[drm]

Two of us did a four-day loop in the Wallowas out of Cornucopia. Hikers don't don't use this trailhead a lot. I had been looking at it for years as an option to avoid the miles of nasty washboarded roads that many Wallowa trailheads require. It's probably farther in mileage, especially from Seattle, being in the SE part of the mtns, but it's paved almost all the way, with maybe 6 miles of smooth gravel at the end. Only the 1.2 mile segment north of Norway Pass was in a bad way, with miserable down trees frequently requiring nasty bushwhacking to get around. Seeing sawdust next to a cut tree farther down was the sign that trail maintenance teams had made it that far up. Yay! There are two trailheads at Cornucopia: Pine Lakes and East Fork. We used the latter to start and come out from Pine Lakes as that is only 7 miles so an easy day out. The route up the East Fork to Norway Pass is unusually steep for the Wallowas and follows an old abandoned dirt road for a long ways - something my map did not show. This road section was less aesthetic than many approaches to the Wallowas and I would probably not go there again, but it got us to our destination in one long day, allowing us to spend two nights in a gorgeous place. So that was the payoff. As a practical note, note that if you go there, two important driving tips. You need to turn right at the sign for the Cornucopia Lodge and drive right past the lodge. Do not continue on the road past that turnoff, as I think virtually everybody does. Once you pass the lodge you will soon get to the fork in the road for the two trailheads which has trailhead signs. If you are going up the east Fork, do not turn right here. The road gets rough very quickly, has no space to park, and barely space to turn around. I had to negotiate a difficult multi-point u-turn to get out to avoid a difficult backing out. All parking and trailhead camping are on the left side past the stables on the Pine Lakes Trailhead. Okay, enough of practicalities. As many of you know, the Wallowas are incredibly photogenic, and while this loop takes in fewer lakes than some other routes, it still met my expectations. My full trip report is at http://deanmyerson.org/wallowas-cornucopia-loop, but as I usually do, here is a sampling.

The nasty steep loose and rocky road

Eventually the Norway Trail cuts right off the road and it gets better, including the flowers

Oddly, Norway Creek flows right over Norway Pass and there is a great camp there

The South Fork of the Imnaha River will have to be waded

Then it really starts to get good

Where the trail recrosses the creek

Heading up to Hawkins Pass

View from Hawkins Pass

Incomparable Wallowas and Little Frazier Lake

Looking back down to where we were camped (around the bend) on the south fork Imnaha

some kind of saxifrage?

Heading towards Crater Lake on Cliff Creek trail

And on to Tuck Pass

Pine Lakes

Sunrise

[wildernessed]

[Distel32]

[Chief Joseph]

This area is on my bucket list and this looks like an awesome loop hike, thanks for the report.

[ree]

Thanks for posting. Wallowas are a favorite, and it's nice to get info on another unexplored area. Nice shot of Cusik.

[joker]

Nice. I've skied around the Norway Basin area, accessed from Cornucopia. Thanks for showing me what that corner looks like I'm the summer!

[drm]