<p>The Lostine Valley from the trail leading up Eagle Cap.</p>

When I?first packed up my U-haul and headed west for Oregon, images of weekends spent in the mountains with the wildflowers as my only companions danced through my head guiding me away from my suburban surroundings and into the great unknown.

So it is with great shame that make this admission after six years in Eastern Oregon I?still hadnt taken full advantage of the outdoorsmans paradise I?now called home.

Sure Id made the gondola trip to the top of Mt. Howard, rafted the Deschutes River, camped at Crater Lake, hiked among the redwoods, taken a horseback ride on the coast, picked morels in the Blues and snowboarded down Mt. Hood just to name a few of the great experiences Ive had in the Northwest. But those backpacking trips into the mountains that had initially drawn me to the region were still nothing more than a daydream.

That was a fact I?set about changing this summer bound and determined to not only pack into a lakeside campsite, but also make a my first true summit of a mountain.

The Eagle Cap Wilderness and its namesake were quickly selected as the prime destination, too close and too scenic to pass up for this first-timer.

Hidden Lake and its promise of seclusion seemed worth the 8.5-mile hike, and a good base camp for the summit up Eagle Cap hey, go big or go home, right?

I enlisted the company of Hermistons Joe Smith for this hike, figuring his experience in the Marines would come in handy should we run into any surprises along the way. After several months of planning, my 12-year-old mutt Nelly and I?were champing at the bit.

Joe may have been even more excited between a newborn daughter and a hectic work schedule, his hikes had been limited to local walkabouts and he let me know about it the entire drive from Hermiston to the East Eagle Trailhead.

A?point of pride for Joe as we prepared for this trip was the fact that he was using mostly handed-down equipment, relics of his fathers trips through the Cascade range in the 1970s. I, on the other hand, was forced to buy mostly new equipment and on a reporters budget.

It took every ounce of self-control I?had to not double over in laughter when one of Joes backpack straps ripped before we even hit the trailhead.

Luckily wed prepared for such an event and Joe quickly put the needle and thread wed packed to use, sewing up his strap like Im assuming a true Marine would.

With that early hiccup out of the way we were finally off.

The first 2.5 miles of the trail were wickedly uphill, sufficiently stealing the spring from all but Nellys step by the time we finally reached Corkscrew Falls.

The weight of my overstuffed pack made enjoying the beauty around me difficult, but not impossible. Granite cliffs tower over East Eagle Trails early portions, and wide alpine meadows surrounded by craggy peaks provide the backdrop past Corkscrew Falls.

After roughly 6.5 miles a small rock cairn marks the turnoff for Hidden Lake, and by the time we reached this point both Joe and I?were starting to worry that wed bitten off more than we could chew.

All of the boasting wed done about soon sitting on top of Eagle Cap was starting to sound like a large bowl of crow that wed both have to stomach.

The nearly two vertical miles up to Hidden Lake didnt help, but as our tired backs and thighs screamed for a rest, our spirits were rejuvenated once we finally laid eyes on the sparkling water.

We left our vehicle, our last tie to society, shortly after sunrise. And sometime in the late afternoon we were finally setting up camp and boiling water to cook the freeze-dried meals we were happy to not be packing back out.

Joe, who came on the hike straight off a full work shift with no sleep, was snoring in his tent shortly after the sun fell behind the mountains to our west.

I?decided to take the last few moments of sunlight to cross another first off my list and quickly assembled the fly fishing rod Id brought along.

With a jerky, almost frantic casting motion I?was able to get my fly onto the water and was quickly rewarded. A?pair of fat brook trout confirmed reports of the lakes excellent fishing, and luckily for them I?already had a full belly.

We took the next day to explore the lake, its surrounding ponds and the crystal clear streams that feed them. Joe later showed me how to properly cast a fly and that night we each were able to dine on a pair of trout wed caught ourselves.

The next morning we set out early on a side trail wed been tipped off to by a fellow camper that promised it would trim at least an hour off our hike to Eagle Cap. Luckily Joe and I?were both comfortable locating a trail in the wilderness because this one was far less defined and at times difficult to follow.

The great thing about the Eagle Cap Wilderness, though, is that its nearly impossible to get lost with so many visible landmarks dotting the horizon. Once we located the main trail up to Horton Pass it was difficult to keep a steady pace.

Sans packs and eager to reach our final goal, we had to keep reminding ourselves that we still needed to reserve enough energy to hike back to camp at the end of the day.

Fellow hikers, relatively rare up to this point, were in abundance once we crested Horton Pass, some of them with four-legged companions of their own.

A?crowded summit quickly cleared out as Joe and I?lunched under the small pine trees that scatter the slope overlooking Glacier Lake. A?non-technical scramble down to the lake was possible, but thats an adventure we decided was better saved for another day.

Once reaching the summit, every step seemed like a victory and a defeat.

We were leaving the wilderness having accomplished our goal but we were leaving.

Mother Nature treated us to an impressive thunderstorm on our last night at Hidden Lake, but only a few raindrops fell.

The meadows that had seemed so hot and long on the hike in were a pleasant stroll as we headed back down the valley the next morning.

Just like he had on the drive in, Joe had been talking constantly about getting home to his family so I?figured his haste was related to those desires. When I?reached the end of the trail I?discovered his shoulder strap had ripped again, and so we truly were right back where wed started just four days ago.

A cold beer procured in La Grande provided the perfect welcome back to society, and as Joe pointed us back toward Hermiston and the promise of copious amounts of Chinese food, I cycled through the hundreds of pictures Id taken as trophies and knew it would be far less than six years before I?did this again.

Contact Matt Entrup at mentrup@eastoregonian.com or (541) 966-0838.