Little Eagle Meadows - Eagle Cap Wilderness - 7/21/08

[justpeachy]

After our three-day trip with the Wallowa Llamas (see trip report), Greg and I had one free day before driving back to Portland. So we went on a day hike up to Little Eagle Meadows, starting at the Summit Point trailhead. This hike to the meadows was the first part of the longer hike up to Pine Lakes, which is the hike we were supposed to have done with the llamas. But there was too much snow higher up, so our llama guide took us to Eagle Meadows instead.

My sister and I did this hike last year in late June and it was too early for the massive lupine displays. All we saw were thousands of lupine leaves. Fortunately, Greg and I saw plenty of blooming lupine. Here he is coming up the trail behind me, surrounded by the purple wildflowers.



The trail climbs up and up and up. It was fairly brutal in parts. I was very tired. Fortunately, it wasn't hot. In fact, we got drizzled on a little bit. It's amazing how fast the weather changes. At the trailhead it was hot and sunny and I left my rain jacket in the car. Half an hour later the sun was gone and it was drizzling.

Finally we reached the massive meadows. It really should be called Big Eagle Meadows, not Little Eagle Meadows. Cornucopia Mountain makes a nice backdrop.



The lupine was EVERYWHERE and it was gorgeous. And for every blooming lupine we saw, there were even more that hadn't bloomed yet. I've never so many lupine in one place before.





There were other wildflowers blooming up there too.



We had a nice view of the mountains and the distant rain on the hike out.



Beautiful hike! Probably about five miles round-trip to the meadows and back, with about 800 feet elevation gain. You can see the rest of the pictures here.