Upper Rogue River Trail

The Upper Rogue River trail is 47.1 miles long and stretches from the Mt Mazama Viewpoint to the Prospect Reservoir Park.  Over the years we have hiked various sections and decided to complete one more section before the winter snows arrive.

This trail sign has seen better days

We started at the Mt Mazama Viewpoint trailhead located off highway 62. Our plan was to hike all the way to Rough Rider Falls & back, a little over 9 miles.  About 3 years ago we hiked the other half of this section from Hamaker Campground to Rough Rider Falls. Today's hike would complete another section of the trail for us.

The first half mile was a steady descending trail into sparsely wooded forests due to the volcanic soil.  Trees were down on the ground everywhere except across the trail (for now).  We came to the Boundary Springs Trail intersection but continued on the Upper Rogue River trail.  We have hiked the Boundary Springs Trail a few times and highly recommend it. Not only it is a beautiful hike, but it gives you the chance to see where the Rogue River begins as water gushes out of the rocks -literally!

Downed trees were everywhere at the beginning of our hike

The next few miles took us up and down through various wooded areas and also brought us within view and sound of the Rogue River.  However, the river soon dropped away as we climbed up and along the ridge that follows the Upper Rogue Canyon. We had some amazing views as the trail brought us to very edge of the canyon numerous times.  We kept a close eye on our dog Katie since the canyon drops over 200 feet to the river.

Upper Rogue River Canyon - a long ways down!

We hiked many more ups and downs along the trail before we started one final steady descent, entering into the woods towards the river and Rough Rider Falls.  After hiking in the open sunshine area along the canyon rim, this portion of the trail was the exact opposite as it was shaded, dark and much cooler in temperature.

The upward view was also amazing!

As we descended we began encountering fallen trees across the trail.  Some were difficult to navigate due to their size and the narrowness of  the trail.  We decided to stop for a lunch break in the shaded area next to the river.  As we looked ahead, the trail had many more down trees and since we did not hear the falls, we decided to make this our turn-around spot.

Katie working it to get some jerky during our lunch break

Although we did not get to the see Rough Rider falls on this hike, we included a picture of the falls from our 2011 hike below for your viewing pleasure.

Rough Rider falls in 2011

It is always interesting to see a trail in a different direction and so on our return hike we were treated to new views of the river and canyon.  We did meet and talk to a few other groups of hikers as we neared the Mt Mazama viewpoint area and arrived tired after almost 5 hours of hiking uphill both ways....this time it is true!

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol

P.S. In addition to the Upper Rogue River hike, we have hiked numerous times at the Jacksonville Woodland Trails and also at Valley of the Rogue State Park enjoying the Autumn colors.  We are fast approaching the 300 mile mark for the year (276 currently), an amount that a few years ago seemed impossible to hike within one year.