Elk Creek Oregon – BOOTS on the TRAIL

Along Elk Creek (Southwest Oregon) 10-Apr-2020

2020-04-112020-08-01Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Day Hiking, Elk Creek Dam, Elk Creek Oregon, Hiking, Lost Creek Lake Oregon, Southern Oregon8 Comments

Elk Creek is a tributary of the Rogue River and one that was planned to be turned into a reservoir to accompany the one that is nearby Lost Creek Lake. Fierce opposition prevented the dam from being finished (it was eventually breached to allow fish passage) and the land that was supposed to be at the bottom of a reservoir became a recreation area. The old road along Elk Creek now serves as a hiking, biking, and equestrian pathway.

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Strolling Along Elk Creek (Oregon) 26-Apr-2019

2019-04-262022-01-31Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Day Hiking, Elk Creek Dam, Elk Creek Oregon, Hiking, Lost Creek Lake Oregon, Shady Cove Oregon, Southern Oregon

The LovedOne needed some soothing outdoor time ahead of her helping out this weekend with Medford’s 5^th Annual Comic Con. I wanted to go on a hike with her that didn’t involve trying to find the trail, steep climbs, ticks, or poison oak. The trail along Elk Creek near Lost Creek Lake northeast of Medford came immediately to mind.

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Dam You Elk Creek! (Oregon) 09-Apr-2017

2017-04-102022-01-30Posted in Hiking, Southern Oregon, U.S. RiversTagged Applegate Lake Oregon, Day Hiking, Elk Creek Dam, Elk Creek Oregon, Hiking, Lost Creek Lake Oregon, Rogue River, Southern Oregon, William L Jess Dam4 Comments

Elk Creek is a tributary of Oregon’s Rogue River whose confluence with the Rogue is just northeast of Shady Cove, Oregon. In 1986, about three miles upstream of the confluence, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) began construction on what was expected to be the Elk Creek Dam. It was to be the last of three dams (the other two being the William L. Jess Dam (1977) on the Upper Rogue River and the Applegate Dam (1980) on the Applegate River) authorized by Congress in 1962 to help control flooding along the Rogue River. The Rogue’s capacity for horrendous flooding was well established and the two existing dams have done a great deal to mitigate that threat. But the Elk Creek Dam was not to be (nor did it need to be).

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