Failure to Navigate in the Eagle Cap Wilderness

Today's plan was to drive out a trail head and then hike out to a pool where the salmon go to spawn.  Unfortunately our little xeroxed map was not totally clear on what road to take.  We headed out into the great wide open.  There are huge ranches out there. 
Isn't this a cool looking barn?

I love the main gate to the ranch.  See the bears?  There are cubs on the uprights.

We ended up on a gravel road, and kept driving.  Eventually the road got more narrow and we saw this sign.  Yep, at that point we were pretty sure we were not on the path to the spawning pool.

So, we went back to the main road and found the correct road.  We also discovered just how far it was to the trail head.  We have a goal to never be "those people" who make it on to the nightly news because they had to be rescued.  More fuel would be required for the truck.  We bailed on the plan and decided to drive out to Imnaha to see what we would see.
It's a beautiful drive.

This is Imnaha.  It's the end of the road.  There is a post office, bar/grocery store, and a bar/road house.  I think I saw about five homes.

On the way back we saw a cattle drive.  Unfortunately, I did not get the cowboy who was steering the cattle.

The day was still young so we drove over to Wallowa Lake.

We hiked up the Chief Joseph trail.  It was a lovely hike.

So, tomorrow we are going to try the hike to the salmon again.  This time we have a full tank of gas and a better understanding of the roads.