Wenaha River Trail

[drm]

My first multi-day backpacking trip of the season. I often head to northeastern Oregon for this, the Grande Ronde Valley. Last year it was Hells Canyon. This year, the Wenaha River. It forms the southern end of the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness, which stretches north into Washington. This is the northernmost extent of the Blue Mountains.

The start is from Troy, which is about 40 miles north of the town of Wallowa. My main goal was to go a ways up the Wenaha River Trail, but clearly their trail maintenance did not get so far, and I turned back on the second day, and switched to Plan B, which was to hike up the Crooked Creek trail, which splits off from the Wenaha 6 miles up. Most days were a moderate backpack followed by a dayhike up the nearby ridge for views.

It rained the night camping in Troy near the trailhead and the first night in the backcountry. Then the heat hit, but everything was always sopping wet with dew in the morning. But there was plenty of sun to dry it. The area has a lot of flat, grassy river bars that make for excellent camping.

My complete report starts at http://www.deanmyerson.org/wenaha_1, but here is a taste of it.

Trailhead

2 miles up the trail

Wenaha River

Wenaha River valley from Smooth Ridge

end of the trail for me

broad river bar

Three Forks Trail

Wildlife

Wallowa Mountains from a few miles north of Enterprise

[BaileyBoy]

Thanks for the report, I've never been out in that area but had read about it and it looks beautiful. I figured there'd be more snow than you found and surprised to see the paintbrush out already - that's a really nice photo.

Skip

[retired jerry]

Looks like a nice area this time of year. Another trip on my list.

I checked out your web page but the pictures were missing from some of page 3 and all of page 4

[texasbb]

Thanks for the nice report. I'm very interested because I'm tentatively hoping to hike a loop there sometime in June--starting at Teepee TH to Oregon Butte, then Smooth Ridge to Wenaha River to Crooked Creek to Mt Misery back to Oregon Butte.

Have you any guess when Oregon Butte and the high ridges might be melted out?

I guess you stopped at First Creek, but would you have any clue whether there might be much blowdown to deal with as the trail works up toward Indian Corral?

--Todd

[drm]

BaileyBoy - The trailhead is a mere 1200 feet and the river trails gain at most 100 feet per mile. So the snow is gone early here. In this area, the snow level is between 4500 and 5000 feet now.

Jerry - All of the pages on my site display okay for me.

Texasbb - I would guess that Oregon Butte will melt out in 2-3 weeks, but blowdown in upper Crooked Creek Trail (where it is on Trout Creek) could be an issue. I tried to do the same route you're planning on a couple of years ago and gave up. Besides deep mud, the blowdowns weren't just individual trees, but the conglomeration of multiple trees with branches that are almost impenetrable - constantly, every 50 yards, particularly with a pack, and particularly in deep V-shaped ravines where it isn't practical to go around. You get the idea.

That was mid-June in 2007. But there was a really bad windstorm the winter before. If - and this is a big if - they did a thorough maintenance after that, it could be okay. But just as they only seem to have maintained the Wenaha for the first ten miles, I wonder how much the teams get into the more distant parts of these trails. You might consider doing the loop in the reverse direction you describe. Also, there is a lot of bear scat on Crooked Creek, so hike as if in bear country.

Also, I talked to a guy who said he did Melton Creek. That is an alternative to upper Crooked Creek for making a loop with Smooth Ridge. Doing this loop remains a big goal for me some day. The problem is that by the time they get around to maintaining the trails, summer heat may have dried up the springs on Smooth Ridge.

[fettster]

Very nice trip with some great open views and blue skies. Don't think I've ever seen a picture of the Wallowas from that vantage point. Were there any river crossings? Did you end up hanging your food then?