Rogue River Trail from Grave Creek

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ghsmith76
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Rogue River Trail from Grave Creek

Post by ghsmith76 » March 31st, 2018, 8:10 pm

Since I did the Wild Rogue Wilderness Loop https://adventurecontinues.org/2016/05/ ... ogue-loop/ a couple of years ago I was looking at the East end of the Rogue River Trail. I thought about starting at Marial and hiking up river, but the thought of that 2 hour drive on a terrible road with Brook convinced me to just start at the Grave Creek end and hike until I felt like turning around. We ended up turning around at Kelsey Creek at 14.3 miles. Overall a very leisurely 4 day 3 night 29 mile trip in perfect weather. However, the ticks were bad but not much poison oak on this part of the trail.

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We got started at about 2:00 pm and ended up 7.1 miles at Slate Slide. The Rogue River Trail is in great shape and the frequent views of the river valley are as good as it gets. All by ourselves next to the river was perfect for Brook not to feel like she needed to watch the trail. We found a washed up rubber soccer ball that Brook played with all night. One bummer though was not appreciating how sharp the slate was until I punctured my REI blowup seat cushion. We slept in until the sun dried out our tent, got on the trail by 11:00.

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The second day again brought perfect weather and trail conditions. I knew we were about to descend in elevation just before getting to the Meadows Creek area so I decided to camp at a clear area above the trail at about 13 miles behind a very old Madrone Tree. I had decided that we would head back up river the next day due to concerns about ticks. I setup camp and then took the daypack to hike on to Kelsey Creek. I was impressed with the Meadows Creek area for great camp sites. Tonight's campsite was more in the trees above the trail so I had some issues with Brook wanting to monitor trail traffic, but she is all bark. I think we may have stumbled upon a relatively undiscovered old cabin foundation near our site. Above was a larger clearing where a stream looked like it was diverted to multiple channels for irrigation. The old cabin had a fireplace foundation and the outline of a wall foundation. We found an old stovepipe and various other metal items. It was kind of cool envisioning what it must have been like living there.

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The next morning we hit the trail by 9:00 am enjoying another perfect day, maybe even a little warm. My plan was to camp at Whiskey Creek, but I spotted a cool looking river site at Doe Creek so we traversed down to setup camp. This area turned out to be primo and we selected a nice area on grass near the river. A couple of women with a dog from Bend shared the upper part of the river area. We settled in around 2:30 and took advantage of a beautiful warm afternoon to relax.

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Ducks were competing for river space, fish were jumping and a bald eagle was buzzing us. It doesn't get any better then this. After a good meal we continued relaxing until the sun went down and the temps dropped. It was so nice I took a lot of videos to attempt to capture the experience. The moon was almost full so I left the fly off my tent to enjoy it. It was interesting watching Brook totally case the perimeter after I went into the tent. She is very committed to her role as protector. The dew turned out to be very heavy so I had to put the tent fly on around 1:00 am.

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Morning was beautiful with early sun to dry things out. We checked out the historic cabin at Whiskey Creek, it was impressive. Overall this was an excellent backpacking trip.

More photos on my Blog Trip Report: https://adventurecontinues.org/2018/03/ ... ave-creek/
GHSMITH76
Blog:AdventureContinues.org

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retired jerry
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Re: Rogue River Trail from Grave Creek

Post by retired jerry » April 1st, 2018, 5:45 am

Doug and I were at Big Slide Tuesday 3/26, Meadow Creek Wednesday, and Rainie Falls Thursday, drove back Friday
DSCF1091re.jpg
We were drying our sleeping bags on a bush when someone asked us "do you know that's Poison Oak?"

It's just starting to bud. I've been there before, earlier in the year, and never seen it. Here's a bit:
DSCF1113re.jpg

Webfoot
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Re: Rogue River Trail from Grave Creek

Post by Webfoot » April 1st, 2018, 2:43 pm

Disaster narrowly averted! :shock: :lol:

Tom of the Woods
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Re: Rogue River Trail from Grave Creek

Post by Tom of the Woods » April 2nd, 2018, 11:14 am

Ah, poison oak. I laugh, I gloat: I'm immune to it. I used to get it pretty bad as a kid but it just ... quit. It requires an open wound now and even then, is less bothersome than a minimal skeeter bite.

Ticks ... different story. I don't like anything with 8 legs. Not fond of stuff with 6. 4 isn't so good. 2 .. so-so. Snakes are ok, they don't have legs. :)
- Tom

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retired jerry
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Re: Rogue River Trail from Grave Creek

Post by retired jerry » April 2nd, 2018, 11:46 am

That's weird, I've heard of it going the other direction, someone not being sensitive but then becoming sensitive.

leiavoia
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Re: Rogue River Trail from Grave Creek

Post by leiavoia » April 4th, 2018, 2:46 pm

Thanks for pointing out the loop option. I did not know about that. Now i am considering that for April. Based on your previous hike, do you think the loop trail is doable in April, or should i wait? I see the info online points out possibility of impassable rivers if water is high.

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VanMarmot
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Re: Rogue River Trail from Grave Creek

Post by VanMarmot » April 4th, 2018, 4:13 pm

leiavoia wrote:Thanks for pointing out the loop option. I did not know about that. Now i am considering that for April. Based on your previous hike, do you think the loop trail is doable in April, or should i wait? I see the info online points out possibility of impassable rivers if water is high.
We've had a below "normal" water year thus far but some wet storms are expected over the next 1-2 weeks. Whether this will make the two crossings of Mule Creek a challenge is hard to say. They're the only two water crossings you have to worry about on the Wild Rogue Loop. I'd suggest trying the loop between late April and early May - high water is less likely to be an issue then, air temps are usually moderate, and the overall weather is calmer. If you have to go in the next two weeks, go counter-clockwise so you'll only be a few miles to retreat if Mule Creek is too high.

leiavoia
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Re: Rogue River Trail from Grave Creek

Post by leiavoia » April 4th, 2018, 5:17 pm

VanMarmot wrote: We've had a below "normal" water year thus far but some wet storms are expected over the next 1-2 weeks. Whether this will make the two crossings of Mule Creek a challenge is hard to say. They're the only two water crossings you have to worry about on the Wild Rogue Loop. I'd suggest trying the loop between late April and early May - high water is less likely to be an issue then, air temps are usually moderate, and the overall weather is calmer. If you have to go in the next two weeks, go counter-clockwise so you'll only be a few miles to retreat if Mule Creek is too high.
Thanks for the beta. I would probably go end of the month of if all other things work out.

Blue fin
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Re: Rogue River Trail from Grave Creek

Post by Blue fin » April 4th, 2018, 9:59 pm

Nice post and makes me want to go back with my Lab, Brook. Did the entire trail in July with a couple of friends and didn't bring Brook because I didn't want to get poison oak from her. The west end is filthy with poison oak and even though I used tecnu I still got 5 different spots of it that weren't too bad. Up until I was about 50 I couldn't get it but now I have to be a bit careful. So Brook hikes everywhere with me except places I hear are bad with poison oak...

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retired jerry
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Re: Rogue River Trail from Grave Creek

Post by retired jerry » April 5th, 2018, 5:16 am

I did Wild Rogue Loop a couple months ago. By the way, thanks VM for the beta.

Water crossings weren't too bad, but definitely over the top of my boots

I got 2 ticks

The trail was pretty easy to follow, but a couple times it ended on a road, you had to follow the road for a little, then get on another trail. I printed out VMs detailed instructions which helped.

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