Wild Rivers Discovery Trail

The Wild Rivers Discovery Trail meanders several hundred miles through the coastal mountains of southern Oregon, from Brookings in the south to Cape Blanco in the north. This route is predominantly easy and well-maintained forest roads, with the exception of forest road 1376 which is a really fun climb up and over Snow Camp that connects to forest road 3680 on the northern side. Unfortunately, this road is only open between June 1^st and September 30^th. There is another 4,000-foot section of road on this route, near Iron Mountain, that is open from June 1^st to October 31^st, so we just barely made the cutoff on that one. I think that this route was originally created by Overland Trail Guides, and perhaps prior to the 2017 Chetco Bar Fire that tore through southern portion of this route.  There are no roads to the Chetco Bar – a “bar” being a wide, rocky section of riverbank, and the fire quickly got out of hand. 

I met up with Kitt from Seattle, at the Harris Beach State Park campground on October 23^rd. We had picked a less-than-optimum time for our trip, as a big storm was rolling in over the next few days which would bring 20-40 mph winds and 2 to 4-inches of rain. Maybe it is a Pacific Northwest thing, but traveling off-road and camping in the rain is a relaxing and enjoyable experience for me. The sounds are different, the smells are different, and the whole experience is somewhat “otherworldly.” That being said, the mud is persistent to the point of not being able to get in or out of the Jeep without getting it on your pants or hands. I keep a towel handy during these trips, as it is a constant struggle. We hit the road early on Thursday morning to make Mattie’s Pancake House for some much-needed nourishment to kick-off our trip. There was a light rain overnight, but the storm was still some hours away. After the great breakfast, we headed up Winchuck River Road into the Rogue-Siskiyou National Forest. Our goal this morning was the site of the 1942 aerial bombing raid by a single Japanese Navy plane. It is the only bombing of the U.S. mainland by a manned aircraft during the war – later in 1945 a Japanese Balloon Bomb would kill six people near Bly, Oregon 200-miles to the east. The goal of these bombs, and there were two although the site of the second bomb has never been located, was to create a massive forest fire that would draw resources away from the war effort. Unfortunately for the Japanese, the submarine carrying the light attack bomber did not reach the southern Oregon coast (after shelling Fort Stevens in June) until September 24^th, the same day (albeit 83-years later) that we were traveling. The conditions were similar, though, and any fire created by the two incendiary bombs that the plane dropped was quickly extinguished by the wet conditions.

We left the Wild Rivers Discovery Trail and headed south on forest road 1205 to the trailhead, which is well marked. The trail itself is a one-mile out-and-back through some fantastic stands of old growth fir and redwood trees. We lucked out and had a mostly dry hike through the damp forest, and it was quite warm for late fall morning. I regretted wearing my shell layer, but one never can bet on the rain during this time of the year. There are informative placards at the trailhead and the bomb site, and you can see Nobuo Fujita’s family Samurai Sword at the Chetco Public Library, back in Brookings. The pilot donated the 400-year-old sword to the town of Brookings in 1962. Nobuo Fujita died on September 30, 1997. 

From the trailhead, we traveled back to forest road 1107 to loop north around Panda Ridge and down to the Chetco River, where we made a sharp turn back north and followed the river to the convergence of its south fork. The weather was holding, and we actually had some sunshine, so along the way we found an old forest service road that headed down to the river, onto the northern end of the Redwood Bar. This was a very tight and overgrown road with several steep hills to negotiate. Though not on the trail per se, it was tons of fun, and it was great to enjoy some sunshine and a nice lunch on the bar.  After lunch we continued west towards the Kalmiopsis Wilderness and the heart of the area impacted by the 2017 fire. 

The weather had moved in, and it was spitting rain, and the winds were gusting high enough that I had to hold my hat on my head, whenever I got out of the Jeep. The route took us back down to the Chetco River, where we turned north towards Snow Camp at about 4,000 feet, which is where we ran into a locked gate due to the seasonal closure of forest road 1376 at the Snow Camp trailhead. Unfortunately, it was the end of the day’s journey, as there is no way to access the other side of Snow Camp from this direction, so we licked our wounds and headed back down the mountain to Brookings for the night. What was not disappointing was dinner at the Oxenfré Public House. I had the pub burger and Kitt had Korean Braised Shortrib Wraps – we both thought the meal was a great end to an adventurous day. The next morning, we headed north on Highway 101 to Gold Beach, where we turned east on Hunter Creek Road to meet back up with the Wild Rivers Discovery Trail on the north-side of Snow Camp. We continued north and soon met up with the Rogue River and followed the river towards the small resort community of Agness, which still gets daily mail deliveries by boat. North of Agness the route took us up forest road 33 which had recently re-opened as firefighters were gaining control over the Moon Complex Fire. Further north we crossed Foster Creek, and it was obvious that portions of the mountain had recently come down the creek and taken out this section of forest road 33. The area was repaired, but the devastation was impressive. Unfortunately, the repairs did not extend further up Foster Creek, as we turned west on forest road 3340 to loop back around the mountain, a sign told us that the road ahead was closed. 

Being the capable off-roaders that we are, we explored up the road to see why it was closed and quickly came across the section that was washed-out by Foster Creek. It was definitely unpassable. Fortunately, the Forest Service had cleared a detour further up forest road 33 that would connect Agness Pass to Iron Mountain on the western side of the affected area. We would miss several miles of the route, but at least we could continue on our way – and this section of road at Iron Mountain would be seasonally closing on October 31^st which was less than a week away. Seasonal road closures had already bit us once on this trip, and it almost did it again. Lesson learned. Near the Iron Mountain North Trailhead, we connected with forest road 3347 which meandered through the trees for many miles, finally reconnecting with forest road 33 near the south fork of the Coquille River. We would double-back south on forest road 3353 at China Flat – formerly a community of Chinese gold miners but now a picnic area – which would take us west to the Copper Salmon Wilderness. The area is dominated by Salmon Mountain in the north, and Copper Mountain in the south. 

At the southern end of the Copper Salmon Wilderness, forest road 3353 runs into 5325 which continues up the western side of the wilderness area to the Bear Bar Campground, where we picked-up forest road 5201 and continued north between the Grassy Knob Wilderness on our left, and the Copper Salmon Wilderness on our right. It was getting late in the day and true to its name, we had crossed the Chetco and Winchuck rivers on day 1, the Illinois, Rogue, and Coquille rivers on day 2, and had only the Sixes River which would take us to the finish line at Cape Blanco back on the coast. We could have pressed on, but did not want to roll into Cape Blanco in the dark. We found a spur road off forest road 5201 and had a sporadically dry evening for several hours, until the rain returned with a vengeance, overnight.

We packed up in the morning and continued down the 5201 road for several miles, where we picked-up Sixes River Road which took us back to Highway 101 and the Oregon Coast. It was several more miles to reach Cape Blanco State Park, which was free to enter – a pleasant surprise. The weather was cooperating, and we had a nice 1/4-mile hike to the lighthouse. It was still early, so to cap off our trip we headed into Port Orford for breakfast at Café 2.0 and had a fantastic meal (and great coffee!). I had a great time exploring a part of Oregon that I have not been to, before. This was a fast route, easily doable in two days, but it had some seasonal road closures that limit its full potential to June 1^st through September 30^th. I suspect that the area is quite busy in July and August, which would also be a limiting factor. It was great to generally have the entire area to ourselves, other than some sporadic hunters, but we were prepared for the elements that nobody can predict, at this time of year.