What the towns surrounding the Wallowas lack in restaurants they make up for in impressive markets, delis, and general stores. If approaching from the north, the must-visit is Lostine’s stylish mercantile M. Crow, open since 1906. Designer Tyler Hays is the guy behind its glow-up and house-brewed beer, while Ava Gene’s alum Ross Effinger mans the peel at the wood-fired oven, topping pies with mountain-foraged mushrooms and summer corn (or keeping things simple with pepperoni and cheese). 

Pick up cooler fodder at Enterprise’s River Street Market, where rabbit and pork cheek terrine and Wagyu-beef bologna arrive on housemade schiacciata, a Tuscan flatbread akin to focaccia. The case is stocked with imported cheeses and cured meats, the shelves stacked with fancy chocolate bars and Italian cookies. For a last-day breakfast, consider a bacon waffle or frittata at Joseph breakfast café the Blythe Cricket.

From the south, options are scarcer. In Halfway, the main place to go is, well, the Main Place, an aptly named restaurant serving local beef steaks and prime rib. Old Pine Market can cover basic grocery needs, and Cow Camp Food Truck will handle the breakfast sandwich fueling your drive home.

There’s a world in which you could visit the Wallowas and not take a single hike. You’d stroll along Joseph’s folksy western Main Street, popping into Beecrowbee for Wallowa forest–scented soap and Element for ceramic mugs made in town. You’d rent a motorboat or paddleboard from the Wallowa Lake Marina for a day on the water. Maybe you’d even spend the eyewatering $50 to ride the Wallowa Lake Tramway up Mount Howard, gazing and gawking at the range’s many peaks. 

But let’s be real: If you’re going to drive six hours from Portland, you might as well get into the real wilderness, and the area is rich with trails. When in doubt, follow the creeks. Take Hurricane Creek up to the late-summer trickle of Deadman Falls for killer vistas of ice-blue rapids and austere granite peaks. Or veer off Hurricane Creek to head up to Thorp Creek Meadows, ecstatic with wildflower color and offering a camera-ready shot of Sacajawea Peak. Skilled hikers can continue the steep scramble up to the summit for the best view of the entire region.

Entering Wallowa County on OR 82 feels like driving through a Windows screensaver, electric green fields and bright red barns foregrounding snowcapped mountains. This side of the range is the most popular with tourists, and you’ll find a lot of the area’s hotels, cabins, lodges, and vacation rentals here. Wallowa Lake Lodge is the head honcho, with wood-paneled rooms in the main building and rustic cabins sporting retro kitchenettes. In Joseph, the Jennings Hotel provides 14 individually designed rooms and a teeny-tiny sauna.

Car campers will find a nice range of tent sites south of Enterprise at Hurricane
Creek, serenaded by rushing water. Dispersed sites for backpackers abound—if you can brave the 15-mile round-trip hike and weekend crowds, pitch a tent on the Ice Lake peninsula. Or let a horse do the heavy lifting: Drive in through Halfway and spend your first night at Cornucopia Lodge, with family-style meals in a creaky dining room, and then ride to a drop camp in the Pine Lakes Basin—just as pretty as Ice Lake, but far less trafficked. You’ll pass through colorful fields of fireweed, goldenrod, and aster, scope out some waterfalls, and maybe even eye mountain goats scaling the granite peaks. Hikers can also head to the Pine Lakes Basin from the lodge, and Cornucopia will haul in bags and set up camp by the time you arrive.

For 80 summers, ranchers and horse wranglers have gathered for Chief Joseph Days, a citywide rodeo named for the nineteenth-century leader of the Wallowa band of the Nez Perce tribe, who was also known as Hinmut-too-yah-lat-kekeht. Thoroughbreds gallop down Joseph’s Main Street for the Bucking Horse Stampede and crowds boot-scoot the night away to live bands. The event also honors its namesake: At the Friendship Feast, Nez Perce community members share the history and culture of the area’s original residents, with dancing and a potluck of traditionally prepared salmon and bison.