Rogue River Trail 5 day Camping Itinerary

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Itinerary

Day 1: Arrive at 9 AM at the Rogue River Center (210 Merlin Road, Merlin, Oregon) to meet your head guide and receive Rogue River Trail hiking trip orientation. Orientation will include information on the layout of the Rogue River trail including daily miles and where the steeper sections of the trail are in case you plan to ride the raft. The trip orientation will also include a basic white water rafting orientation to prepare you for any raft riding you choose to do. This is also when you will be supplied with a dry bag to pack your personal items. This is the bag to put everything you want to access at night. It will go on the raft where you will have a limited ability to access it during the day. Anything you want on the trail needs to go into your backpack. When everyone has their bags packed, vans will be loaded and the group will drive the 20 minutes down the Rogue River to the trail-head. At Grave Creek boat ramp the group will meet the rest of the guides, pick up a lunch and start walking down the trail.
This first day on the trail has plenty of beautiful viewpoints including the historic Whiskey Creek Cabin. This is a pretty easy warm up day with only about five miles of hiking. Tyee is a wonderful camp to spend the afternoon swimming, relaxing, and generally unwinding as you start your wilderness adventure.

Day 2. The second day of the Rogue River Trail is 8.2 miles of beautiful scenery. For most of this day the trail is up away from the river providing long distance vistas of the deep Rogue River gorge.

Day 3. Day three is a little longer day at 9.5 miles, but it leads to one of the premier camps on the river. During this day the trail varies from riverside cliffs above Kelsey canyon while also retreating up some tributary gorges. This a wonderful varied day providing a great workout combined with spectacular scenery all leading to an amazing camp right on a tributary creek.

Day 4. This is the highlight day for many hikers on the Rogue River Trail. The trail navigates the cliffs above beautiful mule creek canyon. At this unique gorge the river funnels through a crack in the bottom of the canyon being condensed to under 15 feet wide at its narrowest point. Near the bottom of the canyon the trail hosts a spectacular view of Staircase falls making for one of the finest photo opportunities of the trail. In the afternoon the trail leaves the river and cuts through the lush forrest behind Brushy Bar. This is a beautiful journey through a deeply green thicket with a beautiful fern filled forest floor. Today is the longest day at 10 miles.

Day 5: The final push out. At 8.2 miles and the steepest vertical climbs and descents make this a great conclusion to the hike. Many do decide to hope on the raft and skip the steep hills at the end. At the end of the hike the group will walk the extra 1/2 mile to foster bar where we meet the raft and the shuttle van back to the Rogue River Center.

Logistics

The day your trip starts you need to arrive at the Rogue River Center at 210 Merlin Rd, Merlin Oregon at 9 AM. If you are driving head west off of Interstate 5 at exit 61. At the Rogue River Center you will transfer your clothing for the trip into our dry bag for the entirety of the float. Your vehicle will be parked inside the locked gate at our facility until you return. At the conclusion of the trip a van will pick you up at the takeout and return you to the Rogue River Center. If you plan on driving to the coast after your trip it will be more convenient for you if your vehicle is shuttled from our facility to the rafting takeout at Foster Bar. There is a small fee associated with this so call for details. For additional travel information please refer to the travel information page for flight and hotel details.