2014 Oregon Road Trip
Day 8
Day 8
My goal today was Mount Bailey but the weather was very sketchy to start the day, so I did some waterfall hikes to kill some time and see if rain was coming.
I went to see Mill Creek Falls and Barr Creek Falls since both are off the same main trail. Mill Creek Falls was awesome!
After finishing the waterfall hike the weather was much improved. I drove back to the trail head for Mount Bailey and started my summit hike.
Clouds started rolling in as I was climbing the final ridgeline and it got really cold and windy. I reached the summit and was followed shortly by about 25 kids on a church trip, so much for solitude in the mountains! I enjoyed a nice local beer on top and then started down into the clouds. A beautiful and memorable hike.
Getting back to the car, I drove to Natural Bridge campground and set up camp before exploring a couple of more really cool local hikes. The Rogue Gorge is an interesting place where the entire Rogue River narrows into a gorge a couple of feet wide. It is a very wild section of the river and pretty cool to see and hear. I then visited the Natural Bridge. Here the Rogue River routes itself into a Lave Tube and runs underground for about 200 feet. It is really strange seeing the river completely disappear underground only to reappear suddenly. Very cool!!