Today’s hike was the Rogue River Trail between Woodruff Bridge and River Bridge. The feature it’s known for is Takelma Gorge. I wasn’t wowed by the gorge. It was okay to see, but in my opinion the Rogue River Gorge, which is upstream, is much more interesting and scenic.
I know that this location can get some spectacular fall color. Unfortunately for me, that wasn’t the case today. It appeared that I’m a bit late, and I just think that this hasn’t been a good year for color in Oregon. Of course you can always find something, but it’s not as good as when we were here in 2009, and it’s not as good as I’ve seen in a lot of photos.
Since there wasn’t much color, and since the gorge didn’t strike my fancy, maybe I should have turned around at that point. The reason I didn’t is because I was enjoying the hike. A major reason I’m up here it to take pictures, and it didn’t appear as though there would be much of that today. However another reason for being here is because I love the experience of being on a trail in the woods. So I continued and completed the 9.2 mile hike I had planned. I figured that I could go get some shots at one or two different places afterward. The weather didn’t cooperate though.
The day started off with showers. Although the trail is in great shape, there is vegetation growing into it, so the wet leaves brushing against me eventually overwhelmed my lower rain gear. The main problem is that by the time I finished the hike the sun was out. I drove to my next location, got out, looked at the sky, and decided to call it an early day. I went back to the motel and changed. Then I went out and sat on a swing on their porch.
The Historic Prospect Hotel has a fantastic porch. I have a fond memory of sitting on that porch on a rainy night listening to an itinerant musician telling stories. I just might go back out there right now.