Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / Oregon / Wallowa Mountains

Main Eagle Creek to Eagle Lake (Eagle Cap Wilderness)

Eagle Cap Wilderness, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest (Main Eagle Trailhead, near Boulder Park Campground)

Main Eagle Creek climbs through old-growth forest and meadows to a cluster of lakes in the Eagle Cap Wilderness: Eagle, Cached, Bear, and Lookingglass. Oregon Hikers rates the out-and-back to Eagle Lake moderate and backpackable, with heavy crowds on summer weekends.

Evans Outdoor Adventures backpacked here in July 2018, camping at Cached and Bear Lakes and day-hiking to Lookingglass.

The hike

Evans started from the Main Eagle Trailhead at about 5,063 feet after camping the night before at nearby Boulder Park Campground. Oregon Hikers lists the landmarks in order: a log bridge over Boulder Creek and old-growth valley forest, then a meadow with the 1984 landslide that damaged the old Boulder Park Resort. A substantial bridge crosses Eagle Creek at a narrow defile with a view over pools, followed by a brushy stretch where stinging nettles overhang the trail.

Evans hit the wilderness boundary at 1.7 miles and recrossed Eagle Creek on a bridge at 2.2 miles, with Copper Creek Falls in view soon after. Near 2.5 miles they found a confusing area with a water crossing and social trails, and at 2.7 miles they kept right where the unmaintained Bench Canyon Trail splits left. Oregon Hikers also describes a high-water bypass where Eagle Creek braids across the trail.

At about 4 miles (6,160 feet), a big cairn marks the Eagle Creek Meadow junction. Right leads to Bear and Lookingglass Lakes; straight continues toward Cached and Eagle Lakes. Oregon Hikers describes a Cached Lake Creek crossing below the granite face of Needle Point, moraine switchbacks, and a right turn onto Eagle Lake Trail #1931, which switchbacks through arnica and paintbrush to a 20-foot dam at the outlet. Evans found the final stretch to Cached Lake (7,311 feet, 7.3 miles from the trailhead) the hardest of the day in full afternoon sun.

From a Bear Lake camp, Evans day-hiked to Lookingglass Lake: about a mile and 360 feet down to the junction, across Culver Lake’s outlet stream, then roughly 700 feet up over about 1.5 miles of sometimes steep, poorly graded trail, and a short drop to the lake at about 7,280 feet. Their round trip was roughly 6 miles.

For the busier lakes on the north side of the range, see Ice Lake and the Lakes Basin.

Tips

Camping

Camping is dispersed. Under the Eagle Cap Wilderness order (06-16-05-25-01, through April 10, 2027), every party needs a permit, camping is banned within 100 feet of any lake or posted wetland, and campfires and wood stoves are banned within a quarter mile of Eagle Lake and Bear Lake, both on the order’s list. Groups are capped at 12 people and 18 head of stock.

Oregon Hikers lists a site at the Eagle Creek Meadow crossing, a main set of sites in a conifer grove there, a site at the Eagle Lake outlet with a view, and another among whitebark pines across the dam.

Inside Intel: Evans Outdoor Adventures day-hiked to Lookingglass Lake and wrote that they regretted not spending a night there. They noted impressive views from campsites on the lake’s peninsula and suggested a small pond near the top of the climb as a decent fallback if Lookingglass is full. At Cached Lake, they found no good sites on the left side and camped on a grassy spot where the trail meets the lake.

Trail facts

The Lowdown

Granite lakes and cold air on Main Eagle:

Eagle, Cached, and Lookingglass Lakes all sit above 7,000 feet. See the sleeping bags testers trust for chilly high camps.

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Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.