Full moon over the Wild & Scenic Rogue River

I learned many things on our trip down the wild and scenic portion of the Rogue River. One thing learned was what “wild” and “scenic” mean. Wild means the river is inaccessible except by trail (or raft) and the river still looks like “primitive America”. Scenic means the shorelines are undeveloped. Such is the case for the Rogue River between the Grave Creek and Foster Bar Boat Ramps, a span of about 40 miles.

Another thing I learned is that I can’t sleep well under a full moon. Today’s photo was taken at 5:51 a.m. There was an electric bear fence to our right which I heard buzzing all night long. We weren’t inside the bear fence, and we were the first campers on this side of camp so if a bear was to wander through from this direction we would be the first to discover its presence. In addition, the bugs decided to buzz around my ears when they weren’t partaking of my flesh. I’m glad these things are mere memories now. Actually, the marks still remain, but they no longer itch for the most part.

Posted on August 5th, 2015 under Oregon. Tags: moon, Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR G lens, Nikon D750, rogue river. Comments Off on Moonset over the Rogue River

Rogue River banana slug

#mynwrcphoto

We saw this critter up one of the creeks on our journey down the Rogue River last week.

Posted on August 2nd, 2015 under Oregon. Tags: Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR G lens, Nikon D750, rogue river. Comments Off on Banana Slug

Wild & Scenic Rogue River campsite

#mynwrcphoto @NWRafting

My lack of posts this past week was due to a trip we took down the Rogue River which took us completely off the grid until now. Today’s photo is of our campsite on the first night. I’ll be posting more photos from our adventures over the next month or two here and here.

Posted on August 1st, 2015 under Oregon. Tags: landscape, Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR G lens, Nikon D750, photomerge, rogue river. Comments Off on Rogue River 3-night trip

Boundary Springs (origin of the Rogue River)

Today’s photo is rather boring without a story. After providing loads of water to farmers and communities along the way, the Rogue River travels over 200 miles before dumping what’s left of its contents into the Pacific Ocean. Although the river is fed by numerous rivers and creeks along the way, it all begins below my feet in today’s photo as water bubbling out of the ground north of Crater Lake.

Posted on March 3rd, 2015 under Oregon. Tags: Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR G lens, Nikon D750, rogue river, rogue valley. Comments Off on Origin of the Rogue River

@BLMOregon @TravelOregon

I went back to finish what I started back in January, reach Boundary Springs. This time I didn’t start in the Mazama Viewpoint parking lot. Instead, I followed Google maps which sent me down a forest road for several miles. The road is called “Old Diamond Lake Road” or NF-281. The road gets really sketchy after a couple miles. You probably don’t want to be on this road in a normal winter. Even in summer it probably isn’t smart to take this road without 4WD. I stopped a hundred yards or so before crossing Mazama Creek as the snow started getting pretty deep. I walked from there.

After passing West Lake (which was completely frozen in the morning, but mostly not frozen when I passed it on my way back in the afternoon) I saw a trail sign for Boundary Springs. A couple hundred feet before reaching the springs I took today’s photo.

Once I got to the springs (which is where the Rogue River begins, straight out of the ground) I saw a trail of sorts on the other side of the Rogue River. I started to take it, but it soon disappeared. I don’t really like out and backs as much as loop trails so I continued (mostly bushwhacking my way north on the east side of the Rogue River) hoping the trail would appear again. Big mistake. There is no trail (that I could find) on the east side of the river. A couple hours, bloodied hands, and torn clothes later I made it back to Old Diamond Lake Road which crosses the Rogue River so I could get back to my car.

Despite the blood, it was an awesome adventure. I didn’t see a single person the entire time. In a normal winter you will definitely want snow shoes. I could have used them in several places, but for the most part I was on dry ground or only an inch or two of snow.

Posted on February 18th, 2015 under Oregon. Tags: hiking, Nikon 24-120mm f/4 VR G lens, Nikon D750, rogue river, rogue valley, waterfalls. Comments Off on Boundary Springs Waterfall