Ever since 2013 when Mia and I drove up over the Blue Mountains and dropped down into Pendleton, OR as we moved across the country, I knew it was an area we had to get back to.
My solo trip back in 2023 brought me to the area south of Pendleton/La Grande. Coming into 2025 I decided it was time to get up into the Northeast corner of this state we have called home for twelve years now.
Before the trip officially begins…….
As a Wayfarer Vans Vanbassador for 2025 I was offered the opportunity to show the van at the Adventure Van Expo (AVE) in Hood River. This was supposed to be a good way to begin my slow trek east before cutting over from La Grande to Joseph, OR for a planned stay at Wallowa Lake State Park. I’d get a chance to introduce potential Wayfarians to an in-person tour of Clifford the Big Red Van.
With June 19th being a holiday I had booked Wednesday and Thursday nights at Deschutes State Park that I have so often visited. The idea was to get in a couple days of gravel riding and head to Hood River on Friday afternoon.
Plans go slightly awry……
A wildfire started in Rowena, OR earlier in June. Rowena is not very far from The Dalles and Hood River. My understanding is that they were housing some of the fire crews at the Hood River Fairgrounds, which was supposed to be the location of the AVE show.
I don’t know how they pulled it off, but the promoters found space in St Helens, OR at the Columbia County Fairgrounds. Emails, social media posts, etc. all went out with only a week to spare before the show. And for those who are unaware, Hood River & St Helens are in complete opposite directions to each other. I ended up cancelling my two nights at Deschutes and just headed to St Helens on Friday after enjoying the day off (as originally planned).
To add to the slight chaos (more for AVE, less for me) was the fact that rain was forecasted for much of Friday and Saturday. The first appreciable rain we had seen since mid-May in the PDX metro region.
Plans back on track……
I spent a pretty fun 48 hours talking all things #vanlife, meeting some cool people and hanging out with Dean and Colby on Saturday night too. I was definitely “peopled out” by the time Sunday 3pm rolled around.
What would have been only a 2:45 drive time from Hood River to my first campsite of the trip turned into a 4:30 drive time leaving from St Helens. I wasn’t too worried about it and the traffic through PDX was actually not that bad (absolutely shocking!). I rolled into Emigrant Springs just before 8pm.
This was really just a place to lay my head for the evening and was fully intended to shorten my trek to Wallowa Lake the following day. The campground is far too close to the highway for my liking. The plus side however is the history of the Oregon Trail here.
Let the adventures begin……
I pretty much had the day to kill. There was no super rush to get to Joseph or my campsite. So, as I was leaving the campground and heading east, I decided to check out another Oregon Trail area a few miles off the highway.
The Blue Mountain Crossing site has a short hiking loop that takes you through the history of the aera and the ruggedness of the terrain that travelers endured.
With my history seeking self feeling educated, I continued on to La Grande to pick up some groceries and get lunch before the 70 mile drive to Joseph.
Arriving in Joseph……
The drive over from La Grande to Joseph is quite pleasant. Traffic was light, the views were interesting, and I got to check off some more small Oregon towns from my list.
There is an interesting mix of rural farm life and tourist attractions in this corner of Oregon. Born and raised in a state that is both rural and gets plenty of money from tourism, there was a very familiar vibe to it all.
The views from town do not suck! It’s a cute downtown with far more restaurants and gift shops than a town this size should have. It is proof positive of their embracing of the tourism-based economy.
I had found a route on ridewithgps that left from downtown Joseph and gave me a tour of the valley with a few climbs thrown in for good measure. There were more barns, plenty of deer and even a farm raising buffalo (bison?).
What a nice campground…..
I booked my site on the E-loop, site E21. It is a great site and would highly consider it again on a return trip.
Behind this site is a small gravel parking lot and there is group site C just to the left of this picture but far enough away to not be bothersome. What made this site so super special was the views from just the other side of the fence you see in the background.
It was barely 4pm by the time I pulled into my site. I spent a decent amount of time wandering around the campground and trying to get the lay of the land.
Big day of hiking……
Mia and I have talked about a backpacking trip in the Eagle Cap Wilderness. I was looking more for a long day hike and boy did the option of Aneroid Lake fit the bill. By leaving from the campground you add about 1 mile each way, bringing the total close to 16 miles. I won’t say this hike is easy, but I can say that there are not any technical difficulties with it. It is a long and steady climb from the lake all the way up to the old mining town near the lake.
The starting point branches off to several trail options. I was following the east fork of the Wallowa River trail, which aptly named follows the river for the first several miles of steady climbing, passing the damn that generates the power for the small village at the base of the valley.
After a few miles you enter the Eagle Cap Wilderness proper. From here the trail still climbs and you get a few short reprieves along the way.
There is the old Camp Halton that used to be a mining town and even had a general store up here at 7500′ until a few decades ago. The camp itself is private property, but the caretaker will let you walk around as long as you are respectful.
This was a fantastic hike. A long day but well worth the effort. I didn’t run into much snow. Just patches here and there starting at about 6700′ in elevation. The other bonus was I saw very few people in the 6 hours I was out there. One small group of equestrians early on as I was heading up, they were headed down. Then I passed two ladies early and ran into a young couple up at the camp. Only saw one more person on the way down. A nice quiet and gorgeous day in the mountains.
Take it easy today?
One of the things I learned while walking around the night before was that there is a free shuttle service that runs between the trailheads just up the road and Enterprise, OR with multiple stops along the way. I took advantage of the early morning shuttle to hitch a ride into Joseph for some supplies and most importantly hit up the local mom and pop donut shop!
As mentioned before, when we travel, we look for local places just like this. Blue Mountain Donut Company has a decent selection of risen donuts, a small selection of cake donuts and even some cinnamon rolls and a few other things. They even had my benchmark Boston Cream (not Bavarian Cream you heathens).
I was back to the campground by 9:45 AM. I hung out for a bit, read, did some dishes and then decided it was time to go on a ride. The initial idea was to bike back towards Joseph and explore some more of the gravel roads around the area. Maybe do 20-25 miles total.
I may have gotten a little carried away with the “easy day” of riding and 38 miles later ended up back at my campsite. Literally made it back with about five minutes to spare before a thunderstorm rolled through for the next hour or so. Pure dumb luck on my part.
One more hike before moving on…….
Thursday was my final day at Wallowa Lake. I was up early and ready to go check out the Chief Joseph Loop hike, a short sub-5 mile hike from the campground. I opted for the counterclockwise option which starts at the lake and ends with the same road walk back to the campsite as the Aneroid Lake hike. The climb from the lake to the ridge is STEEP but gratefully short (kinda). There is an awesome waterfall/bridge crossing combo towards the end (beginning if you go clockwise).
I packed up the van and was rolling back towards La Grande and a 3pm appointment at Hot Lake Lodge for a dip in their hot springs. For $20 you can soak up until 8pm as a day visitor. You just need to book a start time and then can stay all the way until 8pm. I found it funny you had to sign a waiver saying you would not jump in the actual lake. They tell you it is in excess of 180F. So yeah, your goose would be cooked.
From what I gather this hotel as changed hands several times over the years. It looks nice from the front and the inside was pleasant. There are some obvious signs of needed maintenance from the sides and back though. I really hope the current owners get to accomplish the vision they set out with. It really is a neat place.
Hello again Anthony!
For the final two days of my trip, I opted to return to Anthony Lakes. Back in 2023 when I was here, it was a couple weeks earlier in June and there was still a decent amount of snow on the hiking trails.
Given the warm and dry spring weather we’ve had in Oregon I was hoping to be rewarded with clearer trails. Conditions turned out to be pretty freaking spectacular.
The one downside this time around was the absolute poop-ton of mosquitos! I’ve not had to deal with them much since moving to Oregon. Here in the Tualatin Valley they are pretty much nonexistent. Even at Wallowa Lake there was very few. I spent most of Thursday night holed up in the van so I wouldn’t end up a desiccated husk.
Elkhorn Crest Trail……..
This trail has fascinated me since I learned about it on bikepacking.com. Then I learned Mica had done an ultramarathon along the route of it at some point. Since trail conditions were so much better this time around I planned a hike up to Dutch Flat and back down the Crawfish Basin trail for about a nine mile loop. Holy cow did this loop not disappoint!
Friday morning was cool and a little breezy. Perfect temps as far as I was concerned. The breeze also helped keep the tiny vampires away. The higher I climbed the less concern for mosquitos I had and by the time I was about a mile or so in they weren’t even a factor.
I ran into some snow across the trail a few times. There were two somewhat dicey crossings that were off camber, and the snow field went down several hundred feet at a very steep angle.
After those two sections the trail was in fantastic shape. Nice breeze up high and very comfortable temperature. One day I would like to hike the full length of the trail.
As I was returning to my site at Mud Lake the campers next to me were packing up. They told me that the camp host said we could move to the actual Anthony Lake CG across the street. Mud Lake has electric hookups, but Clifford is self-sustaining with my 12V system and solar panels. I took the host up on the offer and slid on over to site #22 which was tucked in the back corner of the loop and was just about perfect.
It wasn’t even 1pm by the time all of this happened. I spent the rest of the day reading and walking around. Knowing that I was in for a long drive on Saturday morning, I took full advantage of just relaxing and chilling out.
In Summary
It was a fantastic trip. I definitely missed Mia and Codi. I think they would have both enjoyed this one. We shall definitely be returning again. The small-town charm, mountains, lakes, rivers, great hiking, decent biking all combined for one heck of a trip.
While I was close to Hells Canyon (relatively speaking) while at Wallowa Lake, I just never made it over there. I could have taken a very roundabout and scenic trip back to La Grande, but since I had the 3pm reservation at the hot springs, I did not want to chance being late or feel rushed.
All the pictures here
Thanks for reading,
-Pete
ON & OFF RHODES 
Lovely! I haven’t been to that part of Oregon in 10 to 15 years, depending on exactly what part. I need to get out there again…
It really is beautiful out there.