ANEROID LAKE (WINTER HIKE)

WHERE:   From Portland take interstate 84 to La Grande where you will follow highway 82 to Joseph Oregon.  From here follow the signs to Wallowa Lake staying on the road that follows the east end of the Lake (not the road leading to the first state park unit) to the end of the road.  The trailhead for the East fork of the Wallowa river is on the left.

THE HIKE:  The hike is a steep one for snowshoeing.  It starts at 4,650 feet and ends at 7,500 feet over 6 miles.  Not as bad as the upper portion of Mt. Defiance but does elevate about 2,200 feet over 4.5 miles before leveling out to about 500 feet over the next 1.5 miles.  There are a few avalanche chutes that you will cross to be wary of but they are quick to cross ... just make sure you always have three points of contact with shoes and poles at all times.  The lower elevations are mostly Douglass fir with a few Ponderosa Pines turning into Whitebark Pine, Lodgpole Pine and Subalpine fir at the higher elevations.  There is a dam at about 6800 feet which seems maintained but I couldn't see where any electrical output was going.  There was industrial steel tubing going down the mountain for a little ways.  After the trail flattens out it actually became more difficult with the deeper snow.  It was beautiful up in this swampy spring fed meadows with the smooth untrammeled snow showing the glistening sprinkles that you only see in virgin snow.  I camped out on an embankment about 100 feet above the lake hoping to avoid the extreme cold basin air that tends to drop into any low lying basin in winter (probably only a few degrees difference and it was freezing cold).  It took me about a half hour after having a serious urge to go before actually getting out of my sleeping bag and urinating (outside the tent of course).  The stars and the awesome silhouettes of Aneroid and Pete's Peak did make me forget about the cold for a minute or so.