26. August 2013 · Comments Off on Eagle Caps Wilderness – Minum River · Categories: Around The Campfire, Horse Camping

ecw

Jon Seel and I had the opportunity to ride the Eagle Caps Wilderness in Eastern Oregon last week. We spent four days riding the Minum River area. We Left Emmett on a Friday afternoon and headed west to the little town of Cover Oregon. There is a great little tavern and food place there, Great Steaks!. We ended up at the Moss Springs Trailhead. (Idaho should have such trailheads.)

Saturday morning we packed our animals and headed down the seven miles to Reds Horse Ranch, and Minum Lodge. These are areas set aside as private when it became a wilderness much like the airstrips in the Frank Church Wilderness. We spent the night next to a Fish and Game cabin by the airstrip, good feed for the horses. Next day we fished the Minum River and had a great supper that evening. We packed up the next morning and headed up stream trying to find our trail so we could make a loop and eventually get back to the Moss Springs Trailhead. Lucky for us we met two Oregon Fish and Game Wardens who informed us that the trail we were looking for had been washed out for years and was nonexistent. We made a great camp next to the river, decided that a return trip the way we had come was in order for the next day, fixed dinner, finished off the whiskey, and crashed for the night.

jonS

I am finding out that the trail systems in all our area wildernesses have major trail problems and we really need to have the Forest Service make a better effort to clear those trail for everyone. We made it back to the Trailhead the next morning and headed home. If you plan to ride in any of the wildernesses please contact the district ranger office to find out the condition of the trails first.

By Phil Ryan

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