Anderson Camp Trail #1075 – BOOTS on the TRAIL

Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail ~ Southwest Oregon (October 2020)

2020-10-072022-02-21Posted in HikingTagged Abbott Butte Lookout Oregon, Anderson Camp Trail #1075, Anderson Mountain Oregon, Day Hiking, Hershberger Mountain Lookout, Hiking, Rogue River - Siskiyou National Forest, Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail #1470, Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness, Southern Oregon, Umpqua National Forest

UPDATE
The #1470 from Yellow Jacket Camp to the Rocky Rim Trail #1572 was restored by the Siskiyou Mountain Club during July and August, 2021.

The Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail (#1470) runs, as its name suggests, for some 30 miles between Huckleberry Gap and Three Lakes along the divide between the Umpqua and Rogue River watersheds. The Forest Service describes it as the primary route through the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness. We’ve spent the last five years hiking almost all of it in sections. By doing so, we got to experience the #1470 directly and also ponder the future of our trails that aren’t social media darlings. So here are some thoughts about the #1470 as a whole, with particular emphasis on where the Service’s sometimes overly hopeful descriptions of it depart from its reality. But let’s be clear here: this is a personal reminiscence, not a guidebook and should not be relied on as such. Just saying…

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Yellow Jacket Camp (Rogue-Umpqua Divide) 06-Jul-2020

2020-07-062022-03-31Posted in Hiking, Oregon Wilderness Areas, Southern OregonTagged Anderson Camp Trail #1075, Anderson Mountain Oregon, Day Hiking, Hiking, Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail #1470, Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness, Sandstone Trail #1436 Oregon, Southern Oregon, Yellow Jacket Camp Oregon4 Comments

UPDATE
The #1470 from Yellow Jacket Camp to the Rocky Rim Trail #1572 was restored by the Siskiyou Mountain Club during July and August of 2021. 😃

I have a conflicted relationship with the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail #1470 which runs the length of Southern Oregon’s Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness. On one hand, the Forest Service’s website styles this trail as the “primary route” though this wilderness, but only a few sections of it appear to have seen any maintenance for a long, long time. On the other hand, it provides access to views, old lookout sites, meadows with wildflowers, and otherwise inaccessible parts of this wilderness. But, like that famous “box of chocolates”, you’re never quite sure what to expect – easy movement on good trail or an arduous slog on dim, overgrown tread over, under, and around fallen trees of varying sizes.

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Anderson Camp (Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness) 01-Jun-2018

2018-06-012022-01-30Posted in Hiking (Bike Assist), Oregon Wilderness Areas, Southern OregonTagged Anderson Camp Trail #1075, Anderson Mountain Oregon, Beckie's Cafe Oregon, Day Hiking, Hiking, Oregon, Rogue River - Siskiyou National Forest, Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail #1470, Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness, Southern Oregon2 Comments

Anderson Camp Trail Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness Oregon

The Forest Service styles the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail (USFS #1470) as the primary route through the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness. This may be true in concept but, in practice, they seem to have given little, if any, attention to its maintenance. We have been exploring it in sections for the last few years and have found tread ranging from good (from its southern trailhead to Abbott Butte Lookout) to non-existent (between Falcon Butte and Abbott Butte). It would be the obvious thru-hike for this wilderness if one could trust the tread (and also find water sources). But our explorations continue, this time between Anderson Mountain and Hershberger Mountain, with a visit to Anderson Camp, Anderson Prairie, and the site of the Anderson Mountain fire lookout.

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