Backpacking Oregon: Eagle Cap Wilderness - Aneroid Lake

We haven't been able to take a backpacking trip in awhile since we've been so busy, but I realized I never posted a recap from our last one in mid-July!

So a few things about Aneroid Lake.

1) It is glorious. My favorite so far.



2) The sign at the trailhead said 6 miles to Aneroid Lake. Unless my brand-new, very expensive Garmin watch was off, it was more like 7.2 miles. It's cool when trail signs are wrong when they overestimate the mileage, not underestimate it. Other than being the wrong mileage, we found the trail to be not as steep as the one to Ice Lake, but much dustier.

3) We went through a construction site on the hike up. Very strange to hear beeping machinery in the wilderness.

4) There are several areas to camp, and we camped on the quieter, southwest side of the lake. Camping among the deep azure blue lakes against a backdrop of high mountains never gets old, but I have to say this one is in my top 5 camping spots.




5) There are some private cabins up there (Camp Sherman included). So jealous.

6) We camped right near this big field with snow course markers. Really didn't understand them at the time, but now we know that it is a place where the Natural Resources Conservation Service studies snow--its depth, water content, air temperature. Apparently there are only 600 remote sites in 13 states, so it was really cool to stumble upon one.

7) While last time in the Eagle Cap Wildnerness, we saw lots of horse poop, this time we encountered lots of horse traffic. Some parts of the trail are narrow making it a little nerve-wracking to step aside for the horses.

Labels: