Sept. 3 of this year marked the 60th anniversary of the Wilderness Act. On that day 60 years ago, President Lyndon B.
Johnson signed the Wilderness Act of 1964 into law, officially creating the National Wilderness Preservation System. With the stroke of a pen, nine Wilderness areas in Oregon were designated, along with many more across the U.S.
I was fortunate enough to be hiking in Northeast Oregon’s Eagle Cap Wilderness — one of those first nine, and still Oregon’s largest Wilderness area — to commemorate this big anniversary. Our hike started at the busy Wallowa Lake, its cabins, lodges, and campgrounds full of families enjoying the holiday weekend and last bit of summer. A couple of miles and a few switchbacks later, we were high above the lake and crossing into the Eagle Cap Wilderness.
We came across several other hikers and backpackers on the trail, but the quietness was noticeable. As we caught our breath, we marveled at the immense walls of granite towering above us. Songbirds called out and darted between the firs and hemlocks.
The sudden snap of a downed branch quickly drew our attention; a moment later, a deer walked out into a lush meadow, framed by stands of lodgepole and the peaks above. Wilderness areas are some of the last remaining places to find true quietness and solitude like this. They also represent our most intact ecosystems — these places are free from roads and other development and activities that can degrade habitat and isolate wildlife p.