Rogue River State Park, July 7-11

We left the hot weather in Chico, California and headed towards Oregon to one of Oregon's nicest state parks, the Rogue River State Park. It was a risk because these parks fill of up quickly. and we did not have reservations.  I say nicest, only because I haven't been to that many Oregon state parks.  Normally, we wouldn't stay in a state park but the weather has been hot enough, that the AC is almost a necessity.  With Joel being domiciled in Oregon and a Vet, he is able to stay in Oregon State Parks for free.  Free is good.

The Rogue River State Park is located adjacent to a Rest Area off of I-5, which is a down side due to road noise, but the park is located on the river with wonderful bike and walking paths which I enjoyed.

 The main purpose of our stop was to get the new truck (which we purchased in Nevada,) registered in Oregon, so on Tuesday  our fist stop was to the DMV in Grants Pass. All the paper work was presented to the DMV but we were told that they needed additional paperwork from the dealership in Nevada.  A call to the dealership confirmed they would overnight the addtional paperwork so we could register the truck.  While we were in Grants Pass we booked a dinner jet boat trip up to Hells Gate on the Rogue River.  More on that later.

On Wednesday we took a day trip up Highway 62 towards the Upper Rogue River. Highway 62 is also a scenic byway and continues on to Crater Lake.  We didn't go that far, as we both have been to Crater Lake and if I go again, I want to spend a little more time there.

The North Fork of the Rogue River is gorgeous.  The following are just a few of the photos I took.  I think my old Canon Power Shot G9 is getting tired because the photos are not coming out as sharp as they used to.  It's almost 8 years old so I guess its time to start thinking about a new camera.  Anyway, the shots of the Rogue do not do justice to the river in real life.

We stopped at a Rogue River View Point and viewed the river from the bridge and then walked up river a little.

 The River has left evidence of how power full it is.  Look at the logs left behind during high river levels.

 We stopped at another view point where the river dissapears underground in lava tubes and comes out at the other end.

 You can't see the river at the bottom of the photo because it under ground but you can see it exiting the lava tube towards the middle of the photo.

 The river is flowing through collapsed lava tubes.

 We veared off High 62 to check out the sign that said "Mill Creek Falls" and hiked down, operative word is "down", to a beautiful vista of Mill Creek Falls.  Mill Creek Falls is is 173 feet.

 On futher down the trail we encounted Barr Falls which is 242 in its entirety.  The two falls are part of a different water shed, not the Rogue River.

 Tara and Joel enjoyed the vistas.  Man and "his" dog. I remember when Joel didn't want another dog.  Well, I do have to remind him Tara is "my dog".  I thinks this keeps Joel in line...he doesn't want to lose the dog. LOL.

Remember I said the operative word "down". Well what goes down on trail usually has to go back up. I bring this up, because Joel made all the way UP the trail without much difficulty, something he couldn't do before his surgery in February!!

We returned back to the State Park and tomorrow we will get the truck registered and take the boat trip up to Hells Gate.