Rogue River Trail Thru hike

November 1-3, 2020

The Rogue River Trail is one of the best trails in southern Oregon. It follows the Rogue National and Wild Scenic River for 40 miles. The western portion of the trail traverses the Wild Rogue Wilderness.  The trail includes beautiful views of the river, the forest, many scenic creek crossings, cliffs, and views of rafters on the river.

I hiked this trail with a good friend and his dog.  We drove to the east end of the trail the night before and camped at the nearby Almeda Campground. It was a cold night. 

This trail is most likely open all year but is best hiked in the spring and fall. In the summer it will be much more crowded and quite hot but there would be opportunities to swim.

In the morning we drove to the eastern trailhead at the Grave Creek Boat Launch. We planned to leave my car here and a company was going to shuttle it to the Foster Bar Boat Launch. We used the guide document from the forest service: https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5346991.pdf It was helpful to know how far we had hiked as there are few trail junctions on the trail.

Grave Creek Boat Launch

We began the adventure, planning for two 15 mile days and a final 10 mile day.

It was a chilly first day of November with the temperature right around freezing.

The trail quickly climbed up to views of the Rogue River.

The was a trail on the south side of the river to a waterfall. We saw a couple other people hiking it.

Looking back toward Grave Creek boat launch

There were nice fall colors.

There was great signage at the many creek crossing along the trail.

It was interesting to see how the river changed. Sometimes it was still and reflecting. Other times it was raging rapids.

One of the many scenic side creeks that drains into the Rogue River.

There are many established campsites along the trail which are shared with rafters.

Some rapids on the river

Fall Colors

The river gets narrow in places.

We stopped for a break at Bronco Creek about half-way through the day.

There was a waterfall on the other side of the trail.

I took a trail down to Black Bar to get closer to the river.

There were a couple day-hikers at Black Bar.

Black Bar

There was some beautiful forest hiking.

There was a unique tree beside the trail.

There were nice reflections and fall colors.

We found a beautiful campsite at Kelsey Creek.

Kelsey Creek

I wandered over to the Rogue River to explore.

Kelsey Creek

Small Waterfall on Kelsey Creek

We cooked up some awesome quesadillas in the dark and it wasn't as cold in the night.

Kelsey Creek Campsite

We continued our westward hike in the morning.

The trail went through some open areas.

Some of the trees were tall.

Leaves had fallen on the trail.

We reached a short road walk section.

We passed one of the lodges: Rogue River Ranch.

There were cliffs beside the road.

A tree ate part of the sign.

We entered the Wild Rogue Wilderness.

This is one of the most scenic sections of the trail.

Mule Creek Canyon

There were rocky cliffs on the other side.

We could see rafters down below.

Inspiration Point

Stair Creek Falls

The trail went around Pinnacle Point.

More rafters on the river

We hiked some more in the forest.

We passed the Paradise Bar lodge.

There were some large trees in the forest.

We passed the Half Moon Bar campsites. There was a group of rafters setting up camp.

We were deep in the canyon.

There was nice evening light.

We found a campsite at Brushy Bar. The other creeks nearby were dry so we got water from the Rogue River.

Rogue River at Brushy Bar

It was a clear night and the stars were visible through the trees.

Campsite at Brushy Bar

We began the final day of hiking.

There were still great views of the river.

In some sections the trail was quite narrow on steep slopes.

We passed a trail junction for the Panther Ridge Trail.

Flora Dell Falls

We passed another lodge.

We reached the end of the trail at the Big Bend Trailhead.

We walked the road to the Foster Bar Boat Launch.

It was exciting to find my car in the parking lot.

Overall the Rogue River Trail was an amazing trail. It is probably the longest river trail that I have finished. Hiking along a river is different than hiking in the high mountains. I really enjoyed the trail with scenery, the cliffs, the forests, the creeks, and the overall wilderness experience. Hiking in November brought cool temperatures, uncrowded trails and beautiful fall colors.