For the July 4th holiday, we headed to John Day, where a group of us gather each year for a weekend-long celebration at our friends' Herb and Diane's place. On Saturday, Diane treated us to a trail ride in the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness, a 68,700-acre range with elevations between 4,000 and 9,038 feet, located in the Malheur National Forest.
We parked at the Strawberry Campground, about 12 miles outside Prairie City, a charming little town of 1,100. (Known as "the Gateway to the Strawberry Wilderness," it's worth a day trip in and of itself.)
The campgrounds were packed with hikers and campers (no surprise; this is a popular spot) -- so much so that some not-too-clever chap had even parked his little Jeep so that it blocked one of only two spots designated for horse trailers, and of course he was nowhere to be found. That made for very tight quarters for our two three-horse rigs. The park job wasn't pretty, but it was doable, all things considered. We were just grateful no other horsemen had beat us to the trail.
After winding up and up about a mile to Strawberry Lake, we rode another mile to the impressive Strawberry Falls, which drops some 60 feet from a rock cliff and can be heard long before (and after) it's seen. Then we backtracked a bit via the Slide Basin Shortcut Trail and wound up at tranquil Slide Lake, where we stopped for lunch. We had planned to venture around the corner, over to Little Slide Lake, but some lingering large snow drifts changed our plans; the route to Little Slide Lake was blocked, so we headed back down the mountain.
It's a gorgeous ride that I highly recommend for folks who aren't afraid of heights (or steep trails) and who have hearty animals that are in good shape (we moved at a pretty good pace and made the 11-mile trek in about six hours). I lost track of the hikers we passed -- probably a dozen couples and several families, most of whom were envious of our mode of transport. Not everyone was familiar with trail etiquette when encountering horses, though, which could have made for some tense moments if we hadn't all been on well-behaved animals (all users are supposed to yield to horseback riders).
The wildflowers were just beginning to bloom; during the next month they should be spectacular.
If you'd like to find out more about the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness, check out the entry at oregonphotos.com. Wikipedia's entry on the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness also has some helpful info.
Here are some photos from the trip:
Much of the trail runs along steep cliffs, but the trails are plenty wide
and the switchbacks aren't too sharp.
Isn't she lovely: April the mule takes a break at a lookout that served as our first pit stop.
The views from here were impressive in several directions.
Our first glimpse of snow: riding along Strawberry Lake as we headed to Strawberry Falls.
Diane at the roaring Strawberry Falls, which drop about 60 feet from a rock cliff.
Wildflowers were beginning to bloom all along the trail (these were located on
the edge of a cliff at the first lookout we passed).
The glass-smooth surface of Slide Lake shows off the still-snowy mountain range behind it.
We weren't the only ones enjoying the solitude of Slide Lake; we shared
the spot with two fishermen across the way.
We encountered snow about halfway up the mountain trail. It made
the journey to Little Slide Lake impossible.
Last year, several folks in our group took a pack trip into the Strawberry Mountains
and camped at this meadow, located at Slide Lake. Looks like they'll have to make
other camping plans this summer; the meadow is still flooded from the heavy winter snowmelt.
you wind your way through the towering pine forests of the 
