White Water Warehouse offers an alternative view of the Wild and Scenic Rogue River Canyon: guided hiking on the Rogue River trail. You get the best of both worlds; trekking through one of the nation’s finest river canyons and enjoying the comfort of wilderness lodges each evening.
Our trips are designed for our hikers to experience the hike in the most comfortable and safest manner possible. A WWW trail guide leads the hike each day (often, it is our WWW President, Bob Meister). Our trail guides are very knowledgeable about the Rogue’s flora and fauna. The trail guide will also point out historic sites along the way and give hikers a broad perspective of the Rogue’s interesting past.
Another reason why we offer a trail guide is for the safety of our hikers. For example, a hiker might get a pesky blister which makes it uncomfortable to continue the hike for that day. Because we also offer a raft guide on the river to carry our hikers’ gear, our trail guide will contact the raft guide by walkie-talkie and let him know the injured hiker (or tired hiker) needs to ride along in the raft for the remainder of the day. Another advantage to raft support is that you won’t be carrying heavy packs during the hike—that all goes down river with the raft.
Wonderful, organic lunches are prepared riverside by WWW’s raft support guide. Each day at lunch time, our hikers meander down the trail to the banks of the Rogue to be greeted by a fabulous lunch of organic fruits, vegetables and mouth-watering treats.
On your WWW hiking trip you will also enjoy Oregon smoked salmon/cheeses and crackers before dinner each night. And, since we are so proud of Oregon & Washington wines, we offer modest amounts of wine during dinner for our guests to enjoy and sample. You are welcome to bring your own beverages as well.
The hike itself offers an excellent scenic hiking experience as the trail meanders through forests, open meadows, and dramatic viewpoints along rocky crags. Black bear, osprey, bald eagles, and wild flowers can be seen throughout the canyon during your hike. The wild and scenic section of the Rogue was one of the first river canyons brought under protection by the national wild and scenic rivers act. And, therefore, this hiking trip offers excellent photographic opportunities.
Most of the Rogue River trail is well constructed with moderate grades. But, once again, the advantage to having your own personal trail guide comes into play when you want to determine how far you are from lunch or the next lodge. You need to be in good shape to walk this trail since there are several places where the trail has steep elevation changes.
The average hiker takes 4 days to trek over the Rogue’s scenic 40-mile trail. White Water Warehouse starts all hikes at Graves Creek (although you will meet as a group on the morning of the hike at Galice Resort and then we will shuttle you down to Graves Creek) which has an elevation of 689 feet. At the end of the trail, a place known as Foster Bar, the trail’s elevation is 474 feet. However, don’t let this factoid fool you…there are several spots where the trail makes steep elevation changes.
Here are the miles per day that you will hike with us:
First day: 9.6 miles to Black Bar Lodge
Second day: 14.7 miles to Marial Lodge
Third day: 8.9 miles to Clayhill Lodge
Fourth day: 7.8 miles to Foster Bar take-out
Our guides are intimately familiar with the trail, the river, its canyon, plants, animals, geology and human history. Again, lunch and your extra equipment are carried on our raft…so no heavy backpacks to worry about. You simply carry your daily gear, water bottle, or camelback in a small day pack of your choosing.
The Rogue River canyon hiking adventure is little known…but that is to your advantage. You will probably never meet another party during your wilderness trek with White Water Warehouse. What you will see are beautiful wildflowers and plenty of breath-taking scenery and wildlife.
The only months that WWW recommends taking this hike are in May or June since after that time the canyon heats up to uncomfortable levels for hiking.
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