Pine Lakes
Easy (to Chute Falls)
4.2 miles round trip
480 feet elevation gain
Open June through November
Use: hikers, horses
Difficult (to Pine Lakes)
14.8 miles round trip
2720 feet elevation gain
Open late July through October
Difficult (around Cornucopia Mountain)
18.2-mile loop
3700 feet elevation gain
The 1885 boomtown of Cornucopia extracted $15 million of gold from the southern Wallowa Mountains before its mines closed in 1941. Today the town’s derelict buildings, with their spookily tilted porches and gaping windows, seem strangely out of place so near the Eagle Cap Wilderness. A trail from the ghost town climbs to the Pine Lakes, a pair of deep green pools in a gorgeous alpine basin of heather, wildflowers, and granite cliffs. For a backpacking trip, continue on a loop around Cornucopia Mountain.
From Baker City, drive Interstate . . .
This chapter is an excerpt from 100 Hikes: Eastern Oregon