Eleven of us escaped the Rogue Valley fog for sunshine at Jacksonville Forest Park. Starting from P1A, we headed out on the Rail Trail to reach the sunny, dry switchback climb up the Rattlesnake Trail, then continued on to the Siskiyou, connecting to Knobcone and Pipsissewa. Thanks to Scott, we left the Pipsissewa and took the new Bear Ridge Trail to our lunch-view destination.

This is a sweet spot with a wonderful view of Mt. McLoughlin and the Rogue Valley. To enhance the experience, the viewpoint has several signboards calling out details of the surrounding features.

After enjoying our sunny lunch view, we returned to the Pipsissewa and hiked down, crossing P6 to the Cantrall Creek Trail. This gave us a totally different climate experience. Hiking along the creek was shady, a bit chilly, and included sections of trail that were frozen and icy. When we reached the road at P4, we crossed back over to finish our return on the Rail Trail.

All in all, this was a diverse 6.5-mile lollipop hike with 1,690 feet of ascent and no uphill after lunch. One could certainly make it a shorter hike with less ascent by starting at P4 on the Siskiyou Trail.

After finishing our hike, the group went to the McCully House Inn in honor of Barry and Leslie’s birthdays.