Elk Creek Trail

 November 8, 2020

With Autumn in all it's glory due to colder temps and rain/snow, we took Katie and ventured out to the Elk Creek trail just past Shady Cove.  It is one of our favorite Autumn hikes and today provided many of the reasons that it is.

One of the frosty bridges to start our hike

Elk Creek with a reflection

When we started our hike it was a brisk 38 degrees but the sun was out (most of the time) along with blue skies (most of the time).  We started at the Yellow Rock TH and began by crossing two frost covered bridges before accessing the paved Elk Creek trail.

Autumn colors in the distance with a dusting of snow.

One of the shaded hillsides dusted with snow

Cows grazing at the trailhead

Curious cows along the trail

The surrounding mountains had a dusting of snow, autumn yellow and red coloring, and many portions of the paved trail were covered in leaves.  Portions were also covered with cow pies and we soon found the cows who were just as curious about us as we were of them.

Glenn and Katie pause near Seven Mile Bend

Pinecones on evergreens still abound

What a view!

The fallen leaves of Autumn

We hiked out to the Seven Mile Bend area along Elk Creek and took side trails a couple of times to see the creek, then looped around to hike the road back to the TH for 8.5 miles.  We did get to see a Golden Eagle and a pair of Bald Eagles on the hike out.

A leaf dam along Elk Creek

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Glory of Autumn!

 

 

 

Autumn yellow along Elk Creek

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For Katie this was a dream hike --- no leash, dip in Elk Creek 3 times, chase a squirrel, see cows, and roll in the frost/snow.  She slept all afternoon when we got home and probably dreamed that she caught the squirrel.

 

Katie says "what a hike!"

 

It was a beautiful hike and hopefully we will get to enjoy many more Autumns along Elk Creek.  On the way home we got Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches at the Picnic Basket Deli in Shady Cove (located inside the Shady Cove Fly Shop) and tried some Buffalo Meat Sliders from the new Bison Junction store in Shady Cove.  Maybe we napped with Katie in the afternoon too, but we're not telling.

Trekking Together

Glenn and Carol

Postcards from Valley of the Rogue State Park

October 18, 2019

With Autumn in full swing here in Southern Oregon, we headed over to nearby Valley of the Rogue State Park after work to take in more sights while doing a quick hike.  If you don't like hiking or don't have a lot of time to walk, Valley of the Rogue State Park offers free day use parking and has a paved bike path and nice 1 mile trail along the Rogue River where you walk and enjoy the outdoors.  Click on the link above to access the trail and park maps. Our hike today went through the camping loops, along the Rivers Edge trail, and along some of the bike path for 3.2 miles.  Give it a try sometime and if you have time now, get there before the Autumn colors are gone.  Check out our "postcards" from today's outing.

Trekking Together
Glenn and Carol

Along the Rivers Edge trail

View of hills across the I-5 

Campground loop

More campground loop Autumn color

One of the trees that has shed all it's leaves already

One of our favorite large Autumn yellow trees in the park

Elk Creek Trail

October 13, 2019

It has been a while since we last posted a hike, but we have definitely been out hiking a lot.  We crossed the 400 mile mark a few weeks ago and are now on track to hit 500+ miles by the end of the year.  A lot of our hikes have been familar local ones over the last month or two, but since it is Autumn, we had to post some pictures of our most recent hike of the Elk Creek Trail which we did this past Sunday.

Time for another great Autumn hike!

We have a listing of our favorite trails or places to hike for Autumn and try to get in as many hikes as possible at this time of year to take the beauty that is Autumn.  Elk Creek is one of those trail and it was a nice 8 mile hike by vast meadows now turned to Autumn colors with many trees doing the same.  Blue sky, sunshine, beautiful day!

Elk Creek at the first side trail.

One of many meadows now turning to Autumn colors

We took a break at the 7 Mile Bend area along Elk Creek which was our turnaround point, but Katie was not allowed to take a plunge into the creek due to having had a bath recently.  

View along the Elk Creek trail - an old paved road.

On our return trip we stopped by a few of the apple trees along the trail and picked a dozen or so to take home --- they were small, but delicious!  A nice way to finish off a great hike in Autumn.

Small but very delicious apples for the picking!

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol

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

ART 400

October 27, 2018

From the posting title, you might think is about some College course.  Instead our last hike and 10th of this month, was along the East ART (Applegate Ridge Trail) on one of those sunny and windy Autumn days. It also put us over the 400 mile mark for the year -- a first ever for us.

We started at the main trailhead off Sterling Creek Road and since there are now mile markers along the trail, we hiked out to mile 3 and back for a beautiful 6 mile hike. Along the way we were treated to great views of the Applegate Valley while being surrounded by the Autumn colors of Oaks and high dry grasses, some as tall as us. The wind would come up every now and then providing us with a shower of leaves across the trail.  Great hike with great Autumn beauty.  Here are a few pictures for your viewing enjoyment.  Hope you are getting out to enjoy Autumn too.

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol

Trail through the dry grasses of Autumn

Spooky tree along the trail

Views, views, views

Jacksonville Woodland Trails

October 17, 2017

"No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face"
--- John Dunne

After hiking Elk Creek on Sunday, we wanted to get back out and experience Autumn again before it is gone.  So after work we made a quick trip to the Jacksonville Woodland Trails and hiked for a few hours.  Lots of yellow color, blue sky and sunshine!  Also saw turkeys, deer and squirrels.  Katie wanted to chase the squirrels or at least climb the trees after them, but was on leash and prohibited.  No need for any commentary on this hike.....just enjoy the pictures.

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol

Elk Creek Trail

October 15, 2017

Autumn is so beautiful, yet so short.  With sunshine abounding and no rain in the forecast, we got out once more to see the colors and experience Autumn, this time along the Elk Creek Trail just outside of Shady Cove.

Time to hike!  Check out the Autumn blue sky in the background.

Since the trail is really an old road, we usually hike the Elk Creek Trail either in Spring when the wildflowers are blooming or in Autumn to see the changing of colors. Since this is part of the "peak" color time in Southern Oregon, we were looking forward to an Autumn color show.

A look across the first bridges at the start of our hike

Let the color show begin!

We started our hike at the Yellow Rock TH where there are restrooms, picnic tables and plenty of room for parking.  After crossing the first two bridges, we began hiking along the road where we encountered our first of  many cows on the hike.  It is evident that cows roam freely through this area as you have to keep an eye on the trail to avoid the many cow pies along the way.  But this is the first time we have actually had cows along the trail while hiking. Katie was not sure about them, but they posed no problems for us as they either ran away or just stood and stared at us.

The first group of cows we came across....a mother with twins

At one point along our hike, we actually saw a moving cow pie.....wait, a what?  Oh that's right, it was a turtle (not turdle) that was going across the trail and looked like a moving cow pie.

Our "moving cow pie" turtle

The trail at Elk Creek now has mile marker signs along the way which are new since the last time we hiked.  Those markers do not start till 1.5 miles into the hike.  Not sure why, but maybe they figure if you don't hike at least 1.5 miles you don't care about mileage.

New mile marker signs along the trail - every half mile 

Still some apples on the fruit trees along the trail

We turned off that trail around the 3.5 mile mark and hiked over to the Seven Mile Bend area along the creek where we encountered more cows and took a break.

The cows at Seven Mile Bend area

Looking down stream from Seven Mile Bend

Series of cascades at Seven Mile Bend

We then hiked along to rejoin the road trail at the 4 mile marker and hiked backed to the trailhead.  We did see lots of folks/families on our hike back who were out enjoying the Autumn colors along the trail, in the meadows and in the surrounding hills.

Hoping to get out a few more times before this short season is over.  Be sure to get out and enjoy it too!
One last note -- if you prefer biking, the paved trail at Elk Creek is a wonderful option to get out and enjoy the outdoors.

Trekking Together
Glenn & Carol