I know what you're thinking - finally, something new!

The reason for the long absence is partly because we were here:

The Eagle Cap Wilderness in the Wallowa Mountain range in Eastern Oregon. Yeah.

Right then. Andy and I like to backpack when we can. We'd love to do it more than we can. Problems include time constraints, pets, plants, and generally that we are in pretty sorry physical shape. But after a week with Andy's family in Redmond we drove the rest of the way over to the Wallowas since we were a third of the way there. The plan was to hike 7.5 miles on Saturday and camp at a lake. Day two was a 3 mile hike over a pass (translation: 3 miles of climbing around 1000 feet of elevation only to go back down it again) to camp at another lake. Day three, Monday, was another 7.5 miles to finish the loop back to the trailhead.

A little bit of info on the hike. You start at the trailhead at around 5,500 of elevation and the lake we were headed to was around 7,500 feet. To put that in perspective, Timberline Lodge is at 6,000 feet. We were hiking higher than we had ever hiked before. If getting used to the thin air wasn't enough, the first two miles of the hike was climbing about 1,500 feet over granite boulders. It was a really rocky trail. By the time we had gone about three miles we were spent.

One thing that is great about going backpacking is being able to get rid of all the distractions of life. The husband and I are able to have really great talks - the wilderness brings a lot of clarity. After sitting around the campfire for a couple of hours, we realized just how homesick we were. After the grueling hike it didn't take a lot of convincing to decide to cut it short and hike out the next day. But not before we saw some great sights - we continued up the trail a few more miles on Sunday to get some of these pictures.

The campsite - I'm washing dishes

If you look close you can see me in the red still washing

Pictures never do justice

This valley was amazing. The mountain range comes down to you on both sides and to the south funnels into the view of Eagle Cap. This river comes flowing down the middle and truly looks fake or manmade even in real life; the way the grass comes down to meet the water and then the rock goes straight down the sides. You can sort of see how the bottom of the river was probably ten feet down and slated granite.

The other direction

This picture is a pretty decent representation of most of the hike. It was really wierd - with all the granite coming out of the earth, you felt like you were walking around in some ancient ruins and any minute you were going to turn a corner and see a giant head carved in a rock. The jagged granite mountains were amazing.

In short, if you ever get a chance to go to the wallowas, do it. Just try to be in better shape than we are.

I've got some other stuff to show you soon - as soon as I have time! :)