Cruised out to the Wallowas two weekends ago with an old friend and a newer friend. Never been out there but have been hearing it's sweet for a while. Apparently the rock scientists think they're a displaced fragment of the Canadian coastal range, I didn't know that could happen. Even reading the science and hearing the first hand accounts of how sweet the mountains are out there I still didn't really believe they would be that cool. I mean, it's still in Oregon bro. I've been in this state for 2.5 years and was starting to think 'Oregon' must be native for 'the flatland'. I was wrong. The Wallowas are fucking sick. I will definitely be going back. The dude who runs this place, 'Yurtmiester' [sic] is a trip. He ensured us we would definitely get lost, not find the yurt and probably die. Then he made us promise to do the following things in the following order: chop wood, catch a buzz, then sauna. Apparently some dude the previous weekend screwed up the order and put an axe in his hand while getting more sauna wood; we managed to avoid this scenario. We ran the budget option on the trip but these dudes will actually sled you in a keg and cook all your meals too if you want to shell out the coin.
Temps weren't super cooperative so we dealt with alternating ice and mank but skies were sunny the whole time and the company was super good. In honesty, the location of our hut wasn't as close to the raddest zones as the others. We had plenty of fun and I'd sign up again in a heartbeat but given the choice I'd opt for one of the other huts next time.
The drive back into Joseph at the end of the trip kind of blew my mind. It was socked in when we drove out to the trail head so we couldn't see the backdrop. The mountains the border Joseph are something else, it's crazy. I was too busy freaking out to take any photos, that was a mistake. Really though, don't worry about it, there's no real mountains in Oregon.
Other highlights:
got setup with a K2 UltraSplit, this board is sick, seriously. Thanks Devo
