High Adventure 2010

About a year ago I was given the opportunity to work with the young men in our church. While the usual feelings of nervousness and inadequacy were present there was also excitement about having an "excuse" to do all the things that are difficult to just make time for. One of the things that I was looking forward to the most was camping and hiking. (Believe it or not it is difficult to get out and camp with 3 little children.) So when it was finally decided that we would hike this summer with the young men it was difficult to focus on much else.

If Becky has not mentioned it, I may over think and over plan in some situations. I had about 6 weeks to get ready for this hike. And believe me, most of that 6 weeks was spent researching gear, trends and terrain for this hike. I realized quickly that I had 2 strikes against me for this hike. I was the leader of these young men and therefore responsible for their well being, and this is the first hike that I have been on as a doctor, thus significantly increasing the amount of first aid supplies that I would carry. When all was said and done my pack weighed in around 55 pounds.

Luckily I have not been sitting on my duff for the past year. I will give full credit here to Bob Cook and The Workout for getting me in condition to handle this hike. Thanks again.

So we headed off to the Wallowas in Eastern Oregon. It is in the Wallowa Whitman National Forest. Our goal being to summit a peak called Eagle Cap. There was some "weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth" from the young men, but as you can see they showed up and were willing to set out on the adventure with us.

Day 1 was a 6.1 mile climb from the Two Pan trailhead to Minam Lake. The elevation gain was 1845 feet to a maximum elevation of 7430 feet.

In my opinion, worth the climb. There is nothing better than waking up in the mountains to a view like this.

Day 2 we had to hike over a pass from Minam Lake to Mirror Lake. It was a 4 mile hike with a 1135 foot elevation gain and a 925 foot elevation loss. I like this picture because it give a good perspective of the grade of the trails that we were on most of the hike.

This is me at the top of the pass at about 8520 feet. Just to the side of my right hand is Eagle Cap Mountain. This is the first look at the mountain that we had. It was at this point I remembered that people I had talked to about hiking in the Wallowas said is was some of the hardest hiking they had ever done. I asked the other leader who had hiked this area as a youth if this was easier, harder, or about what he remembered. Without hesitation he said harder.

We set up a base camp at Mirror Lake and would spend the next couple nights there. This is the view of Eagle Cap from our camp.

Day 3 was the day we summited. It was a 2.7 mile trail up to the summit with a 1972 foot elevation gain. We maxed out at 9572 feet at the summit. Honestly, it was almost as hard coming down as going up. Luckly these snow fields were there to slide down.

This is the first peak I have ever summited. 6 of the 8 boys made it to the summit. Over my left shoulder is a peak called the Matterhorn. It is also summitable but there is no defined trail to the top. Had we had another day or two it would have been fun to summit that one as well.

Day 4 was the hike out. On the summit we could see the valley that we had to hike out of. It was a 7.3 mile trail with a 2044 foot loss.

Overall the trip was fantastic (in my opinion). Ask the boys and you might get a different answer. It really has made me excited to hike again. However, I think for the next hike, something with gentle rolling trails may be more to my liking. I was very grateful for the boys, leaders and others who supported our adventure. A special thanks to Becky and the other wives for letting us be kids again for a few days.