Kitchen conversations.
Wife: “How does a 40-mile hike down the Rogue River sound to you?”
Me: “Sign me up.”
There was more to the conversation, but that was the gist of it. The trip we signed up for was a 40-mile hike down the Rogue River, where the river carves a canyon through the Siskiyou Mountains roughly between Grants Pass and its mouth at Gold Beach. The trip spanned 4-days, hiking from lodge to lodge with a daypack while our luggage was shuttled downriver via raft to meet us at the next lodge.
But first, we had to drive south from our place just north of Seattle to the starting point at Grants Pass. That drive and points along the way is Day 1 for this diary. We took the long way, which I believe my wife had secretly planned without telling me. She’s the planner and she plans. I drive while she googles places to see and eat along the way.
We hit the road not too early, navigated through Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, and stopped for lunch in the small town of Coburg, Oregon. Coburg is on the National Register of Historic Places as the Coburg Historic District. It’s a small town worth another visit like several other historical small towns in the Willamette Valley. We had lunch there at Chief’s Brew House, located in the historic William Van Duyn house.
When we hit Roseburg, my wife threw out a suggestion that we exit Interstate 5 and take the Rogue-Umpqua Scenic Byway, which according to her added only an extra two hours of driving compared to a straight shot down Interstate 5. She’d been browsing the Oregon Scenic Byways guide that I’d ordered weeks ago. I’m sure this was part of her plan.
Our first stop along the scenic route was a place called Colliding Rivers, where the North Umpqua River and Little River merge head-on in a swirl of whitewater. It’s probably a little more exciting at higher water.
It wasn’t too long after we left Colliding Rivers that we entered the Archie Creek Fire area that burned in the summer of 2020. Driving into a large burned area was unexpected. We had no idea. From my post-trip research I learned that the Archie Creek Fire had burned 131,542 acres. A total of 109 homes were lost.
Moving farther along Oregon Route 138, past the burned area, we stopped at Mott Bridge, constructed in 1935 and 1936 by the Civilian Conservation Corps. More on the bridge here: Mott Bridge. Worth the quick stop and restroom break.
Next stop was Toketee Falls, one of several waterfalls along this highway. We could pick only one waterfall because we had more miles to go to get to Grants Pass. This waterfall was a good pick. We followed a 0.4 mile trail including 200 steps to get to the waterfall viewpoint.
The trail to the falls, while short, went through old growth forest and next to the churning river. I photographed a few of the plants and wildflowers, mainly for iNaturalist posting, but the trillium turned out nice.
PacificCorp operates several hydroelectric facilities along the North Umpqua River, including at Toketee. PacificCorp diverts some water around the falls through flumes and penstocks. Because of that diversion, the falls get a steady flow that doesn’t vary much, never seeing any peak flow, which would make the falls even more spectacular.
The highway climbed gradually farther up into the Oregon Cascades until we were at snow level. There we entered another burned over area. This one from the 2020 Thielsen Fire.
Let’s do some volcanoes. The Cascade Range is essentially a chain of volcanoes extending from southern British Columbia to northern California, part of the whole Pacific ring of fire. I won’t go into detail on the plate tectonics. The overly simplified explanation is that volcanism in the Cascades is the result of a convergent plate boundary where an oceanic plate, the Juan de Fuca plate, dips under the North American plate like a huge diving conveyor belt, causing melting at depth, which bubbles up as magma. Where magma reaches the surface, a volcano forms. Other effects of this convergent plate boundary may be brought up on Day 2.
As we entered the snow zone, we were treated to spectacular views of a couple volcanoes you may never have heard of. When it comes to volcanoes, Oregon does not disappoint (e.g. Crater Lake).
We still had two or three more hours yet to get to Grants Pass. So, we made a straight shot of it, no more stops. We checked in and settled into the hotel around 9 pm when most restaurants were closing. But we found a Mexican restaurant a few blocks away that was still open.
Thanks for hanging with me on Day 1, especially with landscapes and food. Upcoming on subsequent days:
Day 2 — Oregon Caves with some geology jibber jabber
Day 3 — Wildflower endemics in the Klamath/Siskiyous, and where we’re actually hiking down the Rogue River
Day 4 — ?
What is happening nature-wise and weather-wise in your part of the world? Show and share. We want to see. Please comment, converse, and raise questions.
Quote of the day: “I don't get distracted, I go on side quests”
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