Natural Bridge, Mill Creek, & Barr Creek Falls, & Rogue Gorge in Prospect, OR

                                  Thursday 7/12/2012

We left Beckie's across from the Union Creek Resort, after having breakfast and headed south for Prospect, OR.

We wanted to see the Natural Bridge and a few falls before heading back to Crater Lake.

The Natural Bridge was just minutes from Union Creek Resort. We parked and crossed the walking bridge.

We looked up the Rogue River, which was much smaller than what we had seen a few weeks prior, when in Gold Beach, OR., where the Rogue River enters the Pacific Ocean.

The Rogue River becomes very narrow at this spot and

does a disappearing act through a lava tube and under the natural bridge, and then reappears further downstream.

Opening where the Rogue River reappears from the lava tubes. Now this sight was not earthshaking, but we didn't drive far to see it, and these trails get us out walking  and some much needed exercise. We got back into the car and drove to the next big attraction in the area.

Just 11 mills south of Union Creek Resort off  Hwy 62, outside of Prospect, OR., we followed signs to the parking lot for the Mill Creek Falls Scenic Area. As we headed down the trail we met a couple who said they never found the falls. They found the giant boulders, but no falls. They told us that the signage was not good and told us which route they took.

We took the opposite trail they took and came to the Mill Creek Falls that drops 173 feet into the Rogue River Canyon.

Zoom to the Mill Creek Falls across the canyon.

Just south from the Mill Creek Falls we found the Barr Creek Falls.

Barr Creek Falls drops 175 feet to the Rogue River Canyon.

Don't get too close to the edge, it's a very long fall into the canyon and there are no guard rails.

We drove into Prospect, OR. population of 530.

There is not much to see in Prospect, except the historic Prospect Hotel that opened in 1892.

We stopped at the only gas station in town and got some gas at $3.89 a gallon.

There is the Crater Lake RV Park in Prospect, OR. that has full hook ups and WiFi, that would be a good place to stay if you are driving your RV to Crater Lake.



We headed back toward Crater Lake on Hwy. 62, and just past Union Creek Resort we stopped at the Rogue Gorge

The gorge is a span of the Rogue River where it cascades through a constricted channel of basalt lava.

At the north end of the trail there is a platform overlooking a small rapid area.

The Rogue River runs 215 miles from the NW side of Crater Lake in the Cascade Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.

On our walk back to the car we saw this sign of a drowning of someone's nephew/son, that had happened 2 months prior, with the search of his body still in progress. How sad!

View of the Rogue River Gorge from the trail as we walked back to our car.