Living Our Dream: Northeast Oregon and the Wallowa Mountains

We traveled south of Clarkston to a small little town called Asotin (more of a resort town - lots of expensive homes built on the hill overlooking the Snake River) and about 10 miles beyond that to a place called Buffalo Eddy on the Snake River where there are petroglyphs on the rocks. Thought to be at least 300 years old and possibly to as old as 4500. Got back on the road, headed back to Asotin then headed south towards Joseph, Oregon.

Wallowa Mountains near Joseph, Oregon

The road we followed had us dropping very deep into a canyon - and then back up. Very narrow, windy road, hugging the side of the canyon for over 9 miles - top speed was 25 miles an hour! Glad our neighbor from our previous campground talked us out of bringing the RV on this road - WOW!!! Every time we passed someone hauling an RV, we would say - good luck! Breathed deeply once we crossed into Oregon and flattened out on top of the Wallowa National Forest.

A family friend said that Oregon is like one national park - that beautiful. If what we saw yesterday is any indication, we will be on sensory overload the rest of this trip. Saw much private land with cattle and horses grazing. One farm had hundreds of sheep grazing - very serene.

Wallowa Mountains and Lake

Stopped at Chief Joseph's Lookout where it is said he was born somewhere near but the significance is that the Nez Perce cached their camas roots (food) in a cave right near there and when the US Army found the cache when they were pursuing the Nez Perce in 1877, the Army burned it - thus the food source was destroyed and the Indians were forced to abandon the area for good.

Horse and rider

Onward south to Joseph. We were beginning to see this big snow capped mountain range once we stopped at the Overlook. Our goal was to get to Joseph then turn north on a county road to Imnaha where we could look down into Hells Canyon from the Oregon side. Plans changed. The mountains raising up behind Joseph called our name. We got information at the visitor's center of the Wallowa Mountains and Wallowa Lake and couldn't resist. Decided to hike on an easy 3 mile round trip hike. So very glad we did. At the end of the hike we stopped at Chief Joseph's grave - the final resting spot for him. He died in 1871 not far from the Wallowa Lake and was re interred at this spot in 1929.

We have found that there are so many "Heavenly" places on earth - this whole area is another one. This is a Little Alps area - they nicknamed it such. The lake is very deep, a State Park is located right at the base of the lake and a marina was attached to this lake. Boaters out, people sunbathing on the platforms on the lake, small creeks running, just stunning. Crossed a footbridge over a roaring river. The smells, the views, the cleanness of the air, flowers blooming - wonderful. Saw horses and riders, knew there were bear, mountain lions, etc. around but did not see any. Did see a couple of hikers on our trail. Once we got to the top of the overlook on the trail, the view of the Wallowa Lake was breathtaking. Had to cross 9 'rock rivers' - we called it - flow of rock down the mountain and was tricky to walk across. Since we knew we had a two hour ride back to Clarkston, called it a day and drove home. Glad we didn't have to travel that canyon road in the dark - too scary. And started to see wild life near the road on our way back - deers grazing near the road and coyotes. Very good day in Oregon (ore-ee-gun).