We took a long exploratory drive today. We started by going to Peggy’s niece’s and her husband’s place for morning coffee. Fortunately for me, they had Irish Cream in-house so my coffee was excellent. After considerable palavering, Peg and I took off driving, headed mostly east. From Medford we drove up OR-62 which follows the Rogue River up through some spectacular gorges with crystal-clear water cutting through a fierce volcanic landscape.
A hour or two from Medford and before the turnoff to Crater Lake NP, we pulled off and took a hike near a place called Natural Bridge. It really isn’t a bridge but actually a lava tube or tunnel where almost the entire volume of the Rogue River disappears into a hole, only to re-emerge downstream through some extremely turbulent exits. During our visit, the Rogue was at a high flow rate so there was some water running over the top of the lava tube but not nearly as much as was disappearing down the hole only to erupt downstream. It is a short hike here – maybe a half mile out and back but it is definitely worth the walk. It is pretty impressive.
Not far northeast of Natural Bridge the road splits. Those remaining on OR-62 will go to Crater Lake but we turned off on OR-230 toward Diamond Lake. We went to Crater Lake back in September on our Great Basin tour so we flew by it today. Diamond Lake is a gorgeous body of water up at 5100’+ elevation with snow-capped mountains on all sides. There was quite a bit of snow alongside the road but we did not need chains or a plow to continue.
From Diamond Lake we chose to take OR-138 down the gorge of the Umpqua River which is just as amazingly beautiful as the trip up the Rogue. It is a steep, winding highway that limits fast driving but since we were mostly interested in the scenery, the road was just right. The river, the gorge and the roadside waterfalls are absolutely stunning. After a couple hours, we emerged into the city of Roseburg where we turned south on I-5 for the 100 mile return trip to Ashland. The OR-62, OR-230 and OR-138 loop offers magnificent scenery all the way. This is a great tour.
Before we made it back to the Medford/Ashland area, we contacted Ben and Christy again and they met us for dinner at a place called Bricktowne Brewery where we snuggled up to some dinner before heading over to their home for a bit more drinking. Fortunately for me, Peggy was the designated driver so I had ample porter before returning home for the day.
We took a few good photos along the way and you can see ’em if you click here