Last Sunday eight folks hiked up the Ponderosa Trail from 10 Mile Sno-Park to Paulina Lake and back down the Ogden Trail. We cut back across the creek at the Ponderosa/Ogden Tie trail and crossed the footbridge over the creek. This was a total of about 8 miles.
As you can see there was snow throughout the entire trip. The lake had about 2 inches and of course less around the Sno-Park. It was a beautiful late Fall/early Winter day with temperatures at the lake in the low 30’s and in the mid 30’s at 10 Mile. The snow consistency was such that it was easy to hike on but unfortunately not enough to break out the skis.
Besides Paulina Falls the creek sports a tremendous number of lesser smaller cascade/cataract falls. The Ponderosa Trail is a pleasure in its own right but to get views of the smaller falls you have to hike the Ogden Trail.
Paulina Lake is considered one of the best lakes in Oregon (Wallowa Lake as well) for Kokanee fishing. If you look closely into the photo of the river you will see a couple of landlocked salmon marked by the spotty bright red color.
It was a fun group of folks to hike with and everyone seemed to enjoy the day.
Photos were provided by: Mark Darnell, Sharon Evoy and myself.
