The Siskiyou Loop: Discovery Tour Would you like to take a trip of discovery into the mountains near Medford and Ashland? The Siskiyou Loop is an 85-mile long drive that will take you from the Medford-Ashland area – via Jacksonville and the equally historic Applegate Valley – up along the scenic crest of the rugged Siskiyou Mountains, and return you to Interstate Five and the Rogue River Valley. Along this self-guided “discovery tour” through parts of two National Forests you will: z view managed forestlands; z observe interesting geology, flora, and fauna; z visit historic sites; z and see some beautiful, near-pristine backcountry. This information provides travel directions and it points out the major features along the way. Please be sure to read all of the information below before you decide to take the tour. Page 1 of 13 SOME CAUTIONS and TRAVEL TIPS The Siskiyou Loop follows a route that includes a z The steepest part of Road 20 is between wide variety of travel conditions: four-lane freeway, mileposts 8 and 9 along Beaver Creek. two-lane paved highway, and about 25 miles of Optional, short side-trips to Dutchman Peak single-lane, graveled and dirt mountain road. Lookout and the summit of Mt. Ashland have some steeper, rougher sections. Although the entire route over the Siskiyou z The Siskiyou Loop passes through forestland Mountains has long been a popular summertime where livestock graze and timber is harvested. drive for local people in passenger cars, you may Logging trucks and cattle are common; drive wish instead to drive only the shorter sections of the slowly and cautiously, particularly when loop along the higher-standard roads – from rounding bends in the road. Medford into the Applegate Valley or from Ashland to the Mount Ashland ski area – and leave the full “Logistics” loop, on unsurfaced sections of Forest Service Road 20, for a later discovery tour. z There are no gas stations, restaurants, or other commercial services along the 40-mile section Season of Use of the loop over the Siskiyou Mountains, between McKee Bridge and Interstate 5. Be z Generally, the entire Siskiyou Loop is open for sure to have a full fuel tank when starting your vehicle traffic between July 1 and early tour. (If weather is hot, you might take along November. (Check with local Forest Service some extra radiator water.) offices if traveling before July.) z An average trip along the entire loop takes z During the winter and spring, the higher about 4 to 5 hours. You may wish to bring elevation section of the route (along Forest along some lunch and cold beverages; other Service Road 20 over the Siskiyou Mountains) is items to bring would include a litter bag, closed by snow. binoculars (for bird watching along the Siskiyou z During November through June, you can Crest), and (because cold temperatures are typically travel the lower sections, into the possible at higher elevations at any time of the Applegate Valley from Jacksonville or up the year) a warm sweater or jacket. Cell phone Mt. Ashland access road (where, depending on coverage along the route can be “hit or miss.” daily conditions, snow traction devices may be z Toilet facilities are limited in the Siskiyou required) to the ski area (where snow-park Mountains to a few Forest Service permits are required for parking between campgrounds. November 15 and April 30). z Please respect the rights of private property owners along the route; National Forest lands, Road Conditions and Traffic including several developed recreation sites, are open for your enjoyment along the way. z The Siskiyou Loop, in particular the high elevation section along Forest Service Road 20, Finding Your Way is not recommended for large recreation vehicles or vehicles pulling trailers. (Note: z This brochure contains a sketch-map which is Forest Service spur roads posted with vertical adequate to follow the route. road numbers are not maintained for use by z You may wish to purchase the Rogue River- passenger vehicles.) Siskiyou National Forest visitor’s map (which z Some sections of Forest Service Road 20 are provides better detail and additional unsurfaced, bumpy, and single-lane without information) from local Forest Service offices. turn-out spaces. Be sure to stay to the right when rounding curves in the road; there could be on-coming traffic. Page 2 of 13 Page 3 of 13 Valley’s earliest farming communities. Located Welcome to the Siskiyou Loop along the main wagon route over the mountains to Discovery Tour . California, the town expanded rapidly after completion of the railroad in 1887. Many historic This self-guided tour begins in the Rogue River homes – as well as famous Lithia Park – attest to Valley and goes up into the forested Siskiyou Ashland’s prosperity during the late 19th and early Mountains. The Siskiyous, composed of some of 20th century period. The educational and cultural the oldest rocks in Oregon, are also home to many center of the region, Ashland is home to Southern unusual plant species, and they were the scene of Oregon University and the Oregon Shakespeare some fascinating history during the frontier period. Festival. The tour passes through privately-owned land as The tour continues via Interstate 5 for about 10 well as through parts of the Rogue River-Siskiyou miles between Ashland and the freeway’s Mt. National Forest and the Klamath National Forest. Ashland exit. Take the Mt. Ashland exit (exit #5), The USDA-Forest Service manages the National continue straight ahead at the first junction Forest and administers the various resources they (paralleling the freeway for half a mile), and then contain: water, range, wildlife, timber, recreation turn onto the Mt. Ashland access road (sign reads: and others. We hope you enjoy this discovery tour “Colestin Rd./Mt. Ashland Ski Area”). Follow the of your National Forests. access road (which in about 7 miles becomes Forest Service Road 20). Now you can use this brochure as your guide by “working back” from the final section The Rogue River Valley which deals with Colestin Road and Siskiyou Pass. and Medford Medford to Jacksonville The Rogue River begins high in the volcanic mountains known as the Cascade Range. It flows For the preferred “counter-clockwise” tour, from down into a large valley, where the Rogue is joined downtown Medford take State Highway 238 (West by Bear Creek near the Table Rocks, and continues Main St.) west to Jacksonville. Driving through west through the Siskiyou Mountains on its way to irrigated orchard lands towards the foothills of the the Pacific Ocean. From Medford, the foothills of Siskiyous, the route soon reaches the outskirts of the Cascades are visible to the north and east, and historic Jacksonville (highway milepost 33). the Siskiyous rise along the south and west sides of Continuing past the Jacksonville Museum (operated the valley. by the Southern Oregon Historical Society and Medford, the beginning point for the tour, is the well-worth a special stop) Highway 238 turns right governmental and commercial center of the region. onto California Street, the town’s main Located on the banks of Bear Creek in the heart of thoroughfare. Founded as a booming mining camp the Rogue River Valley, it was founded as a railroad during the gold rush days of the early 1850s, town in the mid-1880s. The coming of the railroad Jacksonville was for a brief time the largest city in during that time enabled the products of this the Oregon Territory. It served as the seat of formerly isolated valley to be sold almost anywhere Jackson County until 1927 (by which time the in the nation. The pear orchard “boom” of the early railroad had created the area’s new economic center nineteen-hundreds really put Medford on the map. at Medford). Now a National Historic Landmark, Later, after 1920, lumber mills contributed to the Jacksonville can provide hours of interesting city’s rapid growth. exploration through historic structures and along tree-shaded streets. Medford to Ashland The Applegate Valley If you decide to travel the “clockwise” route, The Applegate Valley was inhabited by the between Medford and Ashland, along Interstate Dakubetede (“dah-koo-be-tee-dee”), who were Highway 5, the tour parallels Bear Creek through among the last Indian groups to surrender to the fertile orchard lands. First settled by American U.S. Army in 1856. First visited by hordes of gold- farmers during the early 1850s, the valley was hungry prospectors in the early 1850s, the then- originally home to two Indian groups, the Takelma remote valley attracted a small population of and the Shasta – who, after their defeat in a series of farmers, ranchers, miners, and their families during conflicts with the settlers and the U.S. Army, were the late 19th century. Since the improved road removed from their ancestral home in 1856 to a system was built after World War II, the Applegate distant reservation in Oregon’s Coast Range. Valley has become much more accessible and Ashland, which grew up around a sawmill built in populated. Many of the people who live here today the early 1850s, was one of the Rogue River commute to work in the Medford area. Page 4 of 13 zone, and – at the highest peaks – the sub-alpine zone. 26 3 Ruch: The Siskiyou Loop discovery tour turns south off of Highway 238 at the community of Ruch (“roosh”) and travels south on the Upper Applegate Approaching milepost 3, the road crosses the Little Road. This junction is marked by signs pointing to Applegate River, which comes in from the Valley View Winery, Star Ranger Station, and southeast.