Let’s Talk Real Estate – April 2023
Southern Oregon is surrounded by three major mountain ranges—The Cascades, Siskiyous, and Coast Range, offering some of the best hiking in the United States. There are hiking trails out your back door such as the Jacksonville Woodlands, Jacksonville’s Forest Park, Ashland Watershed and Roxy Ann’s Prescott Park, that you can hike all year long. There’s also Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor starting in Brookings that travels twelve, steep, rugged miles along the Pacific Ocean, providing stunning views and access to deserted beaches. In the summer and fall you can hike in the Sky Lakes Wilderness covering over 116,000 acres of high mountain lakes, prairies, fir forest, and the Pacific Crest Trail passing through it. But in the spring, there are 3 view hikes that are our favorites. All three have abundant wildflowers and spectacular views: Rainie Falls, Table Rock and Grizzly Peak.
Rainie Falls, Wild & Scenic Rogue River—With no cell phone coverage, this is the perfect day trip to get away from it all. Open all year long, it’s most perfect in the spring with sunny but cool temperatures, wildflowers, seasonal waterfalls, and cascades flowing over the trail. The trail is full of oaks, madrones, wildflowers… and is fairly level, but sections hug a steep hillside of the Rogue River canyon. Every mile of the trail overlooks the Rogue River and as summer approaches you can look down on the colorful rafts navigating the rapids. You will see ruins of old mining operations, salmon swimming, river otters, minks, lots of water birds and an occasional bear. There’s a nice lunch spot where you can sit on a rock and watch, as well as listen, to the class-5 rapids. In spring or fall you can watch the salmon and steelhead struggle to get upstream. Plenty of parking is available along the Merlin-Galice Road before it goes over Graves Creek Bridge. This 3.6-mile round-trip hike is on the South side of the Rogue River and is easy to moderate with some rocky areas. This is the quintessential Oregon hike and not to be missed. Just a note on the north side of the Rogue River: there is a 40-mile trail stretching between Graves Creek and Big Bend that offers one of the most incredible hikes. There are plenty of river-front campgrounds or you can choose to hike from lodge to lodge.
Table Rock—Upper and Lower Table Rocks are two of the most prominent topographical features in the Rogue River Valley. These flat-topped buttes rise approximately 800 feet above the north bank of the Rogue River. Lower Table Rock is a moderate, 6.2 mile round trip, that’s longer than the Upper Table Rock hike; 3.2 miles but not quite as steep…nice if you have small children. Along both trails during the spring months, you will see spectacular wildflower displays with over 75 species. Once you get to the top you will find Vernal pools filled with fairy shrimp and be rewarded with a breathtaking view of the Rogue Valley. The trailhead for Upper Table Rocks is right off Modoc Road. To get to Lower Table Rock you take Table Rock Road then turn on Wheeler Road.
Grizzly Peak—This 4.7-mile loop is a moderate hike and a local favorite! We call it the 3-mountain hike as the trail winds around Grizzly Peak with remarkable views of Mt. McLoughlin, Mt. Shasta, Mt. Ashland and sometimes even Diamond Peak. The peak is over 5,900 feet high so spring doesn’t come until May or June—that’s when there are wildflowers. To start, you are taking switchbacks for about a mile through old growth fir and pine trees. About a mile in, you will get to the trail marker that takes you left or right—it’s a loop so it doesn’t matter but if you go left, the uphills aren’t as intense. There are lots of wide open meadows filled with Fawn Lilies and various wildflowers, and stunning views of the Siskiyou and Cascade mountains. Keep your eyes open for deer and if you’re lucky, the local herd of elk. Getting there: From Ashland, head up Dead Indian Memorial Road about 6.4 miles. Turn left onto Shale City Road. From there, just follow the signs.
To find out more to do in Southern Oregon go to http://www.expertprops.com/discovering-south-oregon/. You will find 21 categories of things to do in Southern Oregon.