West Fork Wallowa, Ice & Frazier Lakes 8/20/12 - 8/24/12

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Hoosier Hiker
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West Fork Wallowa, Ice & Frazier Lakes 8/20/12 - 8/24/12

Post by Hoosier Hiker » September 7th, 2012, 10:28 am

Having never posted a TR before, I've been procrastinating. And there's already lots of nice pictures from the Eagle Cap Wilderness. But here goes.

Being of about the same vintage as Splintercat, I was inspired by his Travel in Time trip report http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/vie ... =30&t=7283 to ask my college roomie and Best Man Jim to come from Cape Cod to repeat the hike, in the opposite direction, with a side trip to Ice Lake. That was our plan. Our over-ambitious plan. We quickly discovered as we huffed and puffed our way to Ice Lake that when you're 55, carrying a too-heavy pack (38 lbs with food, no water), and not in the greatest shape (me that is; Jim does triathlons, but has never done an overnight back-pack), your ambitions have to be scaled back to reality, as will be explained below.

We drove over to Enterprise on Sunday, 8/19, stopping at The Prodigal Son in Pendleton for lunch on the way, for coffee in Wallowa, and of course dinner the night before at TG.

We got a good night's sleep at The Wilderness Inn in Enterprise (a fine place to spend the night), a really great breakfast the next morning at Old Town Cafe in Joseph, and we were off. At the trailhead we met some nice folks from Halfway, Forest & Ruie (sp?) and their dog, Cricket. They were experienced, and looking at our packs and hearing our plans, Forest told us to enjoy ourselves and not to make it a "death march." Good advice. On the way to the Ice Lake split we also met friendly Martin and Molly (yellow lab) from Wilsonville. (If he is reading this, or anybody knows him, I would like him to contact me.)

When we got to the West Fork crossing where the Ice Lake trail splits off, we were faced with the log crossing. This is when I learned for the first time that Jim is afraid of heights, and although the log isn't that high, going over the rushing river he said it was scaring him stuff-less, if you know what I mean.
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The scary log crossing.
Jim was game and we made it over, no problem.
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What it looks like when you're on the log.

Jim told me he took a picture of an interesting beetle. It looks almost like a scorpion to me. Anybody know what it is?
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The beetle/scorpion.
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About halfway to Ice Lake, where we stopped for lunch.
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Up the creek from our lunch spot.
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Jim having some lunch.
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Almost there! (pant, pant)
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First look at Ice Lake
There were already 6 or 7 tents on the peninsula. Wanting some solitude and to avoid infamous "poop mountain" we headed to the west end of the lake and camped in the little grove of trees there. It was a nice campsite, but probably a little buggier than the peninsula. We each were carrying three 500 ml boxes of wine (heavy packs, remember?), and after a few minutes in the icy creek feeding the lake, that el cheapo chardonnay tasted pretty good.
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The (new) blue chair is one of the reasons the pack was too heavy.
The next morning after breakfast, we headed up the Matterhorn. Unfortunately, Tuesday was the worst day of weather we had. You can see the haze and smoke in this picture, although it was worse than it looks here, and it got even worse as the day went on.
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Looking back at Ice Lake.
I wanted to take the ridge over to Sacajawea, but Jim thought it was a bad idea. The wind was gusting and there were some occasional raindrops, and the haze was destroying the view. I thought Jim was being wise and didn't argue. So some day when the weather is nice, I still have that scramble to enjoy.
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Just south of the Matterhorn summit.
By the time we got down, the weather had improved, and we both took a swim. Cold but refreshing. Back at camp Jim discovered that varmints (the little prairie-dog type things--Forest said he calls them red diggers?) had chewed up his camp shoes and carried one of them off. He found it after an hour, about 100 yards from camp. They had also chewed open a box of cabernet. (After that, Jim followed my advice to hang everything.) They didn't drink too much wine, so Jim finished it. If he comes down with hanta or rabies, I'll update this TR!

Overnight the winds changed, and on Wednesday morning the weather had improved considerably. That was the day we had planned on heading to somewhere near Moccasin Lake, but instead we headed straight to Frazier Lake. [Edit: Adding that after coming down from Ice Lake, as hot as it was, this was harder than we anticipated. Plus the dust. Jim called it "grueling," and it's hard to disagree. More persuasion that I have to lighten up, both personally and pack-wise.]

After we set up camp at Frazier L., we found Forest, Ruie & Cricket camping not too far from us.
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You still have to cross a tiny snowfield at the top of the headwall to Frazier Lake. It still is bridging the creek.
Thursday dawned beautifully. That was the day we had planned to head over Polaris Pass. Instead, we decided to dayhike, first up to Hawkins Pass, then down and up again, to Glacier Lake. (Thanks for the recommendations, Forest & Ruie.) We stopped and swam in Little Frazier on the way down, very good swimming.
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Little Frazier viewed on the way to Hawkins Pass.
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Glacier lake might be the most beautiful lake I've ever seen.
When we got back to camp, we swam, looked at tadpoles, finished the wine, and got a good night's sleep. It got cold that night--frost in the tent, and we saw a lot of heavy frost later that morning near Six Mile Meadow. Friday morning was beautiful, and instead of heading over Polaris Pass, we headed down.
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Frazier Lake, Friday 7:45 am
Jim had a red-eye flight Saturday night, so getting back to PDX sounded good. We left camp at 7:45, and were down a little after noon. We stopped and swam in Wallowa lake, nice, got gifts for the neglected spouse at Beecrowbee in Joseph, and had lunch at TG. Portobello sandwich, yum. In the gorge on the way back, we stopped at Walking Man. Beer great. Roasted beet salad great. Margherita pizza not as good as I remembered, and a disappointment.

Next year, Polaris Pass or bust!

[Edit] Something I meant to include. We packed out all our used TP. I think this is the way to go, we found dug-up TP around Frazier, and it takes years to de-compose anyway. We also left both campsites cleaner than we found them, packing out bits of foil, a whole empty Mountain House food bag somebody let blow away, and matchsticks and filtered cigarette butts. (Cigarette butts, really?) Having said that, I have to apologize. At Frazier I seemed to have lost the black plastic cap to an iso-butane canister. We scoured the campsite, looking in rock crevices, etc., but couldn't find it. I thought it would turn up lost in my pack somewhere, but so far, no dice. So I apologize, and I hope somebody finds it and packs it out for me. [EDIT 10/16/2012--the black plastic cap has been found! Hiding in a pocket I didn't know I had. So don't bother searching my campsite for it! :) ]
Last edited by Hoosier Hiker on October 18th, 2012, 10:47 am, edited 4 times in total.

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retired jerry
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Re: West Fork Wallowa, Ice & Frazier Lakes 8/20/12 - 8/24/12

Post by retired jerry » September 7th, 2012, 10:37 am

Hey

I think I saw you on Matterhorn from Eagle Cap

38 pounds??? Oh wait...I've already done that routine...

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mayhem
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Re: West Fork Wallowa, Ice & Frazier Lakes 8/20/12 - 8/24/12

Post by mayhem » September 7th, 2012, 10:44 am

Great TR!! I wish I could write 1/100 as good! You really made me laugh a few times out loud (just found he is afraid of heights, death march, poop mountain, marmot getting into stuff) :)

Also I think the beetle is actually a cricket.


Bammmm!
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Hoosier Hiker
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Re: West Fork Wallowa, Ice & Frazier Lakes 8/20/12 - 8/24/12

Post by Hoosier Hiker » September 7th, 2012, 11:01 am

retired jerry wrote:Hey

I think I saw you on Matterhorn from Eagle Cap

38 pounds??? Oh wait...I've already done that routine...
Are you kidding about seeing us, or serious? As far as we could tell, only two other groups went up that day, a couple, and a guy with two women.

Believe me, I'll never do 38 lbs again. We had too much extra food (we cut the trip a night short, so we ended up with almost 2 days extra), and the new chair is comfy (http://www.rei.com/product/638053/camp- ... ll-a-chair), but weighs 2 lbs, 8 oz, so has to go. We had two extra fuel canisters, and didn't even use up the first one. The wine was a luxury and has to go. I'm looking to get my base weight without food down to close to 20 lbs. Any suggestions anybody has, I'm listening.

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retired jerry
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Re: West Fork Wallowa, Ice & Frazier Lakes 8/20/12 - 8/24/12

Post by retired jerry » September 7th, 2012, 12:12 pm

(kidding - although I might have seen you - you were too small to pick out though plus it was so hazy - 8/21/2012)
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Hoosier Hiker
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Re: West Fork Wallowa, Ice & Frazier Lakes 8/20/12 - 8/24/12

Post by Hoosier Hiker » September 7th, 2012, 12:33 pm

When I created this TR, I was limited to uploading 15 photos, so I left out some things I wanted to include. I'm seeing that other TRs have lots more than 15. What's the secret?

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retired jerry
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Re: West Fork Wallowa, Ice & Frazier Lakes 8/20/12 - 8/24/12

Post by retired jerry » September 7th, 2012, 1:42 pm

I think maybe you're limited to 15 if you upload

Make a second on nth post with more

Or, if you put your photos someplace else, you can link to them in your report, I think that's how people get more than 15

justpeachy
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Re: West Fork Wallowa, Ice & Frazier Lakes 8/20/12 - 8/24/12

Post by justpeachy » September 7th, 2012, 3:06 pm

Looks like a great trip! Sorry about the varmints getting into your stuff. Lame!
Hoosier Hiker wrote:When I created this TR, I was limited to uploading 15 photos, so I left out some things I wanted to include. I'm seeing that other TRs have lots more than 15. What's the secret?
As retired jerry said, you can post a reply to your own thread and that way you can upload more photos. Or you can upload them somewhere else, like flickr, and them embed the images here.

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Splintercat
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Re: West Fork Wallowa, Ice & Frazier Lakes 8/20/12 - 8/24/12

Post by Splintercat » September 7th, 2012, 4:10 pm

Nice report, Hoosier! I hope to get up there next summer -- my trip plans for this summer fizzled in the Year of the Dog. I just hope I can get my pack DOWN to 38 lbs... my day pack weighs in at about 32 lbs (with water) when fully loaded with camera gear. I surely won't be carrying out used TP, though I do admire your ethics and stewardship -- especially the campsite tending. That's pretty darned cool!

Thanks for posting!

Tom :)

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Koda
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Re: West Fork Wallowa, Ice & Frazier Lakes 8/20/12 - 8/24/12

Post by Koda » September 7th, 2012, 5:13 pm

Hoosier Hiker wrote:...The wine was a luxury and has to go. I'm looking to get my base weight without food down to close to 20 lbs. Any suggestions anybody has, I'm listening.
read this thread. http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/vie ... 15&t=10531
when you get your baseweight down to ~10lbs you can carry the wine.... ;)

excellent trip report. The Wallowas is a memorable place, I didn't get to go this year so I enjoyed yours. And double Kudos to you for cleaning up others mess and TP. I bet in the lakes basin there isn't a rock without TP under it or stashed nearby. I know its biodegradable, but I can't help to be curious how long it takes TP to decompose...
lightweight, cheap, strong... pick 2

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