Wagner Butte

Wagner Butte Trail is a delightfully powerful, 10 mile, hiking only, higher elevation, out and back trail.

Driving

– A 40 minute drive from Ashland Plaza. Head north out of town and do not get on interstate 5. Stay on the Siskiyou Blvd/99 toward Medford, but, before you get to Talent, you will see Rapp Road. Turn left and there will be some turns to cross a railroad track and then – a soft left turn onto Wagner Creek Road.
This paved road gets smaller, heads uphill into the woods, and while smaller dirt roads peel off left, and right, you stay on this road as it becomes gravel and continues past logging sites, and winds its way to the Wagner Butte parking lot.

Parking

– It feels like you will see the parking area as you are driving, but it sneaks up to your right. There are no signs. Just a large dirt lot to your right. Horribly rutted but room for 20 cars. Zero facilities whatsoever.

The Adventure

– 5 miles uphill and 5 back down. If you hate you knees, sure, you can add a hike up to Split Rock or down Wagner Glade, but don’t be a maniac. The first 3 miles are a consistent uphill. There are great meadows and glades along the way. Flowers. Butterflies. Spring creeks. All that stuff.
You then hit the intersection of Wagner Glade and Split Rock. Wagner Glade is straight ahead and Split Rock is to your right, but we will continue to the left up to Wagner Butte.
The next 2 miles are a nice, reasonable, ridge-line type hike. It all ends at the Butte. A rocky peak where a Forest Service lookout used to be. 360 views. Eat your human fuel here and write a song about the giant eagle, whom legend says plucked the lookout tower clean off the top of this Butte in 1961.