Jacksonville Forest Park

November 17, 2018

With a forecast of rain in the near future, we took advantage of another beautiful sunshine day with blue sky to get out and enjoy what may be the last color of Autumn.  Nearby Jacksonville Forest Park was our destination as we set out to hike up to the Upper Peak lookout.

The sign says it all.  Richard, this sign is for you.

We began at the P-1 parking area and hiked up the Ol' Miners trail, up the Owl Hoot trail, up the Twin Peaks trail (notice a trend here?), and finally up the Upper Peaks trail where after an hour-and-a-half of uphilll hiking for 3.3 miles, we could stop, sit down on a bench, and take in the view of the valley.

One of the very nice park shelters on the way up to Upper Twin Peak

View from Upper Twin Peak lookout

Although there was a little smoke haze from the fire in Northern California, it was still a great view and we enjoyed the silence with an occasional breeze that would blow an oak leaf or two past us.  Katie on the other hand, is always impatient when we stop and unless food is involved, is ready to hit the trail.  So out came a few biscuits to soothe the savage beast.

Autumn color and blue sky!

We could have hiked the same route back to the car, but instead we hiked over to the Canyon Falls trail and then the Norling trail to enjoy some last Autumn color in the trees and along the trail.  We have really enjoyed seeing the color on our many Autumn hikes this year and will be sad to see it go.

One last view of Autumn color.

Hope you had a chance to get out and enjoy the Autumn color too. Next up, winter hiking.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Trekking Together
Glenn and Carol

Upper Table Rock and Beyond

November 11, 2018

We have hiked both Upper and Lower Table Rocks here in Southern Oregon many times.  However this year we had hiked only Lower Table Rock and that twice.  So it was time to show a little love to Upper Table Rock and combined with beautiful Autumn sunshine, it made for a great hike.

A sign of things to come......

Since we have been up the trail many times, we decided to hike as quickly as we could up the 700 foot elevation gain -- 1.25 mile trail to the plateau.  Our time -- 28 minutes.  Once at the top we headed out along a "sort of" trail that leads to the VORTAC (very high frequency omnidirectional range aviation tower) which is operated by the Federal Aviation Administration since the 1960's.  In our previous hikes we have never hiked out to this sight -- till now.  The trail added another 1.5 miles to our hike so that we finished at about 5.5 miles total.

Heading out to the VORTAC on the "sort of" trail

The VORTAC.....aaaahhhhh....oooohhhh

After oooohs and awwwws at the FAA wonder, we hiked back to the main trail and enjoyed views of the surrounding area and a snow-less Mt McLoughlin --- or Mt Pitt to you old timers.

Heading back down the trail as the sun begins to go down.

Enjoyed the hike back down to the parking lot with views of the surrounding properties in Autumn color and found the lot still full of cars just like it was when we arrived.  Not surprised considering the beautiful weather we are enjoying.

Trekking Together
Glenn and Carol