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Eagle Cap Wilderness, Oregon, Two Pan Trailhead, 2005Scott Noga
Up at 5AM, the plan was to gather at my place and pull out at 7AM. We managed 8:30AM and arrived at the Two Pan trailhead about 1PM. The hike to the first destination for overnight camping was over six miles in and 1800 feet higher. With a group of 25 people, we had to split up into smaller groups to satisfy the wilderness requirements. Everything was going pretty smoothly on the trek in, except Pepper hadn’t defecated since leaving home and also had lost his appetite. Even stream crossings didn’t stimulate him. His digestive system appeared to have shut down completely. He gradually slowed and increasingly had a dull, glazed over look and droopy ears. Temperature was in the high 80's / low 90's and he obviously wasn’t feeling well. To his credit he persevered and we straggled into camp at dusk. The only other significant difficulty was with one of the boys who was unable to make the distance with his pack -- their packs being very heavy to start with. Phil and myself traded off carrying it during the steeper portions of the trail. Fortunately, my pack was relatively light at only 35 lbs. due to Pepper’s help, who was carrying 80 lbs. in his Flaming Star Master Pack system.
By morning his constipation had broke loose and he had relieved himself. His demeanor was noticeably brighter. This day was spent on a day hike over Carper Pass to Mirror Lake. The original intention was to hike to Eagle Cap, but after the 3.5 mile 2000 foot climb up and then down the pass it was decided that there wasn’t enough time left in the day to make the additional 4.5 mile, 2500 foot climb to the top and still make it back to camp before nightfall. So instead some time was spent near Mirror Lake followed by a 1500 foot climb up a nearby peak to 8900 feet. While most of the group was on this day hike, four members hiked out to head for home – two adults and two youth. The night had a few very light sprinkles of rain, and what sounded like coyotes (wolves?) could be heard in the distance. Pepper never alarmed, so they apparently never approached camp. We did have a young deer come within twenty feet of camp while everyone was up, seemingly unconcerned about us.
Day three began early, before sunrise. We had a
long trek ahead, hiking from Minam Lake to Steamboat Lake – a distance of 12
miles generally descending a thousand feet, climbing two thousand, then
descending a thousand again. Two boys required foot taping from blisters. Most
of them, as recommended by the Scoutmaster, had prepared with special hiking
socks or liners which proved to be very beneficial. A small group, with two more
adults, hiked out to head for home and to move Phil’s truck to the Bowman
trailhead, where the rest of us would hike out. They carried extra gear that
some of the boys decided they didn’t need after all, which better prepared them
for the coming ordeal. We were now down to three adults and 16 boys. Pepper was feeling great and was excited as we
hit the trail. The first stream crossing revealed a bit of a problem, however.
On the hike in the streams were quite shallow and passable by hopping across
stepping stones. Apparently, rain fell at higher elevations overnight because
the stream was now twice as deep and flowing rapidly. All crossings this day
would require changing out of hiking shoes and wading. One of the older boys slipped and
fell during this first crossing, soaking his clothes and the hiking shoes he tied
to his pack. I loaned him my new pair of
Salomon Tech Amphibian shoes for the
remainder of the day.
The first portion of this day was mostly downhill, following the river through the valley, but was followed by a long climb out of the valley into the rugged high country. This was the most picturesque part of the trip, with high mountain peaks as far as the eye could see, interspersed with deep valleys and lush depressions and lakes. But once out of the valley above the tree line, the terrain becomes very rocky, strewn with granite. These trails are not as heavily traveled or maintained, and consequently more obstacles are encountered. Nothing would stop Pepper, however – as I was to discover.
As we reached an 8500 foot high point overlooking Swamp Lake, we encountered a party hiking out of Steamboat Lake on their way to Minam Lake. They were essentially taking the same route we were during the week, only in reverse. It was obvious they weren’t going to make this leg in one day, however. They were accompanied by three fully loaded horses and looked pretty beaten down already. It turned out one of the members was a large format photographer in his early 60's. The horses were being used to help move the necessary equipment and supporting gear. The previous morning, one horse got spooked as they were about to move out and ran off with it’s load. They had to then unload another horse to mount up and chase it down. The reason they were late this morning coming out of Steamboat was because again as they were about to pull out, one of the horses was casually grazing when it stepped on it’s own lead rope. This caused the horse to bump it’s nose on the ground, which sent it into a panic. Bucking wildly with it’s full load, it accidentally fell into the lake. With only it’s nose protruding from the water the horse nearly drowned as they went in to pull it out. They exclaimed never again will they bring horses into the backcountry but were quite intrigued with Pepper, who was still going strong with his full load and was very alert and eagerly but calmly following along. Following a prolonged discussion about llamas, I provided contact info for Richard Galloway and Wes Holmquist (being they reside in this region), which they wrote down.
I should mention that we encountered equestrian groups a few times on this trip. Each time the horses were very jittery about seeing a llama, as we moved off the trail. One instance was rather treacherous as we were overtaken by a group on a narrow set of uphill switchbacks on a steep hillside when the trailing horse decided he wanted to buck and run away back down the trail. The rider had to quickly dismount and calm the horse before he was thrown. It could have been a long fall. But none of the groups of riders was openly hostile. We were courteous and accommodated the horses, and pleasantries were exchanged in each case as they hurried along. Backpackers were also encountered a few times, and the common exclamation was, “Wow, we don’t ever see llamas up here, cool!”, followed by a discussion about llamas. Pepper attracted attention from all sides. We did see one group of llamas, however, camped only two and a half miles in from the Two Pan trailhead in a meadow at a fork in the trail. We counted six llamas staked out. Though it was mid-morning they didn’t appear to be going anywhere. Pepper didn’t allow this distraction to slow him down either.
At Swamp Lake the sun was getting low in the sky, but Steamboat Lake was just over the next ridge, sitting in a deep bowl. This is where I made the mistake of relying too heavily on GPS data. The GPS trail map had been pretty reliable so far, but at the junction from Swamp Lake to Long Lake and Steamboat Lake, the indicated trail had no horse tracks, or any other tracks for that matter. The signage pointed to Long Lake ahead, but did not mention Steamboat Lake. I hiked ahead a short ways to see if another intersection appeared, but none did, nor did the trail head in the right direction. Well, the GPS says this is it, and it’s obviously a trail, so here goes...
It went straight up the ridge – no switchbacks. Littered with rock, it was extremely steep – almost all fours steep. Pepper charged up to the top, plowing through the scruffy trees along the way. Once on the ridge, Steamboat came into view about 1000 feet below. The trail disappeared into the steep bowl, cut into the granite. Down we went with me leading and Pepper following close behind. It didn’t take long (well, maybe it did take too long...) to realize this was a totally abandoned trail. A 6' tree growing in the middle of it partway down provided a clue, and the cut trail was littered with lots of loose granite rock of all sizes. There was no turning around at that point, and I could imagine encountering a rock slide or some other impassible obstruction. Worse, at any time a loose rock could break loose or come rolling down the trail and hit Pepper in the leg and severely injure him. There’d be no way we could get him out. I wasn’t sure I could even make it. The trail was dangerous. Yet, as I was imagining all sorts of potential mishaps, Pepper was more interested in nibbling on little patches of grass poking out of the rock that on the uphill side was tantalizingly close, thinking increasingly about his stomach and seemingly completely unconcerned about the terrain. He picked his way around every obstacle with finesse and traversed the slopes like a mountain goat. Eventually, near the bottom of the bowl we met up with what was obviously the new trail and made our way to the lake -- and what a beautiful and welcome lake it was. There was enough daylight left to make camp and dinner (for those that had energy enough to prepare it) and hit the sack.
Day five was again another long trek out, continuing along the same trail, but this time with considerably lighter loads – except for Pepper and myself. With our provisions replaced by noncombustible trash donated by the boys – I was amazed at the amount – his load was still nearly as much at 75 lbs. We hiked through Minam Meadows – a large expanse of grassland nestled in a basin that attracts large numbers of elk and deer. We also spotted a pair of harmless snakes. The boys were like hares, sprinting ahead, burning out and resting while Pepper and I plodded along at a steady pace, passing them up again. Pepper moved more slowly this day, but never protested or stopped. Heat was the barrier. It was a 2500 foot climb out of the meadows to Wilson Pass (2000 feet in 2.5 miles of trail) with temperature near 90 degrees. He would get overheated and start puffing so we had to keep a slow pace to prevent heat stress. It’s also quite a long stretch without water. Once at the crest of the ridge, it’s down the other side into the valley 3000 feet below to Bowman. In all, we hiked 50 miles of trail, but more remarkable was all the elevation change.
The truck waiting for us was found to have a flat tire, but other than that inconvenience retrieving the llama bus and the subsequent trip home was relatively uneventful. The boys were still surprisingly energetic on the bus. We stopped at McDonalds for a late dinner to offset all that healthy trail food, arriving back home about midnight. Pepper seemed none the worse for wear. Despite the rocky terrain his pads were fine afterwards too. All that pacing had certainly paid off for our "Master Packer". |
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The
intention was to pack everything up over the weekend and leave early Monday
morning. Saturday was consumed by vehicle and equipment preparation. The troop
was looking forward to riding in the 
Baby
