Mule intent on being a....mule
We passed two parties of packers along trail 1662. We were headed up in the rain, and they were headed down. Both parties chose to ride horses and have mules carry their camping gear. Note ranch brand on the near corner of the mule pack tarp.
In the late 1800s the U.S. Army found mules (a hybrid cross between a horse and donkey), to be superior to horses for military use. They look a bit "silly" with the long ears. Like their burro half parents, they are known to be stubborn at times.
These photos are from August 19th - 21st, 2008. Our youngest son flew up from Arizona to join me on some select hikes. We had to constantly modify our plans because of the rough weather moving through the Northwest, but we had three great hikes and saw some interesting and beautiful country.
We drove back roads from our home in Eastern Washington, through Walla Walla and over into Elgin, Oregon. From there we drove to Lostine, where we headed for the Two Pan trailhead to the Eagle Cap Wilderness, where we hoped to a day hike and both of us see for the first time, some of the country that makes up this beautiful Oregon wilderness area.
We arrived just in time to set up our two tents at Two Pan. We had to use headlamps to finish the job, but a nice small campfire warmed the night. We both slept well, though rain drops spattered on our tents off and on, all through the night.
We made a round trip hike of 16 miles the next day, heading up the Lostine River, and choosing to visit Mirror and Moccasin Lake instead of another choice we could have made, which would have been to hike to Minam Lake.
We got rained on lightly on and off most of the day but the scenery was not diminished by the weather. The granite floored country of the upper basin and around Mirror and Moccasin Lakes, reminded me of the Enchantment Lakes area in Washington State. Because of the clouds we never did catch a glimpse of Eagle Cap mountain. A good excuse for going back again.
We got pelted by a pretty hard rain on the way back to our campsite but a lull in the rain let us enjoy a nice camp dinner. When the rain returned, we decided to head for Enterprise, get an inexpensive motel room, and dry out our gear. The rain storms followed us to Enterprise and soon after checking into our motel room, the town lost electrical power. All part of the fun and adventure of a “road trip”.
We poked around Joseph, Oregon the next day as my son had not been there as an adult. We enjoyed ourselves there, and then took another route back home, so we could see some different sights.
Two hours after arriving home that evening, we changed some of our gear, and headed for Mt. Rainier Park to hike to Mildred Point on Friday and then 3rd Burroughs Mt. on Saturday. We got back home Saturday afternoon, two hours before his flight back to Arizona. We had covered a lot of country on our three hikes, and had a great time doing so.
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