Do you believe in lake monsters?
According to Nez Perce legend, a bride and groom whose marriage was to mend a rift between rival tribes once paddled a canoe away from the girl's village on the shore of Wallowa Lake. As they reached the middle of the lake, a massive creature arched its serpentine neck from the water, smashed their craft, and swallowed them whole. The honeymoon was over.
Some sources claim that fear of the monster affected Nez Perce life for generations. Although the lake was an important fishing site, they refused to venture across its surface, preferring instead to catch their fish in underwater traps set from shore. Indeed, the name "Wallowa" appears to mean either "fish-trap" or "cross," perhaps in reference to the crosspieces on poles used to lower traps into deep water.
Scattered eyewitness accounts keep the story of Wally alive, but my attraction to this lake in Northeastern Oregon lies elsewhere. Five miles long, a mile wide, and 283 feet deep, Wallowa Lake is icy with snowmelt, its history overlaid with the modern trappings of RV campsites and powerboats. But overlooking its crystalline depths lies the grave site of Old Chief Joseph -- the traditional head of the Nez Perce Trail.
On the eve our our journey, we'll camp, like the Nez Perce before us, on the shores of Wallowa Lake. Perhaps we'll venture into Joseph, Oregon for supplies. Surely we will visit the nearby Wallowa Band Nez Perce Trail Interpretive Center. Come morning, we'll bid Old Joseph's remains a solemn farewell and turn our ponies to the Eagle Cap Wilderness and the unknown adventure it holds.
Unless, of course, ol' Wally eats us first.
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I'll put my money on Wally.
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