40 Miles of Backpacking on the Wild & Scenic Rogue River in Oregon

I first moved to Southern Oregon in 2016. It was love at first sight. The landscape of mixed conifer trees, snow capped peaks, long winding rivers cutting through valleys covered in green. I knew we could make a home here. I already felt more at home up in the mountains than anywhere else.

As I started meeting new people here, one of the photographer gals that I met said she backpacked this trail to the ocean, 40 miles along the Wild and Scenic Rogue River. I knew I needed to do this so I added it to what I like to call my “floating idea box.” My mental list of all the things that I want to do.

Fast forward and it’s 2020. We just had shutdowns in March and I feel almost like a caged animal. I need to get out. So I do. The girls and I find ways of hiking and kayaking alone outdoors. Oregon is the perfect place to self-isolate. And I’m so good at that anyhow. Then I think this would be the perfect time to really get into backpacking. So I text my friend Lynn…"Come backpack this trail with me!" She eventually says yes… with a mix of excitement and hesitation. And me? All excitement! I immediately start adding to my backpacking gear. On the other hand, Lynn is doing her research on the trail. We compliment each other so well. We have our date set for June 26th.

She flies in from Tempe and we arrive at my house on a Thursday. We’re laying everything out. It’s apparent there’s not enough room in my pack for everything that I want to take along with me. Very typical. We work together and are able to fit the essential items in my Kelty Coyote 65. Super rad pack. Love it. We then try to enjoy a good nights rest before our early morning wake up.

The trail starts near Galice, Oregon at Grave Creek. It’s a very popular place to raft so you’ll often see people launching their boats there. We arrive late at 8 a.m. And it was gonna be a scorcher that day. But we’re ready. And did I mention Lynn has only hiked 10 miles max in one day…ever?! I wasn’t worried. I’m already proud of her for saying yes and knew she was one tough cookie.

Day 1. We hike 11.5 miles to our first campsite at Horseshoe Bend. We’re traversing rugged trails with this constant beautiful view of the Rogue River. But it’s exposed for a lot of it and it’s 95 degrees out and I'm wearing a 30 lb. pack. But then who really cares right? Lynn brought her platypus water filtration bag which was so quick and efficient. We filled up once at a creek on the way and made the mistake of not filling up again. We ran out of water about 3 miles before making it to camp and to top it off we had scarce shade and we were constantly climbing uphill that never seemed to end. Our spirits were a little dimmed at that point. So then you get in a trance...repeating the words “one more step” in your head. 

There’s a point when you are only looking down at your feet and you occasionally look up and wonder “did I just miss the sign??” Luckily, we didn’t. We saw the Horseshoe Bend sign and were absolutely relieved. There was no better sight at that moment. But whoever carved this little trail down to the camping area seemed to be playing a little trick on us as it was thee shortest, but steepest descent. I mean…really? Every step down hurt. But oh boy finally getting down to the water and dropping our packs…I can’t even explain the elation.

We found our perfect spot underneath tall pine trees. We set up camp for the night. I realized then that my inflatable sleeping pad was waaaay too long for the length of the tent. So much trial and error on this trip that all you can do is laugh about it. There was this perfect beach cove area and we waded in the cold water for a while. We then headed back to camp and made dinner. Lynn brought ramen and I brought some dried bell peppers, porcinis and tomatoes to add. It was so perfect. We then treated ourselves to a little shot (or two) of whiskey. We slept so well that night. 

Day 2. We woke up the next morning around 7 a.m. We made some coffee and walked down to the river, found a perfect rock to sit on and watch as I like to call it the National Geographic channel. I was transfixed as the light shifted on the landscape, the hawks circling above. We were feeling pretty good at that moment. Yes, we definitely took our time at that spot and packing up camp. We left at a horrifying time of 10:15 a.m. Another lesson learned as we had our biggest stretch of 15 miles that day.

But boy did nature reward us on the second day. It was nothing but lush green forest with ferns on both sides of us and creeks along every curve of the trail. The temperatures dropped by about 15 degrees and we were walking on cloud 9. I remember Lynn saying “Thank you so much for inviting me on this trip.” We were so happy to be alive at that moment. It’s funny how much you can say when you’re not in pain (yet). We talked and talked…I must’ve recited at least 3 movie plots for Lynn. The conversations went in every direction and we were having such a great time. 

Then there comes a point, at say mile 9, when you start to recognize certain pain spots. First you feel it in your hip from the weight of your pack, then your shoulders and down to your knees and eventually your feet. You shift your pack and loosen straps. You rest on the many bridges that you cross because it’s the only thing that keeps you sitting up right (why didn’t I bring a mini fold-up chair??). Thankfully, Lynn brought her hiking poles which helped tremendously.

We pass our first lodge and Lynn reminds me that we could stay there. I shake my head and laugh…every time we pass a lodge and she repeats those words. Funny girl. And you hear the laughter of the people on rafts and think, how nice that you are laughing and all you have to worry about is what time is cocktail hour. Yes, the physical challenges are definitely coming to the forefront. We finally take a break at this perfect little spot by the river and we jump in. My sore feet were thanking me. 

After at least an hour, we head back on the trail. We finally get to the Rogue River Ranch (mile 22.7). Only 4 more miles until we reach camp at Blossom Bar. But then we come up to a bridge that is barricaded with multiple signs that says CLOSED. What and where is the trail? We walk half a mile up to Tucker Flat Campground in hopes that we’ll either run into the trail or someone could point us in the right direction. We didn’t get much help. We then turned around and I crossed the bridge. What other way could it be. Then I see a sign that said Rogue River Trail and another wave of relief washed over me. So we trekked on.

It was getting dark and those little vampires were out. Damn mosquitoes. We sprayed DEET all over our clothes. The downside of walking under tree canopy is losing light. But then the trail opened up into the most beautiful canyon and a narrow stretch of the Rogue. I truly wished we had not left so late in the morning (error #27), otherwise I think we would have had more energy to soak in all this beauty. 

Once again, we were often looking down, trying not to fall on this very narrow rocky path. Last thing I wanted for either of us was a broken ankle. And finally, at 9:15 p.m….11 hours after we departed from Camp 1, we arrived at Camp 2. We quickly set up the tent in near darkness. We walked over to the bear locker (the sole reason for choosing this campsite) and it was locked. So, I decided to wedge our dry bag of food underneath the locker. I figured it would be super tough for some critter to pull that thing out. I then placed this particle board alongside it. That should do it. We went to bed that night with no dinner. Just enough energy to crawl into our sleeping bags. 

Day 3. We woke up at 7 a.m. with the goal of leaving within the hour. We walked over to the bear locker but before we could, we found the bag in the middle of the trail. It had a little hole in it. We then saw that that particle board was placed perfectly to the side. What animal would take such care to move it like that? But my attention quickly shifted to the little hole in the bag and the missing items. And to my utter dismay, the only thing stolen was our coffee. I really enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning (especially after a hard day of hiking) and I really needed that cup on that particular morning.  We met our goal though and left within the hour. We had 14 miles to go until we reached the end of the trail at Foster Bar near Gold Beach. But with no coffee meant no desire for conversation. I was silent for at least three hours…

We passed many people on rafts and boats. There were even people happily jogging on the path. Happiness and laughter abounded on this trail. I wanted some of that. There were sections of the trail that didn’t even exist due to rockslides. Sketchy, very sketchy. And LOTS of poison oak enclosing on us on both sides of the trail. Poison oak is not my friend. But I accepted the fact that I would not walk away from this trip unscathed. 

At this point we started seeing more and more fallen trees. Big trunks that we had to either traverse under, over or around. At this point Lynn says to me “Daisy, don’t ever invite me on another backpacking trip again.” Ahh, that one line just made me laugh. It was one thing to have 30 lbs on your back but then have to maneuver ungracefully around fallen trees. My thought…bring on the challenges. And nature did. I knew Lynn and I were tough. And we were tested mentally and physically. All we could do was laugh at the absurdity. We must have passed at least 50 fallen trees along the last 5 miles of the trail. We finally came upon a waterfall that was just what one needed to remind us of why we were here. 

And then mile 38.5 happened. We were so close to the end. I mean I could smell the ocean from there. We traversed around the biggest fallen tree as of yet. We continued on a path of what we thought was the original path but quickly found out that that wasn’t correct. We had somehow veered off. This path lead us to a steep drop off with no where to go. We looked at each other in a dazed confused state. What the…? I looked to the right and saw faint footsteps leading up a very vertical ascent. Clearly not a trail. My intuition was saying we needed to go straight up. Lynn decided to back track and see if she could find where we got lost. And I went up. We communicated through load shouts. She couldn’t find the trail and I shouted for her to head up to meet me. It was definitely precarious. She finally made it up and I think an unspoken thing happened at that moment where we were trying to not lose our shit and attempting to remain calm. We both knew if that happened, all logic would be thrown out the window. And here is where Lynn excels…she had previously downloaded a topographic map from AllTrails that tracks our GPS location relative to the trail. We were so close to the trail but needed to climb even higher. So we did. You feel like you could easily fall back down that mountain, it was so steep. But we made it. We saw the trail! And it was as if the last 38.5 miles of accumulated pain had disappeared. Adrenaline and a renewed sense of energy took over. Oh my gosh! We were gonna finish soon. 

As were walking through this serene meadow with cows happily grazing, this feeling of accomplishing something pretty wonderful started to take over. And then to top it off, I looked ahead at the trail and saw two people walking towards us. I realized it was my daughter, Sophie, and her dad, John, who decided to come find us. I was beyond ecstatic to see them! Mile 38.5 took us more than an hour, so we were a bit late for our meeting time. So thankful to see them. So thankful to finish 40 miles with one of my closest friends. A friend who had not hiked more than 10 miles before in one day. I was proud of us. I was relieved to be done. And you realize the little things that you took for granted. Like being able to sit in a car…not against a rock or your pack. But in a seat. We headed home on a high note. Lynn and I both joked (mostly serious though) that we wouldn’t do this again for a very long time. 

Three days later I send Lynn a text, "So….wanna go on another backpacking trip in the Fall?" :)

You can learn more about my amazing backpacking partner, Lynn Dao, through her company Ecstasis Retreats, which hosts yoga adventure retreats around the world.