 |
| Table Rocks,
located east of Interstate 5 and Medford, provide a Southern Oregon landmark high
above the Rogue River Valley.
Photo by William Sullivan |
Hike
up the Table Rocks
Here's
the spot for a great view of the Rogue River Valley
About the Hike:
Once a sanctuary for Takelma Indians, today these cliff-edged mesas near Medford
are a haven for hikers and endangered wildflowers. Views from the cliffs extend
across the Rogue River to the Siskiyous and the Cascades. Visit in spring to catch
the best flower displays and to avoid summer's merciless heat. Dogs, horses, fires
and flower picking are banned on both Table Rocks trails.
Difficulty: The
hike to Upper Table Rock is an easy 2.8-mile trip, gaining 720 feet. The hike
up Lower Table Rock is a moderate 5.4-mile trip, gaining 780 feet.
Season: Open
all year.
Getting
There: To find the Upper Table Rock trailhead from Interstate 5 take Central
Point exit 33 (just north of Medford), drive east on Biddle Road 1 mile, turn
left on Table Rock Road for 5.2 miles to a curve, and turn right on Modoc Road
for 1.5 miles to the trailhead parking lot on the left, just opposite an electric
substation.
To
find the Lower Table Rock trailhead from here, get back in your car, return 1.5
miles to Table Rock Road, turn right (away from Medford) to milepost 10, and then
turn left on Wheeler Road 0.8 mile.
Fees:
None.
Hiking
Tips: Each of the two Table Rock mesas has its own trail, but the path to
Upper Table Rock is shorter and slightly easier.
The Upper Table Rock Trail climbs through a scrub oak grassland ablaze with spring
wildflowers. In April expect blue camas and pink fawn lilies. In May look for
pink, 4-petaled clarkias (alias "Farewell to Spring"), California blue-eyed grass
(with six small petals), and Elegant Brodiaea (with six long purple petals). By
June, orange paintbrush and tall purple ookow are blooming, too. In all seasons,
beware of triple-leafleted poison oak.
At the 1.1-mile mark, after a final steep pitch, the trail suddenly emerges onto
the table's amazingly flat, grassy summit. In 200 yards the path crosses an old
road. Here you can either turn left along the road to a viewpoint at the table's
southern tip or continue straight without a trail to a dramatic viewpoint west-both
good destinations before heading back to your car.
The trail to Lower Table Rock, though longer and rockier, climbs through shadier
woods and leads to a viewpoint atop a taller cliff. Most of Lower Table Rock was
dedicated as a nature preserve in 1979 by The Nature Conservancy, the public-spirited
non-profit organization that built the trail.
The trail sets off along a fenceline through grasslands with the same profusion
of flowers as at the other mesa. Listen for the musical warble of redwing blackbirds
and the squawks of ring-necked pheasants.
The path climbs, steeply at times, through a dry forest of madrone and black oak.
After 1.6 miles the path suddenly crests at the plateau and becomes an old road.
The quickest route to a viewpoint is to walk the road 200 yards and fork left
on a trail that deadends in 0.3 mile at a 200-foot cliff.
From
here you can see your car far below. The snowy rim of Crater Lake rises above
Upper Table Rock. The Rogue River, like a great green snake, curves across a quilt
of orchards, ranches and gravel pit ponds toward the distant white cone of Mt.
McLoughlin. Turkey vultures soar on updrafts.
For the best view of all, however, hike back to the road and follow it a mile
across the mesa. The road becomes an old grassy airstrip bordered by vernal pools
- ponds that dry up by May, leaving a haze of flowers. Look here for dwarf meadowfoam,
a subspecies that exists only on the Table Rocks. At the airstrip's end, continue
right on a path to a viewpoint overtowering the Rogue River.
History: An
1850 gold strike at Jacksonville attracted so many miners and settlers to the
Rogue Valley that the local Takelma Indians launched an attack in 1853 to reclaim
their homeland. When the U.S. Army retaliated, the Takelmas retreated to Upper
Table Rock, a natural fortress that defied capture. The Army sent a peace negotiator,
Joe Lane. He agreed to grant the Indians a reservation that included the Table
Rocks, and he also promised that the Army would build a fort nearby to protect
the Indians from armed vigilantes. Because Joe Lane actually kept his word, he
became a hero among both the whites and the Indians. An Oregon county was named
after him, he was elected senator, and he was nominated for Vice President on
a ticket that lost to Abraham Lincoln.
Geology:
The 125-foot-thick andesite rims capping these U-shaped mesas are remnants of
a lava flow that snaked down the Rogue River Valley 9.6 million years ago from
vents east of Prospect. Since then, erosion has worn away the softer surrounding
rock, leaving the hard andesite perched 800 feet above the plain. Why are the
mesas U-shaped? Geologists propose that the curves were originally horseshoe bends
in the river channel where the lava flowed.
