Rogue River Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Grave Creek Trailhead
- End point: Big Bend Trailhead
- Trail log: Rogue River Hike/Log
- Distance: 39.5 miles
- Elevation gain: 2000 feet
- Difficulty: Moderate
- Seasons: Year round, very hot in summer
- Family Friendly: Yes
- Backpackable: Yes
- Crowded: Busy during the summer
Contents |
Hike Description
This is a premier hike in Southern Oregon. The trail goes along the Rogue River, sometimes near the river and other times going a couple hundred feet above with great views down of the river. There is a 41 mile wild section with only one road access about in the middle.
You can do the full 41 mile hike, or you could just go from either end, as far as you wanted, and then back to where you began. To do the 41 miles, you can drive 2 cars to Illahe, then backtrack one car to where you left the Rogue, turn left, and go the last 7.5 miles to Grave Creek. Alternately, as you get near the trailhead, there are businesses and residences that have signs out front saying "shuttle". You can pay one of them to pick you up at the Illahe Trailhead at a specified time, and take you back to your car at Grave Creek.
The trail is fairly good, though there are places where it is somewhat narrow with a steep drop on one side. There are places where it's somewhat rocky so you have to watch your step to avoid hurting your ankle. The trail crosses many streams, some with bridges, some you have to hop rocks to cross.
In January 2009, at Bunker Creek, at mile 8.9 from the east end, the bridge is closed. One of the 4 large timbers above is rotted and bent at an angle. At some point this bridge will collapse. A sign with flagging blocks the trail at both ends. A route is flagged where you can go down and cross the river. In January 2009 the creek was large enough that crossing it was very difficult. If you disobey the signs and cross the bridge, stay on the upstream side where your weight will be primarily on the good timbers. Walk one person at a time and go slowly. There is a campsite just East of the bridge if you decide not to go further.
The Rogue River is better known for boating by floaters and motor boats. There are many challenging rapids and many nice camping spots. A lottery system is used to limit the number of people, so it's fairly crowded during the season. November to April there aren't so many boaters. If you're into running rivers, this should definitely be on your list.
Hikers are allowed to use the boater campsites, without having to reserve them, but you might not want to if it's crowded with boaters. There are many hiker camps, away from the river, but most of them are small with few flat level areas to sleep on. In the winter, there are so few backpackers you can have your choice of campsites.
The river is also excellent fish habitat, both boaters and hikers.
The climate here is much drier and warmer than Portland. Since the trail stays below 900 feet elevation, it could be very nice here, even when it's snowy in The Gorge and on Mount Hood. Along the river the vegetation is fairly sparse with Madrona trees. On the ridges above, there are pine and fir trees. A frequent weather pattern is clear near the river, with fog on the ridges above that burns off in the afternoon. The trees get much of their water from fog.
Sometimes there's snow here, and when the snow is melting and/or there are heavy rains, the river can flood making the trail impassable. About 1/2 mile from the Grave Creek Trailhead is a sign above the trail showing the river level in a recent flood. Check out the weather reports for Grants Pass or Gold Beach to get an idea of the weather here.
Watch for ticks, partcicularly in the summer. There are more ticks on the western half, where there is grass along the trail where the ticks quest, waiting to hop a ride on you. Wear long pants and gaiters would be good. Use insect repellent such as DEET. After hiking carefully inspect to see if any ticks are on you and remove them. You can get Lyme disease from a tick bite, typically there is a target shaped circular red rash and flu like symptoms, go see a doctor, antibiotics can treat it.
There are bears, especially on the western 10 miles of the trail. Hang your food at least ten feet above ground and five feet away from trees. Use the provided bear-proof enclosures (electric fences, boxes, or cables/pullies) at the western end at Camp Tacoma, Tate Creek, Half Moon Bar, and Burns Creek. According to a BLM person, bears aren't as bad as they used to be because of prevention efforts.
Watch out for poison oak, especially as you go further west. Watch out for rattlesnakes.
Detailed Description
The trail starts at the parking area below the north end of the bridge across the Rogue at Grave Creek. Beware the parking area occasionally gets flooded. During the boating season, stay out of the way of boaters launching boats. ou might better park above next to the bridge and walk down.
At mile 1.7 from the trailhead is a trail down to Rainie Falls. There is a large area near the river where you could camp. There's also a pit outhouse. To get a good view of the falls, you have to go on the trail on the South side of the river from Grave Creek.
At mile 3.2 is Whiskey Creek. Just before is a campsite with an outhouse. This is probably the busiest campsite. If you want more privacy, go across Whiskey Creek and in the next 0.1 mile are several nice spots between the trail and the river.
Right after the bridge is a 0.1 mile trail up to an historic cabin. There are several buildings, but no camping or outhouse. There is a dirt road you can walk up about 1/2 mile to a gravel road you can drive to and park at.
At mile 3.7 is Slide Creek Camp, where there is a large area the could accomodate many people. There is a nice view of the river and there's a cabin on the other side. There's also an outhouse.
On busy, good weather weekends, expect to see many other people on the hiker trail, including day hikers and fishermen. After about mile 3.5 or so, the crowds really thin out.
Beyond here, there are hiker campsites every couple miles or so. These tend to be small, right next to the trail, with no good flat level place to camp. You can also get to the boater campsites, but sometimes the trail is way above so you have to take a use trail down to them.
Some better campsites are:
Slate Creek is at mile 6.8. Drinking water and 0.1 mile West of the creek is an okay place to camp a bit down from the main trail.
Bunker Creek is at mile 8.9. Drinking water aand a hiker camp just at the West end of the bridge. A better spot is a bit East of the bridge below the trail.
At mile 11.9 is the trail down to Horseshoe Bend and at mile 12.1 is the trail down to Lower Horseshoe, boater campsites. There is a faint use trail just West of the bridge which isn't so good, keep going about 0.1 mile to a better trail down.
At mile 13 is Meadow Creek. Drinking water, several campsites, and an outhouse.
Check out Zane Grey's Cabin at mile 17.3. Zane Grey lived there. It is now open to visitors.
Check out the Rogue River Ranch, BLM owned, museum open May through October, water, bathroom, emergency radio. There is road access to here down a difficult gravel road. There is also Marial Lodge. Tucker Flat car campground is also here, it's not too busy because of the difficult road access.
Mule Creek Canyon is at mile 22.9. This is one of the more difficult sections of the Rogue with narrow channel and a lot of turbulence.
Check out Paradise Lodge at mile 27.4 from Grave Creek. You can get a shower, food, and a beer. It's only accessible by boat, trail, or airplane. They're only open in the summer, but you might find someone there year-round.
The last major campsite is Camp Tacoma at mile 32.7. There are a lot of boaters here during the season in nice sandy campsites right next to the river. You might prefer smaller campsites at Flora Dell Creek (hiker only) at mile 35 or Hick's Creek at mile 35.7. These are harder to find.
The eastern trailhead is Big Bend at mile 39.5. Nearby is the Foster Bar boat ramp, the most popular boat take-out point. A little further is Illahe Campground, a good car camp.
For current info call:
- Rogue River Eastern half - Grants Pass BLM 541-471-6500
- Rogue River Western half - Gold Beach USFS 541-247-3600
Maps
Fees, Regulations, etc.
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Rogue River Hike
(Click here to add your own)
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Rogue River Hike
(Click here to ask a question or start a conversation)
Guidebooks that cover this hike
More Links
Check out the float guide. It has 60 pages of information about boating and also more general info applicable to hikers.
Contributors
- retiredjerry (creator)