Wenaha wilderness backpacking

The Wenaha River Trail from Troy, Oreg., heading into the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness is a favorite early-season backpacking trip among the Spokane Mountaineers. The trail is free of snow in April while the high country is still inaccessible. Outdoors editor Rich Landers joined a Mountaineers group in the first weekend of June. In three days he hiked more than 30 miles to enjoy and photograph some of the river trail's attractions. Read the story.

Section:Gallery

Sat., June 8, 2013

Lorquin's admiral butterflies greet backpacker Gary Keller at his Blue Mountains campsite near the Wenaha River. This butterfly species is common in the Northwest along trails that follow forest streams.

Rita Kinney
New plastic signs are replacing some traditional Forest Service oak signs, including this sign heading up the Wenaha River into the Umatilla National Forest.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
A Western fence lizard grabs some sun on a slope above the Wenaha River in the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Sticky geraniums grow along the Wenaha River trail near the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness.
Spokane Mountaineers gather for dinner at a well-used campsite near the Wenaha River in the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness.
A gopher snake catches some sun on the Wenaha River trail. Rattlesnakes also are fairly common in this portion of the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Oregon sunshine blooms in brilliant yellow in June along the Wenaha River in the the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness.
Cold, clear, delicious water trickles out of PVC pipe and into a hollowed log trough at Mud Spring miles from any road in the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
Black bears are common in the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness.
Calipso orchids, also known as fairyslippers, sprout from the ponderosa parkland 1,500 feet above the Wenaha River in the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness.
The Wenaha River in the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness.
After two days and more than 20 miles of hiking, S-R Outdoors editor Rich Landers takes a skinny-dipping break along the Wenaha River in the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness.
Larkspur blooms in the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness.
Backpackers David Kennedy of Pullman and Samantha Journot of Spokane hike above the Wenaha River, which runs into the heart of the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness in the Blue Mountains of Oregon and Washington.

Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review
The Wenaha River flows out of the Blue Mountains near Troy, Oreg., from its headwaters in the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness, which straddles the Oregon-Washington border.