Our original plan was to ride the Wallowa Tram to the top of Mt. Howard and then hike East Peak. However, we found that the tram didn't start operation until 10:00 AM and that the last ride down was at 4:00 PM. This schedule concerned us about having enough time to complete the East Peak hike. Instead, we spent a couple of hours hiking around Mt. Howard's summit enjoying the views of the valley below and the glacial-carved peaks to our south and west.
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Beautiful Wallowa Lake & Mt. Bonneville (8,140 ft)
(Mt. Bonneville separates the east and west forks of the Wallowa River) |
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We met Clover on the boat dock as she was returning a ball to her master . . .
As we visited with Clover's owner, she continued to entertain us the entire time we talked |
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| Clover was the highlight of our visit to Joseph, Oregon |
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Did you ever see the movie Homeward Bound? It was our sons favorite movie as a child . . .
We always wondered what town was located at the bottom of that steep mountain in the movie . . . now we know!
(Click on the picture to enlarge it) |
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After spending some time wandering the streets of Joseph we headed for the Wallowa Tram . . .
It took us 15 minutes to get to the top of Mt. Howard . . . In that time we covered 1.83 miles
and 3,700 ft of elevation gain . . . now you can see why we were leery of missing the last tram! |
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| The gondolas were small . . . seating no more than four people |
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| There was a sign inside the gondola that said, "Don't try and rock it" . . . okay, no problem here! |
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| The views kept getting better as we climbed higher and higher |
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| At the top and looking back down on Wallowa Lake and the town of Joseph |
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| Hey, we're higher than Mt. Bonneville (the first picture in this post) |
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On our way to Royal Purple Overlook . . .
Looking southwest into the Wallowa Mountain Range . . . That ridge to the left of Kent's hat is Mt. Bonneville |
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Looking south at East Peak (9,380 ft) . . . this was the hike we were going to do
(East Peak is the farthest tip, to the left, that you can see) |
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| Another look into the interior of the Wallowa Range |
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Summit Overlook
Too bad we couldn't make East Peak . . . oh, well, something to look forward to on a future trip!
(We don't look too disappointed, do we? Or is that a look of relief?) |
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Valley Overlook
Another view of the Wallowa Valley and the rich, fertile farmland that surrounds it |
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The Eagle Cap Paragliding Club has it's own launch site on the south side of Mt. Howard . . .
The Club erected this sign so that tourists, hopefully, wouldn't pester the paragliders with questions as they were prepping for their flight . . . they want the paragliders to fully concentrate on the safety of their equipment and not engage in conversations that might distract them |
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As we headed back down, we had a good view of Chief Joseph Mountain (9,616 ft) . . .
Doesn't it look like a peak you'd find in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado? |
We spent a little over two hours on top of Mt. Howard. Altogether we walked 2.5 miles on the Wallowa Summit Loop Trail that took us to different vantage points that looked north/south/east and west. Would we do it again? We're not sure . . . we felt the tram was over priced and probably kept many people (families) from being able to visit the top. If we were to hike East Peak we would certainly use the service so that our climb would be more enjoyable and less strenuous.
