Fish Lake Oregon – BOOTS on the TRAIL

Brown Mountain Snowshoe (Southwest Oregon) 18-Jan-2021

2021-01-182021-01-19Posted in Snowshoe HikingTagged Brown Mountain Oregon, Fish Lake Oregon, Hiking, Mount McLoughlin, Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), PCT, Snowshoe Hiking, Snowshoeing, Southern Oregon, Summit Sno-Park2 Comments

We had a nice, big (for Southwest Oregon) snowstorm at the start of 2021. This allowed us a first-of-the-year snowshoe below Mount Ashland through wonderfully fluffy powder snow. Since then, however, not much frozen joy has fallen from the sky. What has descended is a little more rain at warmer temperatures. We are, of course, hoping for colder temperatures and more snow before Spring – mainly because that snow is our water supply. In the interim, we figured it would be prudent to do some snowshoeing on what snow we have. In addition, getting above the thick fog (again) shrouding the valley seemed like a great idea. Plus, we could slap a little more amortization on this year’s annual Sno-Park permit. 🙂

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Willow Prairie: Rye Flat (Southwest Oregon) 29-Oct-2020

2020-10-292021-11-02Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Day Hiking, Fish Lake Oregon, Hiking, Mount McLoughlin, Rogue River - Siskiyou National Forest, Rye Flat Oregon, Southern Oregon, Tallest Western White Pine Oregon, Willow Prairie Horse Camp Oregon6 Comments

How hard can it be for a hiker to follow what’s described as an equestrian trail?
Somewhat harder than it would seem.

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Circling Fish Lake (Southwest Oregon) 22-May-2020

2020-05-222020-05-23Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Day Hiking, Fish Lake Oregon, Fish Lake Resort Oregon, Fish Lake Trail #1013, Hiking, Southern Oregon2 Comments

Fish Lake stretches along Highway 140 about 30 miles east of Medford, Oregon. The Fish Lake Trail #1034 runs along the north side of the lake between the North Fork Campground to the west and the High Lakes Trail #6200 to the east. We’ve had passing encounters with the #1013 before but had never hiked it. Then Glenn & Carol (& Katie) gave it a favorable review. So we decided to give it a try. But, in the spirit of things starting to open-up, we decided to add a little adventure to what would otherwise be an out-and-back hike, however nice. Instead, we’d put the #1013 to use as part of a hike completely around the lake!

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Grasshopper Mountain (Rogue-Umpqua Divide) 27-Aug-2019

2019-08-272022-01-31Posted in Hiking, Oregon Wilderness Areas, Southern OregonTagged Buckeye Lake Oregon, Cliff Lake Oregon, Fish Lake Oregon, Grasshopper Mountain Oregon, Highrock Mountain Oregon, Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness, Skimmerhorn Trailhead Oregon, South Umpqua River Oregon2 Comments

Today was forecast to be the hottest day of the year in the Rogue Valley. 105°F (40°C) was on offing. So, of course, I had to go hiking. Yes, I’d certainly get sweatier than a tree fungus but so it goes. The LovedOne wisely decided to stay home instead and work on a sweater (in anticipation of winter).

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Highrock Mountain (Rogue-Umpqua Divide) 23-Aug-2016

2016-08-242022-02-21Posted in Hiking, Oregon Wilderness Areas, Southern OregonTagged Beckie's Cafe Oregon, Day Hiking, Fish Lake Oregon, Hershberger Mountain Lookout, Highrock Mountain Oregon, Hiking, Oregon, Rogue-Umpqua Divide Trail #1470, Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness

In 2015, I did two dayhikes in Oregon’s Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness (details): an out-and-back on the Rogue-Umpqua Divide (USFS #1470) and Rocky Rim (USFS #1572) Trails (post) and a loop hike around Fish Lake (post) on the Rocky Rim, Rogue-Umpqua Divide, and Fish Lake (USFS #1570) trails. Highrock Mountain (6,195 feet / 1,888 m) is a prominent feature visible from various points on all of these trails. While not the highest point in this wilderness (that honor belongs to Fish Mountain, at 6,789 feet (2,069 m), about 4 miles to the northeast), it stands out from other peaks in the area because of its hulking rockiness and nearly treeless summit.

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