Backed by the two tallest peaks in Eastern Oregon, Ice Lake belongs to an alpine world halfway to the sky. You’ll feel like you’ve climbed to the sky, too, after hiking up the seemingly endless switchbacks from the Wallowa Lake Trailhead. Although the round-trip distance is 15 miles, the scenery is so great that this is one of the most popular hikes in the Eagle Cap Wilderness.

Note that group size is limited to 12. To protect the fragile lakeshore, tents must be kept 100 feet away, grazing horses must be kept 200 feet from shore, and campfires are not allowed within a quarter mile.

From Interstate 84 . . .

Other Options

The 9826-foot Matterhorn is  . . .

This chapter is an excerpt from 100 Hikes: Eastern Oregon