Rainey Falls Trail on the Rogue River

Hike on June 30 2011

 

The weather in our Valley has been so unpredictable this year!


A bit of personal information: I’m a hospice nurse and work an unusual schedule by working a week on then a week off and I don’t work weekends. Neil (my husband) works Friday through Sundays.

So when we want to go for hikes we have to plan around our 2 schedules. If you add the weather into the equation and the fact that I’m a “fair weather” hiker, planning any outdoor activity for us is “iffy” at best.

Last Thursday met all our conditions and was a perfect day for hiking along the Rogue River to Rainey Falls.

Too get to Rainey Falls you have to drive through Merlin and past Hellgate Canyon. If you have ever taken one of the jet boat rides from Grants Pass you have probably been down there.

 

Eventually you get to an area that is unmarked except for cars parked along the road, a bridge that crosses over the Rogue and a boat dock for rafters. There are 2 trails one on each side of the Rogue. We always take the trail on the south side (left) of the river because it’s the cooler side.

The trail is 2 miles down to Rainey Falls and it took is about 3 ½ hrs round trip. That includes a slow pace (for me), stops along the way and a longer sit down at Rainey Falls to watch the rafts try to get around the main fall area.

Traffic on the river was steady but not over crowded. On the trail there were even less folks hiking, so it made for a quite a nice nature day.




I wish there was some way to describe the scent of the river, trees, bushes, plants and mosses so that you could experience this hike as I show you the pictures but that is impossible. For me the fragrances of nature on the hikes are as important to me as seeing and hearing everything.

As we walked along the trail all of a sudden this really sweet fragrance was so strong that I stop immediately to look around to find where it came from.




I don’t know what kind of plant this is. It has flowers like honeysuckle, but they are much larger. In another place we came across a myrtle tree, the leaves smell like bay leafs only stronger.

The following 2 videos are of Rainey Falls. The second one has a raft going through.

For those of you that are unable to hike this trail I hope this has given you a little taste of heaven on earth.

Blessings to each of you,
Shari