution for this section of trail. Hikers are encouraged to take a modified zero day on a short section of trail to help control brush along their route to improve the trail experience for others; we’ll provide the tools, again thanks to generous support from Travel Oregon. Hikers need to be aware that the Blue Mountains Trail is a long-term project still in its infancy.

We invite you to visit us in Northeast Oregon—hike some or all of the Blue Mountains Trail, use our resources to plan your own journey into the Blues, and visit the towns and stay awhile. The Blue Mountains beckon.

For more information, including maps, town guides and more resources, visit the Blue Mountains Trail webpage at hellscanyon.org/blue-mountains-trail. Sign up for the trail newsletter to stay up to date on the latest from the trail. And learn more about the work we do to connect, protect, and restore the Greater Hells Canyon Region while you’re there. We’d also like to thank the Mazamas for a generous grant and support for our work on the Blue Mountains Trail, including the opportunity to share this article with you.

Monument Rock. Photo: Renee Patrick