Mountain on the Rogue

January 12, 2019

After reading about the Mountain of the Rogue trails from fellow hiker Boots on the Trail, we ventured over to the city of Rogue River on a 65 degree winter day to test out the climb on these relatively new trails --- brand new to us.

Time to hike some new trails!

We arrived mid-morning and since there was only one other car in the parking lot, the trails were not crowded - yet.  Since some portions of the trails are hiking & biking, we kept an eye out for the bikers but only encountered two cyclists heading up to Tin Pan Peak.  Since it was uphill, it was easy to see them coming up behind us and move over while they slowly climbed past us.

Which side is the Darkside?  I can't feel the force!

Looking up at far away Tin Pan Peak

It was about 3.5 miles from the parking lot up to Tin Pan Peak via the Rat Pack and Darkside trails. The Darkside trial was nice as it took us through a rather forested section of trail and gave us a few views of Mt McLoughlin.  Unfortunately there was not much of a view once we arrived at the end of that trail and the top of Tin Pan Peak.  It also seems that sunny winter days are the best time to burn yard/trash waste and so the sight and smell of burning was in the air and in our view.

It's still Christmas on the trail.

Getting close....

Tin Pan Peak. The BLM should remove whatever this is and add some benches.

We backtracked on the Darkside and Rat Pack trails till we reached the Sasquatch trail (love that name) and headed downhill on numerous long switchbacks.  It was here that we ran into (not literally) cyclists going uphill and downhill.    We kept our eyes and ears open and were able to get us and Katie out of the way without any collisions.  Please note, the cyclists did let us know they were coming when they could and one even had a cowbell on their bike.

View of Sasquatch trail from the Rat Pack trail.

Can Sasquatch be difficult?

Looking back as we make our way down the Sasquatch trail

The hike came in around 7.6 miles for us and we were hot and tired when finished, but it felt good to get in a longer hike.  The entire parking lot was full when we finished our hike, so these trials are well used which is great.  One other note, the warmer weather brought out the ticks (yes, even in January) and we did pick them off our clothes as we hiked.  When we got home both Katie and Glenn were inspected further and additional ticks were removed -- both patients survived.

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol