Backpack - Elkhorn Crest Trail

** NOTE ** Sign up will be first-come-first-serve. Leaders Permission is required.

We will hike at a moderate 2 mph pace, taking frequent breaks. We will stop for an extended lunch (~20 minutes).  

There may not be an option for hanging food. I plan to bring my Ursack.

This trail does not get much traffic. The Elkhorn Crest trail starts high and stays high until descending 3600 feet in the last 10 miles. We will hike 10 miles to Summit Lake, 13 miles to Twin Lakes. Sunday will be 11 miles to Deer Creek decommissioned campground which includes about 6 miles of road walking. This seemed like a good car to drive down with regular vehicles to avoid too much road walking. We will depart early Sunday by 8am and try to reach the trailhead by 2pm and reach Anthony Lake Camp by 3:30ish. Group members can choose to leave or camp from there Sunday night.

Elkhorn Crest is a piece of section 5 of Oregon's newest Long Distance Trail- https://www.hellscanyon.org/blue-mountains-trail-maps

 Goals, Expectations, and Style: My goals are always to stay safe, have fun, and do my best to help everyone feel welcome and included, while keeping a sense of interdependence and finding some wild and free moments. My expectations are that everyone will read all the information carefully, be truthful about their ability and experience level, communicate needs proactively, always stay with at least one other person and regroup at junctions, will work as a team to support each other, leave camp at the agreed on time and get to camp at a reasonable time. Everyone will do their best and try to be “all in” during the trip. Everyone will have the needed supplies for cooking, food storage, sleeping, and enough food and water for the trip. My style is to take breaks for swimming, snacks, and a longer lunch, to keep a steady pace around 2mph sometimes a bit slower uphill, to have good conversation with everyone in the group and have time together at camp around mealtime. I sometimes like to have an early morning coffee “sit spot” but enjoy having social time in the evening. I love exploring around camp and seeing “all the things”. I enjoy high places and don’t mind exposure.

Meeting Thursday early evening around 5:30pm in Pendleton, OR. Caravan to the decommissioned  Deer Creek Campground near Sumpter to shuttle together to the Anthony Lake tent campground arriving by 9:30pm. 

Please be prepared to participate in a 1.5 hour car shuttle will take about 1.5 hours. Please note that Pendleton is about 5 hours from Olympia. We will begin hiking on Friday August 5th around 9am from Anthony Lake  Elkhorn Crest Trailhead which is at around 7000 feet.