Backpacking 45 miles in the Eagle Cap Wilderness Alpine Lakes

After attempting and failing to reach the Alpine Lakes Basin during a backpacking trip in 2019, I wanted to give this place another go with the hopes of summiting Eagle Cap as well. Despite some serious haze from the mega fires ripping through Oregon, my buddy Ben and I had an awesome time...particularly enjoyed swimming in the lakes after long days... This was my first real attempt at making a proper documentary. It was a bit overwhelming as I had to learn a LOT of new stuff all at once - new camera, video exposure, editing and color grading video, syncing music, etc. But it was fun and I hope to make more of them. Major thanks to Ben for all of the help with filming. For anyone considering a trip to this area, here are some tips to consider: The journey into the Lakes basin is both easier and somewhat more scenic from Two Pan Trailhead instead of Wallowa Lake (IMO) Many of the established camp sites at Mirror Lake were taken by the time we got there (late afternoon) even though we went in the middle of the week. Would recommend getting there early or planning to stay at one of the other lakes (which had fewer or zero people). If summiting Eagle Cap, try to get up earlier in the day...there are no water sources and the heat builds up quickly due to the exposure for most of the ascent Here's how I'd rank lake 'awesomeness': Mirror Lake, Glacier Lake, Moccassin Lake, Lee Lake, Douglas Lake, Horsehoe Lake We originally planned to do the loop starting at Mirror, down to Horseshoe and Six Mile Meadow and back up through Frazier / Glacier. We ended up base camping at the peninsula on the northern end of Moccassin Lake and doing day trips to all of those places. Turned out to be a great decision. For my fellow backpackers out there, here's my "Big 3" + other beloved gear: Tent: Tarptent Double Rainbow Li Pack: Seek Outside Custom Unaweep Sleep Setup: UGQ Bandit Quilt, NEMO Tensor Insulated pad, Trekkology Aluft 2.0 pillow Stove: Snow Peak Litemax Trekking Pole Chair: Muhlibex Muhl X Garmin inReach Mini Hyperlite Mountain Gear pack pods Camera gear: Cameras: Fujifilm X-T4 + Gopro Hero 9 Black + DJI Osmo Pocket 2 Lenses: Fuji 16-55mm f/2.8 + Fuji 90mm f2 Misc: Joby 5k, Freewell ND Filters