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24.5 miles of hiking • 2750' elevation gain • 2 nights

With some areas in Central Oregon melting so early this year (like 7,000' Lookout Mtn which has been snow-free for a month) I hoped that Elkhorn Crest Trail, barely over 8,000' in places, would be all snow-free by now. Original plan was to arrive at Anthony Lake a day early and camp there, camp 2nd night at Summit Lake, night 3 at Twin Lakes, 4th night at Summit again, then get back at Anthony on the last day.

However, I had to skip Saturday because T-storm forecast has been extended into Sunday noon. I drove in on Sunday (only 5:15 from west Vancouver, and that with 2 breaks!), briefly visited Anthony Lake, and then tried to push it to Summit Lake, but snow in a half mile before and mile after Angell Pass seriously slowed me down, so I had to settle for Lost Lake. That made reaching Twin Lakes by the next night unrealistic, but Lost Lake turned out to be quite nice (for a forest lake) and large, and I had a campsite with the view of the lake, the top of Mt. Ruth, lakeside meadows, and a small waterfall not 50 yards away. Pepper had some fun with porcupine before I managed to stop her - luckily she didn't get any needles in her nose!

On the second day I still hoped to cover the distance to Twin Lakes, but going past Meadow Lake proved more difficult than expected due to steep ups and downs (+ hot sun and elevation) and once at Cracker Saddle I decided it would be too ambitious to push 12 more miles to Twins... Instead I ditched my pack and went about 1.5 miles south on ECT to the next saddle, just to see more scenery, then returned to Cracker jct where I saw the second and last person on my trip - a USFS employee who searched for mountain goats and placed salt for them. He said he've just been to Summit Lake via off-trail route and seen 8 mountain goats! I should have asked however why he didn't take the actual trail to the lake - it turned out that the first 1/4 mile of that trail had some of the steepest snowdrifts on my trip; they weren't very wide so I just cut steps to come across, but it took a lot of time! It probably cost me more time to pass through these snowdrifts than if I took a detour. Summit Lake however was well worth the effort - it's just incredibly beautiful and reminded me of the best Wallowa Lakes. There have been some mosquitoes in the evening, but cold morning wind blew them off. Like on Lost Lake the night before, I had all Summit Lake to myself and took time to locate the best campsite. Judging by the number of campsites, though, this place gets quite popular later in the season, and also receives a fair amount of horse traffic - this time it was just my early season gamble that paid off.

With only one extra day I decided to return home by 4th of July, so took 10 miles down to Anthony Lake via ECT (12 miles by USFS trail signs, 10 by Sullivan). The trail climbs to within 400-500 feet of the summit of 8,600' Mt. Ruth, but with planned drive home I didn't look for the climb route - next time. That snowy section near Angell Pass has melted a bit, but if you don't want to deal with snow give it 2 weeks or so. I wished I brought my crampons but it certainly wasn't too hard with just the boots. Elkhorn Crest Trail is certainly one of the most scenic trails I've ever been to, I will be back to do it whole next year.

Staticmap?size=254x125&zoom=4&maptype=terrain&markers=icon:http%3a%2f%2fwenthiking.com%2fimages%2fmarkersmall.png&key=aizasydt2ewyqnn42qqnrpazuysi2dtyerccchw&center=44.8741,-118 Anthony Lake is just 1/2 mile from the trailhead so I couldn't miss it The trail goes by white granite slabs in many places, it certainly reminds the Wallowas Nearing Angell Pass Nearing Angell Pass The tracks were helpful View from near the pass Pepper on the last snowdrift at the pass (or so I hoped) View on the other side (Crawfish Meadow in the distance) The next mile or so is partly buried in snow; after that the trail is almost all clear You go by one side valley after next, so even on one side of Elkhorn Ridge the view always change... And ECT often switches from east to west side of the main ridge Rock shade art Nip and Tuck Pass Odd-colored glacier lily Porcupine at Lost Lake campsite Got much better picture of its tail Lost Lake and Mt. Ruth My attempt at night photography Somewhere in the vicinity of Meadow Lake (the Meadow Lake itself is small and tree-rimmed, its just off-trail and I didn't think it's worth a bushwhack time) The snowdrift at Cracker Saddle View from the saddle Near our turnaround point Snowdrifts on the way to Summit Lake Summit Lake Hiked to the meadows just upstream in hopes of seeing mtn goats. Didn't see any, but there were a lot of their tracks View from the camp My camp in the morning Bleached tree on a saddle just north of Mt. Ruth Mt Ruth on the last day of the trip. No, I'm not standing on the cornice here - have checked it out Lost Lake from near Nip-n-Tuck Pass Angell Peak (I think) View east to Wallowas

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Comments

Shane hearts this trip.
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Shane
June 24, 2013

Thanks for sharing this! I'm thinking of heading that way for this July 4th. Was hoping to get an early season Eagle Cap trip, but it doesn't look like the snow is going to cooperate. Looks like this is a great alternative for a 4 night out and back.