Hoping for a beautiful spring day, 17 hikers meet to
explore Lower Table Rock. Patches of heavy fog hide
the nearby hills and sometimes the road as we head
toward Medford. After a drive of just under two
hours, we are at the trail head. It is still misty
and cold enough for everyone to dig out jackets,
hats and gloves. With a promise of sunshine to
come, we head up the trail through scrub land and a
dry forest of madrone and black oak. The 1.6 mile
trail climbs steeply at times (780 elevation gain)
before it suddenly crests at the plateau and becomes
an old road that turns into a grassy airstrip
bordered by vernal pools which dry up by May.
Planning to have lunch at the south end of the
plateau, the group wanders over the table top
exploring the vernal pools and enjoying the views of
snow capped Mt. McLoughlin. The sun has come out
and the temperature ends up in the low 60's.
Buzzards circle lazily as they ride the thermals.
Perched on the edge of a cliff, we look over the
Rogue River as it twists and turns through the
valley below. The river is flanked by manmade pools
and a checker board of farm land.
After lunch some of the faster hikers decide to
make their way down into the swale in the middle of
the horseshoe shaped plateau. Spring hasn't arrived
there yet and the trees are still leafless and the
grass brown. Some nice views of the snow covered Red
Buttes and Siskiyous in the distance and always the
walls of the plateau rising above them.
The rest of us puttered our way over the rocky
areas and along the cliff edges. The only flowers
we saw were scattered among the rocks. Clusters of
purple-eyed grass (also known as grass widows) were
in full bloom. Grassland Saxifrage was just
starting to bloom and a few yellow goldfields
brightened the ground. For those who looked
carefully, a few Brewster's rock-cress were blooming
on the cliff edges.
Heading back down the trail to the cars, we could
look across the valley to Upper Table Rock.
A totally satisfying day with a hike between 5.5
miles and 7 miles.
