Modern day "hen party"
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The modern-day horsewomen descended from the "Hen Party" in an East Lostine River meadow in Oregon’s Eagle Cap Wilderness, on August 11, 2023. (Left to right) Jeanie Mascia, McKenzie Funk, Leah Over, Casey Jane Reece-Kaigler, Melissa Over, Sharon Masica and Sally Deitchler.
Brandon Swanson, Brandon Swanson / OPB
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Leah Over, Melissa Over, Casey Jane Reece-Kaigler, McKenzie Funk (seated) and Sharon Mascia at the top of Eagle Cap in Oregon’s Wallowa Mountains. The group returned to the Eagle Cap on horseback last summer to revisit the places the "Hen Party" visited.
Jule Gilfillan / OPB
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Mountain meadow carpeted with wildflowers near the East Lostine River in Oregon’s Eagle Cap Wilderness. In the summer of 2023, descendants of the original Hen Party headed back into the Eagle Cap Wilderness to commemorate their ancestors’ independent spirit and love of nature.
Jule Gilfillan / OPB
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Hen Party descendant Caey Jane Reece-Kaigler on horseback in the Eagle Cap Wilderness. In the summer of 2023, descendants of the original Hen Party headed back into the Eagle Cap Wilderness to commemorate their ancestors’ independent spirit and love of nature.
Jule Gilfillan / OPB
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Hen Party descendants (left to right) Sally Deitchler, Sharon Mascia and Melissa Over (aka the Reece sisters) in a mountain meadow near the East Lostine River in the Eagle Cap Wilderness. They hoped to commemorate their ancestors’ independent spirit and love of nature.
Jule Gilfillan / OPB
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"Hen Party" descendant Casey Jane Reece-Kaigler stands in the mountain meadow in the Eagle Cap Wilderness. In the summer of 2023, descendants of the original Hen Party headed back into the Eagle Cap Wilderness to commemorate their ancestors’ independent spirit and love of nature.
Jule Gilfillan / OPB
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Riding boots at the foot of Eagle Cap. After riding horseback to the trailhead, the group of "Hen Party" descendants changed into hiking boots to climb to the 9,577-foot summit.
Jule Gilfillan / OPB
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Morning campfire on the ”Hen Party-inspired” trip in the Eagle Cap Wilderness. In the summer of 2023, descendants of the original Hen Party headed back into the Eagle Cap Wilderness to commemorate their ancestors’ independent spirit and love of nature.
Jule Gilfillan / OPB
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A view looking west from the slopes of Eagle Cap in northeastern Oregon’s Wallowa Mountains. In the summer of 2023, descendants of the original Hen Party headed back into the Eagle Cap Wilderness to commemorate their ancestors’ independent spirit and love of nature.
Jule Gilfillan / OPB
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"Hen Party" descendant Melissa Over takes a nap in a mountain meadow near the East Lostine River in northeastern Oregon’s Eagle Cap Wilderness. For some 30 years in the 1900s, the original Hen Party, an all-female coalition, broke away from traditional gender roles to venture into the Wallowas on annual horse packing trips.
Jule Gilfillan, Jule Gilfillan / OPB
