Misty Moisty Rogue River

Hi Blog.  Today is Sunday, September 22nd, the first full day of Fall.  It is a misty rainy day - just like those days Dave fondly remembers as a kid growing up in Oregon.  Yuck!  Even though it is raining, we've spent way too much time inside the rig trying to get over our colds and heal sore muscles.  We need to get out and about.  The great outdoors was calling.  We decided to further explore the Rogue-Umpqua National Scenic Byway.

Our first stop, the little town of Prospect, Oregon.  Time to fuel up for our adventure.  Enter the Prospect Cafe and Trophy Room.  Just what you would expect of a mountain town eating establishment - good grub with lots of dead animal heads staring down at you.

Next stop, Prospect State Park Scenic Viewpoint.  We followed the trail down to the Rogue River.  We passed moss covered boulders and had our first encounter with the Pacific Madrone (or Madrona) Tree.  This little beauty is an evergreen tree with rich orange-red bark that when matures naturally peels away in thin sheets, leaving a greenish, silvery appearance that has a satin sheen and smoothness.

We soon came to a fork in the road.  We chose the left fork, which took us down the Avenue of Giant Boulders.  Here are just a few of the big boys we passed along the way.

The trail to the right took us to two huge waterfalls.  This one is Mill Creek Falls which hurtles 173 feet over sheer rock to splash thunderously into the Rogue River.

This cute little ribbon is Barr Creek Falls.  It's decent of over 240 feet makes it one of Southern Oregon's highest waterfalls.

We made two more stops on our way back to camp.  First was the Natural Bridge.  Here the Rogue River plunges underground and flows through a lava tube for 200 feet before emerging again from the tunnel.

On our way to the Rogue Gorge, we passed a number of "histerical" markers.  Here is an example of a living stump.  The Douglas Fir trees in the gorge live as group.  They have grown together grafting their roots into one large network.  When this tree was cut, the stump continued to grow being provided nutrients from its neighbors.  How cool is that?

Our last stop was the Rogue River Gorge.  The river is slowing cutting its way through the hard lava.

However, it soon finds it way down inside a collapsed lava tube.

It is now confined into a deep and narrow gorge.

With the rain coming down in earnest, we beat a hasty retreat back to the truck.  We are now snug and warm back in the RV hoping the sun will come out tomorrow.