37 miles of hiking • 10000' elevation gain • 2 nights
3 day loop described in Lorain's 100 Classic Hikes in Oregon. Started at Boulder Park TH and went up the Main Eagle Creek trail through Eagle Meadow and up to Eagle Lake, then up to Cached Lake for the night. Ascended Needle Point (9018 ft) in the morning, then continued over the pass, down 2000 ft to Trail Creek, then back up 2200 ft to Wonker Pass. Switchbacks in this section are super long and there was some blowdown, but the alpine area below Wonker was stunning. A thunderstorm started to roll in, so we ran down the 1.5 miles to Traverse Lake and set up camp. More storms woke us later, and a strong gust partially collapsed my Tarptent during some heavy rain. We let things dry out in the morning, then descended past Echo Lake (very pretty, ideal for a basecamp next time) and down to West Eagle Meadow, then closed the loop with the 6 mile Fake Creek trail back to the car. I don't recommend doing this, as it's super steep (1800 ft in 3 mi), not switchbacked, and the downhill portion is terrible to try to follow as it's clearly not maintained, covered in blowdown, and obliterated with water courses and animal trails.
This was my first time in the SW side of Eagle Cap, and the drive included 21 miles of dirt roads each way, so it's about the same as driving to the Wallowa Lake side. Super pretty though, less jungly and less crowded than the north. Plenty of excuses to go back...
