Western Hiker Main Eagle Base Camp

Western Hiker Staff
Move your cursor over the image for a profile Norman Young Barry Greer Western Hiker guides are supported by the packers of Wilderness Outfitters LLC who have three decades of experience in the Eagle Cap and Hells Canyon wilderness areas.

Western Hiker Base Camps

When you hike into one of our base camps, you are hiking into Oregon's largest wild area, Eagle Cap Wilderness, and passing through classic Wallowa Mountain history in northeastern Oregon. Hurricane Creek flows beneath Chief Joseph Mountain, a majestic summits named for the famous Nez Perce chief that connect to the Great Hurwal Divide.

The Hurwal Divide abover Hurricane Creek links the 9,838-foot Sacajawea Peak and the Matterhorn, two of the highest summits in the magnificant Wallowa Mountains where you'll find 17 peaks over 9,000 feet in elevation. Sacajawea, the highest summit in the Wallowas was named to honor the famed guide of the Lewis and Clark expedition that traveled through northeastern Oregon in 1805 on orders from President Thomas Jefferson to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase.

From the south, you hike into two classic timberline alpine tarns at Pine Lakes. The lakes lie protected in a basin below a ridge, but the trail continues to climb up onto a pass from which you can survey ridge upon ridge of the Wallowa Mountains.

From either basecamp, you can hike or climb in country that, at lower elevations, is thickly timbered with ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, Douglas fir, spuce, and tamarack and rises into alpine tundra with lush green meadows to the sources of mountain streams and the shores of cobalt blue tarns. We'll help you find the best routes for your ability.

At night, back in camp, you sleep comfortably on cots in our spacious canvas wall tents or ouside with only the stars overhead. Dine on grilled salmon, sourdough pancakes, and other Northwest favorites prepared by your camp hosts. We can also set up a personal base camp for your group at the location of your choice.

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Brendan Keavney has hiked many hundreds of miles in the mountains of Oregon, Washington, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Montana, and throughout the Mojave and Colorado deserts. Many of those miles have been solo.

“I spent five years in engineering school and another five in a relatively high-stress job, and when I wasn’t flying around the world to meetings I was decompressing alone in the wilderness.“

Now helping others enjoy and appreciate wilderness is Brendan's full time job at Western Hiker. Brendan Keavney is certified in wilderness first aid.

Allison Keavney and her brothers spent a great deal of time exploring the creeks, rivers, mountains, and forests surrounding Winlock, Washington where she grew up. It was only natural that she joined the local search and rescue team and spent time after high school exploring the world. She loves to hike and has backpacked in Yosemite, Sequoia, and Joshua Tree National Parks.

"I truly enjoy guiding. It is an excellent opportunity to meet new people and get out into the wilderness. There is nothing better than lying on your back on a grassy patch, snacking on blackberries, and watching the sun go down." Allison Keavney is certified in wilderness first aid.

Norman Young is the professional wilderness packer supporting Western Hiker with years of expertise. "I seem to spend more time in the wilderness than out," he says. In fact, Norm does spend most of his time in Eagle Cap Wilderness and Hells Canyon from May to November, including at least one week-long trip across Eagle Cap. Though he knows a few old timers who won't use panniers and still prefer to top load the pack animal, Norm uses modern means to transport and protect your gear, including panniers, pack boxes, and manties. "Tying a diamond hitch on a top load is becoming less and less common as more and more packers are going to side loads only."

And Norm also knows the mountains as well as he knows packing. "I've ridden and packed nearly all the trails on the western side and southern end of the Eagle Caps and quite a bit on the eastern side and Hells Canyon as well."

Barry Greer has hiked, climbed, run, skied, and camped in Oregon's Cascades, the Wallowas, the Strawberries, the Steens, Gearhart, and Crater Lake National Park summer and winter for 25 years with an occasional sojourn to the Colorado Rockies.

He taught environmental lit in the Oregon State U. honors program and wrote the first history of North American solo mountaineering for Appalachia. His experience as a writer for Sierra, Climbing, Summit, Appalachia, Orion, and other publications led to his current career as developer of and webmaster for westernhiker.com, your first source for hiking information on Eagle Cap Wilderness and Hells Canyon Wilderness in rugged northeastern Oregon.