Basecamp to Hiking Beauty
Hike Table Rocks and Roxy Ann Peak in Medford
Located in the beautiful Rogue Valley, Medford is a road-trip basecamp for some stellar hiking and sightseeing, including a must-visit natural landmark, Table Rocks.
The city has a tasty culinary and craft beer scene, including Common Block Brewing, a family-friendly brewpub downtown.
For a beautiful late-day to early-evening hike, east of Medford is Prescott Park, featuring 1,740 acres of paved and unpaved terrain with incredible views of the Rogue Valley. Its crowning glory is Roxy Ann Peak, decked in pine forest with mountain wildflowers spilling down meadows in spring and summer. The background is cinematic, with wide vistas of Mount Shasta, Mount Ashland, and Mount McLoughlin.
Go on a 5-mile (round-trip) hike to the peak by starting on the Greenhorn Trail, followed by Manzanita Trail, which goes to Roxy Ann Peak. Return on the Ponderosa, Oak, and Madrone Trails. Prescott Park and Roxy Ann Peak are dog-friendly! More details and a map.
Just outside of Medford, Upper and Lower Table Rock are a natural landmark formed some seven million years ago from lava. The nature here is incredibly rare, including dwarf woolly meadowfoam, found nowhere else on earth. (This is also why Table Rock is the only Bureau of Land Management destination locally that does not allow dogs.)
Hiking to Upper Table Rock is a moderate 2.5-mile out-and-back ascending just over 700 feet. Your destination is a vast, otherworldly volcanic plateau with dramatic cliff drops and a panorama of Southern Oregon’s distinct mountains: Mount McLoughlin, Mount Ashland, Roxy Ann Peak, and Pilot Rock. A hike to Lower Table Rock is longer, at 3.5 miles (out and back) and has interpretive panels along the way.
JAPANESE GARDEN TIP: Another charming town with an urban park worth spending an afternoon in is Ashland. Lithia Park is nicknamed the emerald urban oasis, with Ashland Creek flowing through its 100 acres of terrain. Not to be missed: the park’s newly opened Japanese Garden, an oasis of pure tranquility. Toru Tanaka designed the garden, staying true to tradition with an A-symmetry design and counterclockwise route featuring ten distinct areas—from the Bamboo Forest to the Tea Garden. The large cedar deck here is wheelchair accessible.
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