Rogue River Trail (Illahe to Marial)

Rogue River

Distance: 16 miles one-way

Total Elevation Gain: 1000 feet

Directions: From Gold Beach, follow Jerry Flat Road/545 east along the south side of the Rogue River. Continue straight after 10 miles and the road becomes NF-33. In 24 miles, the spur road to Big Bend trailhead is on the right. 

Hiking above the Rogue

Native iris

The Rogue River Trail follows Southern Oregon’s most famous wild and scenic watershed for nearly 40 miles. The lower half, from the Big Bend Trailhead near Illahe to Marial Trailhead, cuts straight through the Wild Rogue Wilderness. Gorges and waterfalls, meadows and forests, flowers and wildlife, and, of course, ticks and poison oak, await the hiker.

Oaks in early spring

One of the most fascinating qualities about the Rogue River is how much it and the area around it changes with so little change in elevation or other such factors. Parts of the trail cross steep-sloped oak savannah, where ancient gnarled trunks filter the view of the river below. Later, views yield dry forests of madrone and chinkapin, seeming an alien forest to the Pacific Northwest. Then the trail dives into a narrow side-ravine, where western red cedars, sword fern, and think brush remind hikers they’re not as far from the coast as they might think. 

Flora Dell Falls

Waterfalls, such as Flora Dell Falls (four miles from the trailhead) pour down some of the creeks creating these ravines, further enriching the experience. 

With the diversity of the terrain also comes diversity of wildlife. Many species of waterfowl, bald eagles, hawks, kingfishers, osprey, deer, and black bears are but a small sample of the wilderness’ denizens a hiker might likely spot. 

Falls from Inspiration Point

The variety also brings potential hazards to the hiker. Black bears present a hazard to a backpacker’s food cache, and thus food should be tied up in a tree or locked in a bear box (several exist in camping areas throughout the trail). Rattlesnakes sunbathe in the trail’s hot, dry areas during the warm season. Poison oak grows nearly everywhere – in places it could even be considered old growth, with vines thicker than a quarter’s diameter twisting high up into the trees. Ticks lie in ambush in the brush and long grass. Some may carry lime disease. 

Inspiration Point, a couple miles before reaching Marial, one of the more picturesque points of the lower trail. A sheer basalt cliff drops about 100 feet to the water below, and a series of waterfalls cut through the cliff on the opposite side of the canyon. This serves as a great turnaround point for an out and back trip. But for those adventures unwilling unable to turn back, the short hike to Marial and from there the remaining 24 miles of the upper half of the Rogue River trail lies onward.

Mule Creek Canyon near Inspiration Point