Wagner Butte – BOOTS on the TRAIL

Wagner Butte (Southwest Oregon) 02-Dec-2020

2020-12-022020-12-03Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Day Hiking, Hiking, Southern Oregon, Split Rock Trail, Wagner Butte, Wagner Glade Gap4 Comments

The Bear Creek Valley (Bear Creek is a small tributary of the Rogue River) had been blanketed in a cold, damp inversion fog for several days. So we thought we might as well go high and look down, rather than up, at it. Wagner Butte (7,255 ft (2,211 m)) was an obvious choice for a high perch. It’s been two-and-a-half years since either of us did this locally classic hike up to the old fire lookout site on the prow of the ridge north of the butte’s true high point. Time to get reacquainted with an old friend! 🙂 Of course, we awoke to find that the fog we were planning to get above had completely disappeared overnight and we were faced with having to hike under totally bluebird conditions. 😎 Such are the sacrifices hikers have to make. 😀

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Hiking Southern Oregon: 25 Hikes (February 2020)

2020-02-052022-02-06Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Aspen Butte Oregon, Big Red Mountain Oregon, Blue Grotto Oregon, Blue Lake Group Oregon, Collings Mountain, Day Hiking, Devils Peak Oregon, East ART, Grizzly Peak (Jackson County), Heavenly Twin Lakes Oregon, Hiking, Hobart Bluff Oregon, Kerby Peak, Lower Table Rock Oregon, Mount Ashland Oregon, Mount McLoughlin, Muir Creek Oregon, Pilot Rock Oregon, Puck Lakes Oregon, Seven Lakes Trail #981, Southern Oregon, Squaw Peak Oregon, Stein Butte Oregon, Sterling Mine Ditch Trail, Takelma Gorge, Upper Table Rock Oregon, Wagner Butte, Whisky Creek Cabin10 Comments

To celebrate our 600^th post on WordPress, we’re highlighting a select few of the many hikes we’ve enjoyed here in Southwest Oregon.

As we’ve perused lists of Oregon’s greatest hikes, we’ve come to notice that these lists are heavily skewed, with a few exceptions, toward hikes near Portland. That metro area’s greater population helps if a list is based on some kind of vote. And proximity to its major airport helps get votes from those who drop in for a brief Western adventure. Even some of the classics, like the Wallowas in Eastern Oregon or the Three Sisters in Central Oregon, often don’t make these lists because they are too far away. So a lot of “great” hikes get done near Portland – the state’s most populated town. And then the complaints roll in about how there’s no parking, the trails are too crowded, you need a permit or must pay a fee, it’s raining, etc.

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High on Wagner Butte (Talent, Oregon) 14-May-2018

2018-05-142022-01-30Posted in Hiking, Oregon, Southern OregonTagged Ashland Oregon, Day Hiking, Hiking, Oregon, Southern Oregon, Split Rock Trail, Wagner Butte, Wagner Glade Gap

The views from the old fire lookout site at the north end of Wagner Butte make the trail to it (USFS #1011) one of the most popular in the Rogue Valley. Yet that site, at about 7,080 feet, even though it commands a great view of the Bear Creek and Rogue River Valleys, is not the actual high point on the butte. That honor belongs to Point 7255, about a half-mile to the south. So, for sometime different, I took the opportunity (The LovedOne had a library board meeting – still a volunteer but this is beginning to feel like work) to seek a true high on Wagner.

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Split Rock Trail (Ashland, Oregon) 28-Oct-2017

2017-10-282022-01-30Posted in Hiking, Hiking (Bike Assist), Southern OregonTagged Ashland Oregon, Day Hiking, Forest Road 20 Oregon, Hiking, McDonald Peak Oregon, Mount Ashland Oregon, Mount Ashland Ski Area, Mount Ashland Sno-Park, Oregon, Rogue River - Siskiyou National Forest, Siskiyou Crest, Southern Oregon, Split Rock Trail, Wagner Butte, Wagner Glade Gap

I first became aware of this trail from a 2013 Ashland Hiking Group post and then later found it posted as that on the Hiking Project. In both posts, the trail was described as indistinct, brushy, and hard to follow in places. Yet I could see it as part of a hike and bike loop – perhaps the last one of the 2017 summer season – involving it, Forest Roads 20 and 22, and the Wagner Butte Trail. So I girded myself for some bushwhacking and route-finding and set-off on a perfect bluebird day to explore this variation on the classic hike to Wagner Butte. As this loop progressed, I would be pleasantly surprised to find that the Ashland trails plan that has been in the works for years had finally come to fruition for this tread.

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Wagner Butte (Rogue Valley, Oregon) 16-Jul-2017

2017-07-162022-01-30Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Ashland Oregon, Day Hiking, Hiking, Medford Oregon, Oregon, Rogue River - Siskiyou National Forest, Southern Oregon, Talent Oregon, Wagner Butte, Wagner Glade Gap

It was time for a hike that was close (no long drive to the trailhead), straightforward (no cross-country adventures this time), and high above the valley heat (if possible). After engaging an extra brain cell, it dawned on me that an old favorite, Wagner Butte (USFS #1011) was the perfect choice. Although we’d been up there many times before (post), it had been awhile since we’d done it as a snow-free summer hike. So, with the LovedOne committed to spending the day at a cow-quilting class in Ashland, I soloed up to the Wagner Butte Trailhead to once again enjoy this old classic.

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Wagner Butte: Another Rogue Valley Classic 20-Oct-2016

2016-10-202022-01-29Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Ashland Oregon, Day Hiking, Hiking, Medford Oregon, Oregon, Southern Oregon, Wagner Butte, Wagner Glade Gap

Every place we’ve lived has had a favorite local hike – one that is close-by, accessible, and short – so that you can get out into the woods for a leg stretch without committing to an epic journey. There are actually several such hikes here in the southern Bear Creek Valley but one that is mentioned in every local guidebook, in several newspaper and magazine articles, and on numerous websites, is Wagner Butte on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest just west of Talent, Oregon (and just northwest of Ashland). After a four-day siege of wind, rain, clouds, and gloom, a hike of Grizzly Peak the day before, and The LovedOne still composting in the garden, I set out (solo) for the longer ascent of Wagner Butte, now wearing a good coating of snow from the recent storms.

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Wagner Butte in Winter (Ashland, Oregon) 04-Nov-2015

2015-11-042022-01-28Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Ashland Oregon, Day Hiking, Hiking, Medford Oregon, Southern Oregon, Talent Oregon, Wagner Butte, Wagner Glade Gap

This is one of the classic hikes close in to Medford, Oregon and is becoming one of our favorites due to this ease of access and its big views. We first did it last January but in an odd way because we went right past the trailhead due to a missing sign. We came back this June, found the trailhead, and did the hike the “right” way. We did it again today because a recent storm turned the butte into a winter wonderland above 5,500 feet (the trailhead is at 5,000 feet) and we wanted to play in the snow – yeah! 😀

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Wagner Butte (Talent, Oregon) 16-Jun-2015

2015-06-162022-01-28Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Ashland Oregon, Day Hiking, Hiking, Medford Oregon, Oregon, Rogue River - Siskiyou National Forest, Southern Oregon, Talent Oregon, Wagner Butte, Wagner Glade Gap

Wagner Butte is one of the classic hikes in our area – providing easy access to cooler climes, forests, and big views. We first hiked it in January through what passed for this year’s “snow pack.” At that go around, we missed the trailhead ( 😳 ) and did some artful cross-country walking through the forest to the upper part of the trail. This left a stain on our hiking honor. Now the time for redemption had arrived – we would try this hike again under bluebird conditions and from the correct trailhead! 😎

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Wagner Butte in Winter (Ashland, Oregon) 13-Jan-2015

2015-01-132022-01-28Posted in Hiking, Southern OregonTagged Ashland Oregon, Day Hiking, Hiking, Medford Oregon, Southern Oregon, Talent Oregon, Wagner Butte, Wagner Glade Gap

At 7,140 feet, Wagner Butte is one of “the” hikes in the Medford area, allowing as it does extraordinary views of the Sisters to the north, of the Rogue and Bear Creek Valleys below, and of Mount Shasta to the S (it’s Hike #60 in the Third Edition of Sullivan’s 100 Hikes in Southern Oregon). This year it is also one of the few readily accessible snow hikes down here. So we took advantage of yesterday’s sunny weather to hike it.

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To celebrate our 600th post on WordPress, we’re highlighting a select few of the many hikes we’ve enjoyed here in Southwest Oregon.

To celebrate our 600^th post on WordPress, we’re highlighting a select few of the many hikes we’ve enjoyed here in Southwest Oregon.