Upper Rogue River – BOOTS on the TRAIL

Boundary Springs (Crater Lake National Park) 26-Jul-2021

2021-07-262021-08-05Posted in Hiking, Southern Oregon, U.S. National Parks & MonumentsTagged Ashland Hiking Group, Boundary Springs, Crater Lake National Park, Day Hiking, Hiking, Rogue River, Southern Oregon, Upper Rogue River, Upper Rogue River Trail #103413 Comments

Boundary Springs – which emerge from semi-arid terrain in the northwest corner of Crater Lake National Park – are the source of the mainstem of the Rogue River. Many other tributaries and streams contribute to the Rogue before it reaches the sea at Gold Beach, but that river starts here. It’s tempting to think that these springs somehow tap Crater Lake itself but they are, instead, fed only by snowmelt.

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Remembrance of Trails Past (November 2020)

2020-11-232020-11-23Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Day Hiking, Hiking, Huckleberry Mountain Oregon, Hummingbird Meadows, National Creek Falls, National Recreation Trail, Southern Oregon, Union Creek, Upper Rogue River3 Comments

A while back, I found a charming little hiking guide from 1969 that the Rogue National Forest had assembled for the area around Union Creek on the Upper Rogue River. Most, but not all, of the listed trails were short and went to a lake or creek or something scenic. Nothing epic that would dissuade people from getting out of their cars for a brief hike in the woods. Possibly this was an odder activity then than it is now? Anyway, I recognized some but not all of the listed trails. And of the ones I did recognize, the guide’s description sometimes didn’t tally with what we’ve found during hikes on or near them in recent years.

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Rogue Gorge Trail (Union Creek, Oregon) 15-Nov-2018

2018-11-152022-01-30Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Beckie's Cafe Oregon, Day Hiking, Hiking, Natural Bridge Campground, Rogue Gorge Trail, Rogue River, Southern Oregon, Union Creek, Upper Rogue River, Upper Rogue River Trail #10342 Comments

We hiked our first Rogue River-related trail (to Boundary Springs) in 2012. Over the next six years, we hiked all of the other river-related trails between the springs and the ocean, culminating (we thought) with the Lower Rogue River Trail this year. Having thus declared victory, we were chagrined to find we’d missed one. Map-gazing revealed the Rogue Gorge Trail (USFS #1034A), which links the Rogue Gorge Viewpoint to the north with the Natural Bridge Viewpoint to the south. This slight required remedy!

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Union Creek Trail (Union Creek, Oregon) 06-Nov-2018

2018-11-062022-01-30Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Beckie's Cafe Oregon, Day Hiking, Hiking, Old-growith forest, Rogue River, Rogue River - Siskiyou National Forest, Southern Oregon, Union Creek, Upper Rogue River2 Comments

No better place to wait out the end of the seemingly endless 2018 Midterm election cycle than on a hike. With The LovedOne temporarily liberated from the Palace of Cellulose (i.e., the library), we set out to hike one of the smaller trails we’d by-passed on our many trips to the Upper Rogue. Of course, pie at Beckie’s Cafe on our return was a major motivating factor.

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Upper South Fork Trail (Sky Lakes Wilderness) 03-Jul-2017

2017-07-032022-01-30Posted in Hiking (Bike Assist), Oregon Wilderness Areas, Southern OregonTagged Blue Lake Group Oregon, Day Hiking, Hiking, Lost Creek Lake Oregon, Oregon, Rogue River, Rogue River - Siskiyou National Forest, Sky Lakes Wilderness, Southern Oregon, Upper Rogue River, Upper South Fork Rogue River

Upper South Fork Rogue River Trail Sky Lakes Wilderness Oregon

The South Fork Rogue River, a 25-mile tributary of Oregon’s Rogue River, rises in the Blue Lake Basin of the Sky Lakes Wilderness and flows generally northeast to its confluence first with the Middle Fork and then with the main Rogue slightly upstream of Lost Creek Lake. The South Fork is bordered for part of its length by three hiking trails: the Lower South Fork Trail between Lower South Fork Bridge and Imnaha Creek (USFS #988), the Middle South Fork Trail between the Upper and Lower South Fork Bridges (USFS #988), and the Upper South Fork Trail from near Upper South Fork Bridge to the Blue Lake Basin (USFS #988). Both the Lower and Middle trails are locally popular and are also described in almost every hiking guidebook for this area. The Upper trail is rarely mentioned (if at all) in local guidebooks and is described by the Forest Service as a minimally maintained primitive trail, one not recommended for horses, and a challenging workout for hikers. This made a hike of it sound intriguing for one last venture into the Sky Lakes until the end of mosquito season in September.

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