LaGrande and Wallowa State Park

June 29-30  La Grande, Oregon

A prosperous looking little town, La Grande has a long history. The first permanent settler was in 1861. There's been a lot of history here since then. The influence of cattle ranching is seen in the really wide streets - nice if you're towing or driving a big RV!

Grande Hot Springs RV park is home base - a new name for the park we stayed in last time. They've added a few new features since we were here last, including an additional laundry facility.
Ladd Marsh Wildlife Area is right across the road, and there's a canal running across the back side of the RV park, so it's a good location for bird watchers.

This is another of those quick stops, laundry, shopping, any needed repairs, and then on to four days at Wallowa State Park.

I could only identify one quilt shop in town, so paid them a brief visit when we ran a couple of errands. The shop in is the older downtown part of LaGrand, and while we weren't really in the market for shopping or browsing at the moment, there are a lot of attractive little specialty shops in the area. The La Grande Quilt Shop has a nice range of fabrics, but my space is limited so I only picked up a few interesting fat quarters.


We visited LaGrande in 2011 for trailer a trailer repair, as the Arctic Fox factory is here. We had no major repairs needed this time, but did develop a problem.

One afternoon we noticed we had no water on the hot water side of all the faucets. A bit of research and a lot of crawling around in tight spaces revealed the problem. It was Sunday, of course, so no parts were available, but as it turns out, we don't really need to replaced the valve. It's unnecessary unless you are planning to use antifreeze in winterizing the water system, which we never do. Problem solved!

Not much has changed in the area since our last visit except the name changes. Our comments on the interesting features of the hotel (now called Hot Springs Lake B&B) and the RV park (now called Grande Hot Springs RV Park) at that came are in this post.


July 31- August 3    Wallowa Lake State Park

They call the Wallowa Mountains the Little Alps, and you can see why.

First views of the mountain range from the highway are breathtaking, and in spite of the hot weather there are still little patches of snow here and there on the mountain peaks.

Steve has had Wallowa Lake State Park on his bucket list for a long time, and we finally made it! . . and it was a close call! When making reservations months ago he found it was already booked up, but put his name on the wait list. A short time before we left Texas he received an email message saying they'd had a cancellation, so he snapped it up.

Considering we had no choice in the matter, we got lucky and really have a great site. It's on an end, so our sitting area is much more spacious than most, and we are only a few steps from the entrance to the nature trail, which is handy for the dogs.

This park is huge ( 209 sites) , and very densely populated ..... the complete opposite of Clyde Holiday.

They've done a great job of working in around huge fir trees though, so there's a lot of shade.

We've never seen such a busy campground! All day and into the evening people there are wandering around, adults talking in groups, kids riding bikes (we've seen some pretty amazing bike helmets), young parents chasing their toddlers, people walking dogs (it seems everyone has at least one dog) and two enterprising young men made several firewood deliveries, pushing the little firewood carts while riding their skateboards. Now THAT was entertaining!

The park has a small but adequate off-leash dog area down by the marina, and it works well for the evening ball games. We also went swimming at one of the day use boat ramp areas. Otherwise, life is fairly restricted for the canine set.

Views of this beautiful lake can be had from the highway and the shore, but the campground isn't really situated in a way to afford that kind of scenery. This is where a boat would be handy, but we've given up hauling our canoes. We enjoyed several short excursions around the park to explore the little trails and views of the lake, and to play ball with the pups of course!


The little town of Joseph is just north of the state park, and the closest place for groceries and other services. Joseph is a beautiful town with a long history. It was established as far back as 1883. Originally a ranching and logging community, the town has now evolved into an art colony and tourism center. Summer visitors come for the beautiful views, fall visitors for the hunting, and winter for the snow sports. If you want to shop the galleries gift shops and eateries, you can do that year round too. And of course, there's a quilt shop!

Cattle Country Quilts didn't disappoint. They have some wonderful fabrics that really fit with the themes of the area. I couldn't resist a winter themed piece, and a license plate of course!

We stopped in to the local museum and chatted with their docents who are well versed in the history and family names. They can fill you in on all the artifacts displayed there, as well as Nez Perce tribe history, and anything else you want to know about the area.

Main street is an art walk every day, featuring several bronzes from local artists, cast in the city's foundry. We had lunch in an outdoor restaurant and really enjoyed the views.

The photo album includes larger versions of each sculpture

We also stopped at Old Chief Joseph's cemetery on the way back to camp. There's so much to do and explore here it's hard to fit it all in.

Wednesday we took the Wallowa Mountain Loop to the Hells Canyon Overlook

Photos of these huge mountains and steep valleys covered with trees just wouldn't convey the real message, so I didn't even try. What we did notice as unusual was the extremely tall snags standing far above the obviously younger, and very dense, fir trees.

Checking later I found this is the result of the Canal Fire, where a lightning-caused fire burned 23,000 acres in 1989. The younger trees (28 years since the fire) are so dense that they really need to be thinned, and there are discussions about how to go about that now.

We really enjoyed the drive to Hells Canyon Overlook. It's another one of those amazing, overwhelming scenic views. It's so large it's difficult to convey, a little like the Grand Canyon, and the smoke from forest fires was beginning to creep in.

We really enjoyed the drive, stopping along the way to admire several of the creeks that crisscross the road, visiting the fish weir, and stopping for lunch at a small fishing pond. The dogs seem to enjoy the scenery from the truck as well as getting out to explore each time we stop.

On our last day we drove north to the town of Wallowa to visit the Nez Perce Homeland Interpretive Center. The project office is in an unpretentious little building directly across from the post office, and we almost missed it. The displays aren't extensive, but there are some beautiful artifacts, excellent maps and explanatory displays, and the office is staffed by an enthusiastic and very knowledgeable young woman. The office will provide you with a brochure that includes a map to the nearby Homelands project, where you can walk a trail with interpretive markers along the Wallowa River, visit the dance arbor and longhouse, and enjoy some very special views of the Nez Perce homelands.

We've followed the Nez Perce trail in bits and pieces, starting at the end and now, we've worked our way to the beginning, so we've completed the route. If you are interested in Native American history this is a worthwhile side trip.

On the way back to camp we stopped in to take a look at Wallowa Lake Lodge, which is located right before the entrance to the campground. The lodge was built in 1923, and was really thriving when our daughter's choir performed there (many years ago!) but apparently was about to go under when a small group of investors gathered together to rescue it in 2015. It would have been so sad to see the lodge close. It's a wonderful example of the classic lodge style, beautifully maintained, and exemplifies the gracious feel of the older park lodges throughout the west.

Reception area and main lounge

I said at the beginning the views of the mountains here are amazing, and they really are. Unfortunately, fires in the area began pushing smoke in, and by our third day the mountains were barely visible. I'm glad I didn't wait to take photos. This was taken the morning of the third day, and the smoke got progressively worse. 

Smoke over Wallowa Lake

We really enjoyed our time here, but now we're packing up and heading for a few days in Utah!

Photo Album here