[Slugman]

We fought all the elements: lightning, bugs, relentless sun, and reports of snow on the trail. The trip started when I picked up Forest Gnome (Glen) in Everett at 4 am on Saturday. The Dawn Patrol then headed over to Mike220's house, where we ditched my sorry excuse for a car, and piled into Mike's sweet ride, a four-door Toyota Tacoma with matching canopy. We met up with ADAHY (Kevin) at a park 'n ride, and we were off. Mike is an excellent driver, he makes time without hurrying, and the rest of relaxed in our chauffeured drive to the trail head. We hit Joseph, Oregon, just in time for their annual rodeo or something, but we were on a mission, so we didn’t figure out what was going on. The drive to the trailhead, called Tenderfoot, was easy, mostly on pavement, with three miles of rocky but otherwise OK dirt road at the end. MtnGoat 2674 (Leena) was running late, so we headed up at about 4 pm, knowing she would be behind us sooner or later. She was. The hike starts with a crossing of the raging Big Sheep Creek on a log, one of many stream crossings on relatively convenient logs (not log bridges, just logs). The trail goes through a burn area, very open, lots of flowers and grasses, then enters woods, crosses some more streams, and gets into some sweet meadow country.

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Then we saw the rarest of large mammals, the Cornice Elk.

Can you spot the cornice elk?

The rare "cornice elk"

It was a grind up to Bonny lakes, for me anyway, due to the late start, the heat, the sun, and the stiff legs from the endless drive. But it is very much worth it, as Bonny lakes are awesome, 7,800 feet high, surrounded by peaks and meadows, crawling with deer and elk.

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"Two buck" meadow

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Bonny lakes

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More Bonny lakes

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Sunday we packed up and hiked up to Dollar lake, a true gem of the high country. Absolutely fantastic, the hike and the destination.

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Gnome

More Gnome

Tiny Gnome

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And another thing.....lol

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Campsite at Dollar

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Dollar lake and Aneroid peak

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Kevin, Mike and Leena decided to hike up to a high point, and that's the last Glen and I saw of them for hours. They were gone so long, we expected to see either them returning, or a rescue helicopter. They will have to chime in and relate their adventures and misadventures. Glen and I were suffering a bit from the sun, which was so close you feel his hot breath curdling our blood, so we ditched the name Dawn Patrol and adopted the Icarus Hikers, we hiked too close to the sun, and melted. But we explored the area around the lake, and took in the awesome views. God's country, yes siree.

Yes, we see you

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The rock wall that saved my life

Scenic tent spot

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Sunset over Pete's point

Dollar lake and Pete's point

Cool tree

Towards Tenderfoot pass

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Finally the Lost Patrol made it back, and we all enjoyed the sunset. Then the real show began: lightning. We saw it coming, at least 15 minutes in advance, but none of us were smart enough to re-secure our tents, etc. So when it hit, it hit hard, the worst I've ever been in, and my tent was held down by just one tent stake at either end. Luckily I had spent a couple of hours building a rock wall around my exposed site, just to keep out dust from the wind. Everyone in tents spent the next hour or so gripping our rain flies with all our strength. Kevin, in a hammock, got a real old-fashioned Nantucket Sleigh Ride, sort of like being tossed up into the air and caught in a blanket at a beach party. Except more deadly. In the end we all came through OK. Oh, did I mention the torrential downpour? There was a torrential downpour. Or you could say a "sidepour", as it hit us at about 60 mph. Monday we decided to head back down to Bonny lakes and try some fishing, and avoid another fiasco of lightning, etc. Good thing, too, as that night the Dollar lake area was blasted again, while we just got the ragged edge down at Bonny. But before we left, Kevin motored up and down Aneroid in what must be record time. But no one knows for sure, because we never knew what time it was the whole trip. Everyone blames me for that, but I blame Verizon. Anyway, Monday was a nice easy day, and when the storm blew through that night, we felt pretty smart for leaving Dollar lake.

Lnt fail!

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Sunset and storm

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I messed up some of those last pictures, uploaded the wrong ones, I will re-post one of the cool shots of the rain getting closer and closer. We never got any fish dinner, but we feasted anyway, especially on Kevin's bacon. Kevin's bacon, hey that's funny. Sunday night and Monday night we enjoyed frozen cocoanut margaritas, made from snow, Captain Morgan's Parrot Bay 90 proof Cocoanut rum and some water, a tasty and potent concoction. Tuesday we got up 7 am or 6 am, left at 10 am or 9 am, and got back to the car at 12 or 11. It turned out to be 11, as we eventually figured out that my timekeeping was like an internet virus: I kept spreading my error to other people and devices. I had Mike reprogramming his GPS and resetting his camera's time, but eventually we figured out that everyone else in the world was right, and it was me who was wrong. I had visions of every clock in the world eventually being polluted by my stupid cell phone's clock.

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Easy-peasy log crossing

We stopped at the Terminal Gravity brewpub in Enterprise, a highlight of the trip. Awesome burgers, a shaded, breezy porch to eat them on, and beer brewed a few feet from where it was consumed. I was the only one who had a beer, but it was quite excellent. "Beer miles" is a very important concept. Moving beer more than a hundred yards bruises the brew, IMO. Then Mike drove us all the way back home, he is my new personal hero. We rocked out to some good music, my favorite being the 19 Johnny Cash songs. The weirdest one was about him working at a car factory, and stealing a car one part at a time, but then ending up with a mish-mash car with three headlights and one tail fin. Lots more stuff happened, and when things of note occurred, we would say "That's going in the trip report". I left many things out so that the others can chime in with various funny stories. All in all it was a great trip, though I was spent for the first two days, and our early departure from Dollar lake made a Monday day hike not a reality for me. No problem, as the area is worthy of another trip someday to visit what I missed. The area, and the company both exceeded my expectations for awesomeness.

[More Cowbell]

Great photos, LOVE the cornice elk.

[Slugman]

It was an optical illusion, they were on dry ground a bit back from the cornice. The first picture shows how far away they were, the second was with 18X zoom. But when we yelled, they looked. Sharp-eared, the cornice elk.

[GaliWalker]

1- 2- That's two trip reports in a row now, with stunning photos. Great job. 3- Fantastic report

[ree]

What happened to BPJ? I thought he was going too. Looks yummy! Nicely melted out and ultra-fabulous!!! yeah, the cornice elk shot is great. They were watching y'all.

[Slugman]

The elk ate BPJ. I may have left that out due to the trauma of it all. No, BPJ got called away to work for a couple of days, one of them being the first day of the trip, so he couldn't make it. Too bad, as he missed a great trip and we missed his great company. But everyone's gotta eat and pay the bills. Gali: thanks. The new camera makes it easy. Even the close-up of the elk was a hand-held snapshot.

[Dayhike Mike]

Nice TR, Sluggo... Love the cornice elk pic.

[FungiFan]

Stunning pictures. Yet another nearby area that needs to be explored. Sigh. Too many trail miles, not enough time.

[DIYSteve]

Good stuff, Slug

[Todd Ler]

great tr and pics! I like this pic. Mike lecturing the Gnome, lol.

[Slugman]

I made a video, so of course all my picture numbers are off by one after that, so here are the pictures I messed up and didn't upload.

Rain on its way

Are you looking at me? 'Cause I don't see anyone else, so you must be....

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PS: video is uploading to youtube right now. I made it, might as well show it.

[Slugman]

[forest gnome]

NICEEEE.....what a nice introduction (oh my gid I speld that rite!!) to the eagle caps...great back-door route to dollar and even though we didn't go way down to aneroid, there is mucho ridge-running to do... Mike220 liked the ridge running sooo much he decided to go up and down the faces of them several times! What an animal.... so there is also the hike over to jewitt lake (next time) and ya can then loop out over another pass to the car.... not a bad 8hr. drive....there is the great town of joseph with the bronze foundry tour, a gondolie up aneroid peak, and of course stunning lake below the dolie...oh walowa (sp.) lake ..ya might wanna look that up!.... oh in the video ya can see how short I am!!....and ya see the pass just like 2hrs. in the middle ....8,200ft. camp at dollar lake!!!

[David¹]

This is quite the discovery Finding blue skies, snow free lakes and lovely alpine landscapes all in a year without a summer. I suspect these splendid photos and your enthusiastic words will inspire many more forays into this overlooked corner of Eagle Cap wilderness.

[Quark]