Eagle Cap Wilderness Backpack

This was a 4 day backpacking trip to Eagle cap Wilderness in Easter Oregon - One of the most scenic and more popular backpacking loop. I planned this trip 3 months in advance and as the day come closure, weather started to take a nasty turn - rain and thunderstorm expected over the coarse of first 3 days. I had doubts in my mind as I packed up for this trip, but in the end my group decided to give it a shot.

Day 0 - Drive from Portland to Wallowa Lake State park Campground

We left Portland at around 4 PM, stopped for dinner in Hood River and reached the campground around 1 AM. I already had made the reservation for a campsite, so we found our spot and went to bed. It rained all night, heavy rain - which means I packed up a wet tent at the start of this hike.

Day 1 - Two Pan Trailhead to Minam Lake

Before starting a hike, we stopped in Joseph for a good breakfast and made a quick stop at ranger station to check for trail condition and fire closure. From Two Pan TH to Minam Lake is about 7 miles, 2000 feet hike. Trail is mostly gentle uphill with few steep areas. We found a campsite very close to the main trail and setup our tents. As soon as we were done setting up our tents, we noticed dark clouds rolling in, weather had changed from sunny to dark thunderstorm clouds in a passage of 30 mins. We enjoyed all the lightning and thunder sitting by our camp. It rained for awhile, so it was time for a nap. Everything cleared up in few hours before dinner. We had a nice fire going by now and enjoyed dinner sitting next to the fire. That was it for the day. It pretty much rained all night.

Day 2 - Minam Lake to Mirror Lake

We woke up to clear blue sky. cooked our breakfast and with thunderstorm predicted around noon, we started making our way to Mirror Lake. Our only worry was that we have to cross a mountain pass at ~8000feet elevation and we didn't want to get stuck in the thunderstorm exposed on the ridge. It was a short steep climb towards the pass, trail gained about 1500 feet in less than 1.5 miles. Once we got to the top, we could see dark clouds looming in the distance. This was our first view of the Eagle Cap and Mirror Lake just below that.

Lake Basin area

Camping at Mirror Lake

Day3 - Mirror Lake to Glacier Lake

I woke up early and walked to Sunshine Lake before sunrise to capture morning light on the Eagle Cap peak. It was a calm morning and I got a pretty good reflection in the lake.

Morning Glow on the Eagle Cap at Sunshine Lake 

Sunshine Lake at sunrise

My friends decided to base camp at Mirror Lake, but I wanted to go upto Glacier Lake and stay overnight. It was a steep climb over Glacier Pass for about 2000 feet. I got a very nice camp spot by the lake. There was one other group by camping by the lake. 

Day 4 - Glacier Lake to Two Pan TH
I woke up 30 mins before sunrise and hiked around the lake to capture alpenglow on Glacier Peak and Eagle Cap. After doing some morning photography and breakfast, I hiked down to the Mirror Lake and waited for my friends to get ready. Hike out had very specular views through out as we followed another fork of Lostine River. Last couple of miles were very steep decent, which made us all tired. Last day was about 12 miles for me.

Camp Spot at Glacier Lake

Alpenglow over Glacier Peak (left) and Eagle Cap (right)

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