Jacksonville Forest Park

Having postponed a bonus hike to the Salmon River due to a potentially dangerous high water crossing, instead our hearty hikers got a new hike in the Jacksonville Forest Park.

Eight hikers were up for an extra hike to end the month of March. This hike is less than half a mile outside of Jacksonville off Highway 238. You take a right onto Reservoir Road and follow it up into the canyon. There are several parking areas. We drove up to the P-5 parking area to start our circuit of the back half of the canyon.

The hike starts out around a dry creek then does a steady climb up to the first of several viewpoints. We could see down into the hazy Rogue Valley on a controlled burn day and across to the east we saw Grizzly and McLoughlin and the mountains around Crater Lake. Later in the hike we reached the site of Norling Mine, another reminder of 19th century gold mining around Jacksonville and the Applegate.

We found a sunny spot for lunch, then completed the loop back to the cars. Wednesday the group did 5+ miles and an aerobic 900′ gain. Including Monday’s hike to Lewis Loop hikers did 10+ miles and 1,700′ gain to finish the month.

In April, I plan Monday hikes to:
Upper Table Rock
Lower Rogue River
Greensprings Summit to Hobart Bluff
Mill Creek Falls including Barr Falls, Avenue of the Giant Boulders, Pearsony Falls

Hike Leader: Rich Stickle

Photos By: Jerry, Randy