There was approximately 2700 ft. climbing but it was amazing. There must have been half dozen water falls. Recommend it.
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Top backpacking area in the PNW and one of the best in the lower 48! Sublime terrain, views, number of lakes, and pure availability of routes!
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Late start 8:30 AM solo. 40 years ago spent a week up under Sac’ skiing the Hurwal and that basin complex. Had never been up during summer, summited Sac’, called friend about change of plans, need ride home from Wallowa, all good. Went for Matterhorn from Sac’-sketchy in places, slow going but made all summits, down via Ice Lake, long tedious and slow switchback trail back to Wallowa. Retrieving truck tomorrow with dirt bike. Over
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This is a great hike. I have done several times. It is quite steep especially near the top. I did this June 2, 2023. I hit constant snow with 1/2 mile to go. I switched to my snow shoes. Lake was still mostly frozen. This early in the year there was a sketchy log bridge, very slick. It was only 1/4 mile up. Will be easy later in year with less run off. Cheers!
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We have hiked Aneroid twice and have always appreciated the solitude up there during a weekday. We have only gone on weekdays knowing how busy the weekends get. Self issue permit at the trailhead. We have camped overnight and day hiked to this area and have always found a shot. We love that there is a trail around the entire lake. Sometimes it can get a bit overgrown, but worth getting different viewpoints.
The trail access to Aneroid Lake starts at the East Fork Trail. East Fork Trail to Aneroid Lake is a 13-mile trail that is out and back with over 3,000 ft of elevation gain. It is quite the jaunt, but worth it once you are at the lake. Spend the afternoon fly fishing 🎣, soaking in the sun, or exploring the old mining camp that was built in the early 1900s and now turned into mountain cabins and huts. There is a cute dock you can hang out at. The camp caretake is super kind. Sometimes the mining camp area can be closed if it is rented out.
We hiked this trail at the beginning of August which is also the hottest and driest part of the year in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. But it is the perfect weather for a cold dip in the alpine lake. It is an all day effort, but always worth the hike up.
Watch our hiking to Aneroid Lake video: https://youtu.be/BW4jPBpv84E
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Short hike with the dog but it was awesome. Very shady and cool.
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Nice hike for old people, beautiful waterfall at the 1 1\2 mile mark. About 3 miles round trip.
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Ice Lake trail is gorgeous.,Only went 2/3 up. Next time…all the way up
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4.5 miles to Aneroid peak with some great ridge line running over East Peak!
Accidentally closed Gaia and it cut the milage short on the way back.
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Great hike for an old man and his daughter. Yes it was grueling for us carrying 30 pound packs. 7 hours in and 5:40 minutes out. Living in the area most of my life, and I decided to visit the high lakes for the first time
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There is no words to describe how beautiful this hike is. We had an eight day trip planned and underestimated our hike in of 8 miles after a 6 hr drive. Still aneroid lake was gorgeous…crowded, yes. Next day up tenderfoot pass and polaris to frazier lake. Fall colors at its max!!!! Red hills and stunning views. Next stop was glacier lake. Total dreamland. Got goat visitors in the morning so had to abandon the camp for a bit. Smoke rolled in as we left for mirror lake. Got news for thunderstorms rolling in so prepared to exit early and stayed in horseshoe lake one night after eagle cap climb same day with haze all around. Stayed in enterprise for 2 nights for the thunderstorms to pass. Glad we did as there was major lightening. Next day day hiked up to ice lake and also did matterhorn ( my partner only). Stayed up all day and hiked back in dark. Total eye candy and not to be missed. Love love my trip. Will go back to some special places here again. Oh watch out for insane amount of dusty trail and horse poop mounds.
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Incredibly beautiful all the way along and so worth the effort to get up to Echo Lake.
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Left the trailhead around 2am. We summited around 9. Glad we left early as the sun really baked us once up. No shade pretty much the final 2000 feet. Loved the hike. Unfortunately, smoke from fires obscured the views. No plans to do again as this peak was pretty challenging. Especially after a 5 hour drive from Portland. Would recommend bagging this peak.
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Nice meadow to walk through. The walk along the river is incredible. We didn’t make it to the lake because of snow on the trail but had a great time.
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Excellent easy hike along alpine meadows, through forests, and aside creeks. Gorgeous fall colors and views of several snow-capped peaks. Will return and backpack in to better enjoy the area.
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Great hike in the Wallowas. Took the tram to the top and then completed a pretty steep hike into the peaks. Beautiful vistas. Great overnight at the top of the tram for meditation. Cafe served good food.
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Hike from Frazier Lake to Two Pan trailhead. Great hike. Mirror Lake area is highly impacted and I would avoid staying there. Glacier lake is wonderful.
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Perfectly timed to see wildflowers everywhere! Could not believe they were just popping off in August. Douglas lake was a great spot to camp and less busy than Mirror lake below eagle cap. Would love to spend more days lake hopping and day hikes. Gorgeous!
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Chose to do this clockwise from 6/1-6/4/20 because a possible storm was coming on Saturday, so wanted to get the passes over first, and as you’ll read, had other benefits. Weather ended up being perfect all weekend, however it had just snowed 2 ft above 6500ft on the east side, and added a bit of a challenge to get over the passes. Climb up the east fork wallowa River was beautiful, then hit slushy snow at the meadows. Camped at snowy Aneroid for a chilly first night. But the good weather pushed us on to tenderfoot pass and Polaris pass. Much of the trail was covered in snow, so downloading the map was key. We had shoe spikes and trekking poles, which is highly recommended for the passes, which were definitely a little sketchy for a non-technical/non-mountaineer. But the views were epic! Going down the west side of Polaris pass made us thankful for going the direction we choose, cause going up those switchbacks with no protection from the sun would have been soul challenging. Camped at Frazier lake under towering mountains. A group of 4 blazed the trail ahead of us, which made following their footsteps easier, however they veered off track just under the Glacier pass. Glacier lake was still frozen over. We found them on top to enjoy the breathtaking view together and found out they had no map. They also did this with no shoe spikes, so it’s do-able if you don’t want/have the spikes/crampons. We took them down to mocossin lake where they set up camp and we pushed on to lower and dryer ground. Set up camp on Horseshoe lake where we watched the full moon rise over the lake on our last night. We didn’t get much for stargazing due to the brightness of the moon, but I imagine it’s a great spot for it. The next morning we skipped down the west fork of the wallowa River, with breathtaking views of the mountains, ragging river and beautiful meadows. Overall, one of the best trips I’ve been on. Non-stop beauty!
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Above Moon lake, mostly snowed in. Black bear mom and cub sighted near auto trailhead (4 July). East eagle creek flowing above knee level at crossing.
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