About this place
Limited parking, a loading ramp, one hitchrack and a small information board. That is the trailhead.
Lick Creek Trailhead is a way into the Eagle Cap Wilderness. The trail climbs steeply up the creek canyon, so pace yourself.
The Wallowa Mountain Loop Road that brings you here is usually shut by snow from late October until late May or June. There is no water and no restroom.
The facts
- Cost
- Free to camp
- Roads around it
- Not maintained for ordinary cars
- Drinking water
- No, bring your own
- Toilet
- No
- Type
- Specific campsite
- Managed by
- Wallowa Whitman National Forest
The roads around this place are not maintained for a regular car. That comes from the US Forest Service, who grade every road by the kind of vehicle it is looked after for. Those records cover the roads nearby. They do not cover the last stretch in to the campsite, and nobody has checked that part. Treat this as a warning. We are not promising what you will find when you get there. If you have driven it, tell us what it was like and we will say so here.
Getting there
From Joseph, take Highway 350 for about 8 miles and turn right onto Forest Road 39, the Wallowa Mountain Loop Road. Go about 15 miles, turn right on Road 3925, then right again on Road 015 for about 1.5 miles.
Coordinates 45.134106, -117.055322
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
Nothing nationally famous is close. These are the landmarks nearby.
- Aneroid Mountain Directions
- Mount Howard Directions
- Sacajawea Peak Directions
- Eagle Cap Directions
Every distance on this page is the driving distance. A short distance can still take a long time. The road may be closed for the season, covered in snow, or washed out. Many of these roads are dirt. Plan your route before you leave home. Out here there is often no phone signal to look it up on the way.
Nearest town and supplies
- Wallowa Lake, OR Directions
- Joseph, OR Directions
Joseph is big enough that you’d normally expect fuel and somewhere to buy food. Nobody from here has been to check, so don’t count on it if you’re running low.
Why the drive to town is usually twice what the map says — what we found measuring every campsite in this guide.
When it’s time to move on
On most public land you can camp for 14 days before you have to move on. Check this site’s own limit before you plan a long stay. This is Forest Service land, and each forest sets its own rule for how far you have to go, so check before you travel.
The nearest other free campsite in this guide is Chico Trailhead, Oregon — 43 miles in a straight line, but a 55 mile drive. Eight more sit closer than 25 miles, if the rule here allows them.
This guide covers five states and does not list every free campsite, so there may be something closer that we do not hold. Check this site’s own rule before you rely on it.
Have you been here?
Fees and access change, and the records do not always keep up. If you have been, tell us what you found.
Thank you, that is recorded. It helps the next person.
Add road notes for this site
The thing we cannot get from any government record is what the drive in is actually like. If you have done it, this is the most useful thing you can leave behind. We read everything before it appears, and we print a first name with it if you give one.
Thank you. A person will read it before it goes on the page.
Where this information comes from
The description on this page is ours. The facts in it, and the fee and facility details below it, come from the Forest Service’s own records, read in August 2026.