I really struggled this morning while choosing today’s destination. Even though it’s a difficult hike, and even though I didn’t think that I would get any great pictures, I was so very tempted to go hike to the Seven Lakes Basin. If I had one extra day in the area, that’s what I would have chosen. But instead I opted to explore the “River within a River” segment of the Rogue Trail from Hershberger Road to Foster Creek. I did not expect that this would be one of the better parts of the Rogue Trail, but I did want to see it. As a matter of fact, given more time, I would definitely hike much farther upstream from that segment of the Rogue Trail where I know that the river is too gentle to be the type of photographic subject I prefer. Today’s hike didn’t make the cut last time I was here. I only had it among my many optional hikes when I planned this trip. But a ranger told me that it was her favorite section of the Rogue Trail. Having seen the other wonderful segments of the Rogue River Trail, that is very high praise indeed. See, it’s good to ask questions and get firsthand knowledge.

Since I wasn’t going to be driving as long, I found myself in the unusual position of needing to wait a little while before hitting the road. I wanted to take a short hike near Natural Bridge to get a particular shot before driving to my day’s trail, and I needed to wait until there was at least a little light. Maybe it was unfortunate that there was enough light for me to see. While driving on state route 62, I happened to spot a car parked on the side of the road. The elk hunter appeared to be chambering a cartridge while standing right next to the highway, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he was checking to see that his rifle was not loaded. Safety First!

I know that hiking from the upper trail head requires a ford of Foster Creek. Since I have no way to shuttle hike, I always have to hike out and back instead of one way, which is why it made sense for me to park at Hershberger Road at the south end and hike upstream. Then I could simply turn around at Foster Creek without needing to ford it. It seemed like a good plan to me. The Falcon hiking guide stated, “If you don’t see a sign for the trail, just start walking north along the river.” Well that didn’t last long since there are a few social paths at the start which quickly peter away. There is no trail. So I climbed to Hershberger Road and started walking north while looking for the trail. After a half mile it was obvious that either I’m blind or there is no trail.

That meant that I needed to drive to the north trail head. The Falcon guide’s recommended northern trail head is very bad. I scouted it the other day. It’s an unmarked, and hard to see unless you’re really looking for it, side spur road (and I use that term very loosely) that occurs right after a downhill blind curve on a state highway. What I noticed while previously driving by at 45 MPH is that there might be a hump, and there’s definitely a steep slope. There is, however, an actual, official trail head a half mile north of there. I parked at the safe trail head and headed south. It probably should go without saying that the Falcon hiking guide’s trail mileage was wrong again. The author lists the one-way distance as 4 miles, when in reality it’s 6.5 miles. They’re off by 2 miles (one-way) when accounting for the fact that the real trail head is a half mile north of theirs.

I started hiking, and when I reached Falcon’s trail head, I saw that there were holes and ruts in the dirt right at the top of the slope adjacent to the road. It would not have been possible for me to park there. And even if I could have, it’s not overly safe trying to pull out when a vehicle could come flying around that downhill curve.

It was fortunate that Foster Creek was running low enough that I was able to rock hop across. It was a cold morning and I was not looking forward to immersing my feet in a cold stream.

I have to report that I didn’t particularly care for the trail, and apparently neither does the forest service. I found myself getting ready to flick a branch off the trail, which is not unusual for me. It’s always a good thing when each hiker does some spontaneous trail maintenance as they go along. But in this case the irony that I was going to do so after climbing over yet another downed log. I forced myself to stop. If they don’t care about the trail, then neither will I. Since I wasn’t really taking any pictures, and the scenery wasn’t doing much for me, I did not end up hiking the entire length.

I finished up the day by finishing the end of the River Bridge to Prospect segment that I didn’t complete earlier this week. Thank God I didn’t finish it on that day because I didn’t have rain gear, and my camera gear would have spent a couple of hours getting soaked. Today, however, was a sunny, dry day. I was only planning to hike the part of the trail that is somewhat close to the river. Well, actually the first ¾ mile or so is narrow, still, green water at the inlet side of a small diversion reservoir. I reached the area where I had planned to turn around, but I found that somehow I was still going forward. I decided to hike to my previous turn around point in order to complete this trail segment. Although the forest wasn’t as excellent as some others I can think of, this is my last day here so I wanted to spend a little more time in the woods.

I finished the day meandering around the hotel grounds and sitting on patio furniture and on the chairs on the wonderful porch. While I was sitting and reading on the porch swing, some Chinese tourists wanted to have their picture taken with me. Their interpreter said that they liked my mustache and goatee. They must have thought that I was Colonel Sanders.