Well, we did it. Retired on December 5th and moved to Southern Oregon on December 14th. After loading the truck, we stayed an extra night in Portland to attend the OregonHiker’s (OH) Meet & Deet on the 13th – we really enjoyed the whole event 😀 and the chance to meet some OH icons in person (you know who you are 😉 ). But after a flurry of bare knuckle truck driving, endless unpacking (What happened to downsizing?) and messing with the house, we needed a break. This whole area is pretty new to us, so we thought we’d start with one of the easy local favorites – Roxy Ann Peak in the city’s Prescott Park.
We started in fog but broke out of the low clouds that were filling the Rogue Valley (technically the Bear Creek Valley) just before reaching the trailhead.
It was quite a frothy soup of clouds down below us,
but we spent our whole hike above the clouds, with a view of Mount Ashland and Wagner Butte in the distance.
The park’s road/trail system is straightforward and the Madrone Trail took us up through groves of oaks and madrones to Ponderosa pines at the summit.
From the peak’s southeast ridge, we got a killer view of Mount McLoughlin to the east (on our “to do” list for a late Spring snow climb).
We could also look south to Grizzly Peak, which we’d hiked earlier this year,
and to Pilot Rock which we got snowed off of last May!
The Loved One attempted to part the clouds,
but gave that up in favor of attention-seeking behavior.
We stopped for a snack at the North Overlook,
then headed back on the Ponderosa Trail, which gave us a good view of Grayback Mountain, which we’d hiked last summer.
And then we were done.
This was a good leg stretch (5 miles round-trip; 700 feet of elevation gain) with great views – a nice break from unpacking boxes! 😀 (Update: Prescott Park has added more trails and an additional parking lot since our first visit there.)
BOOTS on the TRAIL 
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