Union Creek – Upper Rogue River Trail

The Union Creek section of the Upper Rogue River Trail is 7 miles with lots of additional exploring opportunities.

Driving

– It’s a 90 minute drive towards Crater Lake. Jump on Interstate 5 towards Medford. Jump off Interstate 5 in Medford on the Crater Lake/ Route 62 exit. Turn right and take the New Bypass around the businesses and turn left when that road dead ends into the old Route 62.
Now, stay on Route 62 through White City, Shady Cove, Trail, past Lost Creek Lake, past Prospect and into the tall pines. Ride along with the Crater Lake traffic until you hit The Union Creek Resort and Beckie’s Pies. The first paved driveway to the left after Beckie’s Pies is the River Gorge Viewpoint. Take that left turn!

Parking

– Huge National Forest parking lot with RV pull-throughs, turn arounds, and pit toilets.

Alternate Parking

– To the left before Beckie’s Pies is the Union Creek campground. There is a kind of interpretive/picnic area right there off highway 62. There is a large dirt lot for lots of parking and the restrooms even have running water (aka flush toilets!) You can connect to the Rogue River on a little trail that runs through the campsites.

The Adventure

– From the parking lot there are informational signs and a paved path that loops up to the right and has some nice gorge views. Might as well do that real quick. Now, go back to where the paved trail first hits the fence and turn left, downstream, on that little trail. It does continue and hits a larger trail that continues along the Rogue River. There are some decent swimming and fishing areas here with cabins and campsites to your left. In 1 mile you will reach a small bridge to your right in the middle of the campsite area across Union Creek. Take that and turn right following Union Creek back to the Rogue River. You will notice a trail joining you here from the campsites and if you had parked in the Union Creek campground area, this is where your trail would join this trail.
The next 1 1/2 miles are along the Rogue River with a variety of open and wooded and rocky experiences. And the elevation change is at a nice, gentle river pace so enjoy that. At the 1 1/2 mile point a super cool little bridge crosses the Rogue and that far side of the river has some awesome rocky overlook areas. From here you can continue along the same side of the river you were on, about 1 mile down through the campgrounds and to the Natural Bridge parking lot and all that has to offer (pit toilets.) Or, you can continue downstream on this new side of the river. This route adds a decent hill climb and drifts away from the river but it is still only about 1 mile and does connect back to the Natural Bridge overlook where you can join the paved route back to the glamorous parking area (pit toilets.) That’s it, now head back upstream for some pie!