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Land of wandering waters

Mostly undiscovered, Wallowa County thrives in its seclusion

By John Gottberg Anderson / The Bulletin

Published: September 16. 2007 4:00AM PST

ENTERPRISE —

It’s a shame more people haven’t discovered the Wallowa Mountains and Wallowa County.

With its lofty peaks surrounding a spectacular glacial lake, its nationally acclaimed community of bronze sculptors and its beautiful ranchland spreading to the rugged chasm of Hells Canyon, the northeastern corner of Oregon should be drawing tourists by the thousands.

Come to think of it, I’m glad the Wallowas have remained relatively undiscovered, even among Oregonians.

Don’t get me wrong. The visitor industry definitely contributes to Wallowa County’s ranch-oriented economy. But the tourism season is short — summer only, at best — and even at the peak of that season, velvet-antlered mule deer sidestep small tents to graze in Wallowa Lake State Park’s campground, and the region’s No. 1 manmade tourist attraction, the Wallowa Lake Tramway to the top of Mount Howard, is lucky to fill every third cab.

The reason can only be isolation. The Wallowas aren’t on the way to anywhere, unless you’re taking a secondary route from La Grande to Lewiston, Idaho, or following the Hells Canyon Backcountry Byway north out of Halfway. Most visitors do an out-and-back on state Highway 82 from Interstate 84 at La Grande, 70 miles and an hour and a half each way.

Nez Perce heritage

The original inhabitants of today’s Wallowa County were the Nez Percé Indians, and even they were misconstrued by early French trapper-explorers; contrary to the translation, their noses (nez) were never pierced (percé). The country that this tribe knew as “the land of wandering waters” encompassed all of the Wallowas and adjacent areas of modern Washington and Idaho, including the deepest reaches of Hells Canyon. For centuries, they made their homes here, descending to winter in remote sheltered canyons when blizzards swept the upland plains. They also tamed the wild Spanish appaloosa and made it their horse of choice.

In the 1840s, however, westward-moving American settlers discovered the lush farmland in the shadow of the nearly-10,000-foot Wallowa range. Soon, the U.S. government decided the Nez Percé would have to leave to make room for the settlers: manifest destiny at its finest. A reservation was designated across the Snake River in what is now Idaho. Old Chief Joseph stood strong against the intruders, refusing to sign the treaties right up to his death in 1872.

His son, Young Chief Joseph, inherited the leadership of the tribe. He buried his father “in that valley of the winding water,” he said. “I love that land more than all the rest of the world.” But five years later, in 1877, he departed the Wallowas with 750 men, women and children by his side. Their destination was the prairies of Saskatchewan, where they believed they would find sanctuary.

For months, they traveled by foot and horseback, east through Yellowstone National Park, then north, always with the U.S. cavalry in pursuit. After a trek of 1,100 miles, they were stopped 50 miles short of the Canadian border and sent to reservations. “From where I now stand, I shall fight no more, forever,” said a shattered Joseph. He was exiled to Washington’s Colville Reservation, where he died in 1904, having never been allowed to return to his beloved homeland.

But the Nez Percé escape route, the Nee Me Poo Trail, is now a National Historic Trail, and many sites along the route are part of Nez Percé National Historical Park. Among them is the grave of Old Chief Joseph, on a hillside overlooking Wallowa Lake, two miles from the town of Joseph. And while most Nez Percé today still live on their Idaho reservation, some have returned to Wallowa County. In the town of Wallowa, a new cultural facility is in the works, the Wallowa Band Nez Percé Trail Interpretive Center, which will have exhibits describing the tribe’s history and customs.

Wallowa Lake

At the heart of the Wallowa region is its crown jewel, Wallowa Lake, which some geologists regard as the most perfect morainal lake in the world. Fifteen thousand years ago, during the last Ice Age, a deep glacier forged a path down the east flank of 9,839-foot Sacajawea Peak. When the climate warmed and the glacier receded, it left a 299-foot-deep lake wedged between two 200-foot-high moraines on its east and west sides.

Fed by the little Wallowa River, the deep-blue lake stretches six miles from south to north. Trophy-class kokanee and lake trout, as well as brook and bull trout, inhabit the lake; some oldtimers say that a Loch Ness-type monster does as well, although there have been no reported sightings since 1985.

The resort village at the lake’s south end is seasonal. Outside of the prime Memorial Day-to-Labor Day tourist season, the inns, restaurants, scout and church camps, and other facilities may be open weekends only, if at all. Here is Wallowa Lake State Park, with its campgrounds and marina; here is the historic Wallowa Lake Lodge, built in 1923, restored in 1988, open year-round.

The Wallowa Lake Tramway extends its season to the end of September. Built in 1970 as the first step toward developing a proposed (but never realized) ski resort on Mount Howard, the four-person gondolas climb 4,000 feet in 15 minutes to 8,200 feet elevation. When built, it had the steepest vertical rise of any tram in North America.

The Summit Grill serves good meals at the upper tram terminal, and trails lead to numerous alpine viewpoints. Other trails from Wallowa Lake — linking to a network of 500 miles — lead into the spectacular Eagle Cap Wilderness Area, often called America’s Alps. Horse packing and llama packing are as popular here as hiking and, in winter, backcountry skiing. And outside of the wilderness area, a network of snowmobiling trails covers much of northeastern Oregon.

Bronzed in Joseph

The towns of Wallowa County aren’t large. Enterprise, the county seat, has about 2,000 citizens, similar in size to Sisters. Joseph, the hub of tourism, has half that many. The population of the entire county is 7,700 people, fewer than Madras or Prineville.

Perhaps that’s why the artistic community has grown as it has. Artists often tend to be loners, individuals who embrace the private space from which they create. You can’t miss their influence in Joseph. All along Main Street, for a good half-dozen blocks, remarkable bronze sculptures — of cowboys and horses, wolves and cougars and beautiful maidens — redirect the eye from the mountain backdrop to the street corners.

Bronze foundries are not something you see every day. Yet there are three in Joseph. The first of them was Valley Bronze, established in 1982 and now the premier fine-art foundry in the Pacific Northwest. In the past five years, Valley Bronze has produced thousands of elements incorporated in the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., and it since has been commissioned to frame the Declaration of Independence and other priceless documents for the National Archives.

Foundry tours are offered by appointment. I ventured in at an odd hour and wound up being shown around by Chief Executive Officer David Jackman, who explained to me the “lost-wax method” of casting: melting the wax out of a ceramic-shell mold of the artist’s original, replacing it with molten bronze. It’s a fascinating process, one that I’d recommend to anyone with an interest in artists’ methods.

In Valley Bronze’s downtown gallery, an impressive variety of sculptures by area artisans is on display at all times. There are at least a half-dozen other galleries is this tiny town, including Kelly’s Gallery, which schedules regular tours to foundries and studios.

Wise in Enterprise

Enterprise is only six miles northwest of Joseph, but it lacks its neighbor’s sense of quaintness. Instead, this is a working-class community: truly a ranching center. On my visit, a row of colorful John Deere tractors lined one side street, and a feed shop was the most active building in town. The granite Wallowa County Courthouse dominates Enterprise, looking across its broad downtown streets — wide enough to do a U-turn in a horse-drawn buggy — like a mother watching her children. Still, there are reasons to tarry here.

One is the U.S. Forest Service-run Wallowa Mountain Visitor Center. Located atop a hill at the west end of town, it’s the first thing most new arrivals see when they approach Enterprise on state Highway 82 from La Grande. Displays do a great job of introducing the Wallowa region — its lakes and trails, its geology and animal life — and there’s plenty of resource material for planning day hikes and longer trips.

Also in Enterprise is one of the finest custom brewpubs in the state of Oregon, the Terminal Gravity Brewery. You’ll find the yellow house a couple of blocks south of state Highway 82 as you head out of town toward Joseph. There’s perhaps more seating outdoors than in, even including a secluded upstairs room. But the food is good, the beer is better, and a charming homespun attitude pervades.

Wallowa County’s most acclaimed restaurant, however, is virtually in the middle of nowhere.

The RimRock Inn is 35 miles north of Enterprise, a three-quarter-hour drive on state Highway 3. Open summers only, the RimRock has two beautiful dining rooms and a deck overlooking Joseph Canyon. It also has a great creamy French onion soup, gourmet steaks and fine chicken and pasta dishes.

Hells Canyon Byway

And then there’s Hells Canyon. Tourist literature will tell you over and over again that it’s the deepest gorge in North America, deeper by half than the Grand Canyon, some 8,000 feet from the 9,300-foot summits of Idaho’s Seven Devils mountains to the canyon floor. My friends in California argue the point, saying that Kings Canyon, in the national park of the same name, has Hells Canyon beat. It really doesn’t matter to me. They are both deep. And close to inaccessible.

Chief Joseph and the 19th-century Nez Percé forded the canyon at Dug Bar. You can reach Dug Bar if you’re truly intrepid, but you’re going to want a sturdy vehicle and a full day if you plan to drive to the throwback village of Imnaha, then meander down a narrow, winding gravel road, and back up again. Imnaha is also the takeoff point for another long gravel-road excursion to Hat Point, generally regarded as the single best viewpoint across Hells Canyon.

Most travelers, however, are satisfied to spend a few hours driving the circuitous but paved Hells Canyon Scenic Byway, also known as the Wallowa Mountain Road, through the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area. The Hells Canyon Overlook may not be Hat Point, but it’s still a spectacular spot with a remarkable perspective over ridges and canyons made even more barren by recent forest fires. At various times following Little Sheep Creek, the Imnaha River and North Fork Pine Creek, the beautiful route cuts through both woodland and ranchland. Be prepared to encounter cowboys on cattle drives.

At its south end, the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway joins state Highway 86, just five miles above Idaho Power Co.’s Oxbow Dam. You can reach the river here at Copperfield Park, with a campground at the top end of long, skinny Hells Canyon Reservoir. Numerous rafting companies launch 27 miles downstream for three- to five-day Snake River trips.

More likely, you’ll reverse course and drive 20 miles west to the charming little town of Halfway, which is a great place to spend a night before returning to Central Oregon via Baker City. The Inn at Clear Creek Farm, a few miles north of Halfway itself in the southern foothills of the Wallowa Range, is an unexpected delight. Cattle rancher Rick Jackson and his wife, Vicki, operate a beautiful renovated 1891 farmhouse as a five-room inn with breakfast and dinner service. An overnight stay here is a great way to climax a long weekend in the Wallowa country.

Halfway, by the way, isn’t halfway to anywhere, so I’ve concluded that it must be halfway to Paradise. Like the Wallowas, it’s largely undiscovered. I hope it stays that way.

John Gottberg Anderson can be reached at janderson@bendbulletin.com.

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