Rogue River Hike

The second day of our trip was a big one! I am breaking it up into two posts. Here is the first. After breakfast at the cabin we went for a hike at a nearby campground called the Natural Bridge. It was less than a 5 minute drive from where we were staying in Union Creek and the hike was along the gorgeous Rogue River.

Upper Rogue River Hike

The Natural Bridge was a lava tube that had formed underneath the water.

The lava tubes were really cool. The water was rapid and you could see lots of little caves that were part of the tubes. When we were on our honeymoon in Maui we did a snorkeling tour and got to see the lava tubes that had formed in the ocean.

The hike was really quiet and scenic. We were the only ones on the trail once you left the viewpoint of the lava tubes/natural bridge. The trail went through the forest and the ground was super soft. It was an easy hike until we go to some hills. Then it was probably “moderate.”

We climbed up the trail and it then it flattened out and looped around. Suddenly we were on the other side of the river.

The trees were starting to change color and it was a gorgeous area. This was probably my favorite hike that we did on our trip. We hiked around the other side of the river, along the campground.

We crossed a bridge (Bella thankfully crossed the bridge even though she was freaked out) and we were back to the parking lot. We hiked around 4 miles.

After this we went back to the cabin, cleaned up, packed lunches and then made the drive to Crater Lake. Our cabins were right by the junction to Crater Lake and it was only about 20 miles or so of a drive.

I will be doing a post just about Crater Lake because it really needs its own post.

So fast forward to dinner after the adventure at 8,000 feet!

After Crater Lake we hung out outside our cabin and had dinner on the picnic bench. The weather was really nice and it was relaxing to just chill. The resort had a giant BBQ! Look at it:

Michael was pretty impressed. He’s been wanting to get a BBQ/smoker like this for some time so he was excited to give it a try. I guess the guy does BBQ every weekend. Michael picked up some brisket and sides for both of us.

The dinner was great! I was impressed. The brisket was soft and melted in your mouth. The homemade BBQ sauce was outstanding. The sides were just ok. We shared the coleslaw, potato salad and baked beans.

We spent the evening relaxing, playing card games and doing crossword puzzles together. Stay tuned for the Crater Lake post!