VIDEO: Oregon Outdoors — On the Jack-Ash Trail

Oregon Outdoors writer Mark Freeman hits what could soon be a new section of the Jack-Ash Trail, an ambitious trail project that connects Jacksonville to Ashland. Building trails is a multi-step process with plenty of oversight. But even though that oversi

Searching for Oregon diamonds

PLUSH It’s like searching for a diamond in the rough.Looking for “Plush diamonds,” or Oregon sunstones, isn’t done easily. The “diamonds” are feldspar crystals formed thousands of years ago in basaltic lava flows. They’re found in many areas of the world,

Fire hinders access to area lakes, Rogue River

Stewart State Park and Lost Creek Lake Marina remained open this week, but all U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lands around Lost Creek Lake are closed to make way for firefighters battling nearby wildland blazes.Casey State Park on the upper Rogue River remai

Mixed flocks of the cloud forest

The forest dripped steadily following the morning’s light rain. Luxuriant mosses, bromeliads and orchids decorated the branches. Ferns and other understory plants reached into the muddy trail straining for a little more light. I was in the cloud forest of

Fishing report, Aug. 10, 2018

OCEAN OUTLOOKCOASTWIDE: Forecasts call for a calm ocean with 5-knot winds and 2-foot wind waves today, followed Saturday with winds to 10 knots and 2-foot seas. Sunday calls for winds up to 30 knots and wind waves to 8 feet.The marine aggregate rockfish da

Siskiyou Mountain Club keeps forest ‘arteries’ open

Working on a $46,000 grant from the Oregon Community Foundation, crews from the Ashland-based Siskiyou Mountain Club are repairing 60 miles of trails damaged in 2017 by the 191,000-acre Chetco Bar fire in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness.Huge, hot-burning conflag

Rogue steelhead coming early, often

SHADY COVE Triple-digit temperatures and shrouds of smoke have been choking the life out of anglers plying the upper Rogue River for one last shot at spring chinook salmon, but help finally is on the way.A pod of summer steelhead appear to be making their

VIDEO: Oregon Outdoors — Searching for bumblebees

Oregon Outdoors writer Mark Freeman goes on the hunt for one of the rarest bumblebees in the Pacific Northwest -- the Franklin's, which hasn't been seen in Southern Oregon since 2006.U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service biologists spent four days on the backside o

OUTDOOR NOTEBOOK: ODFW hunter mentor contest returns

State wildlife managers will again hold the “Take a Friend Hunting” contest this fall to urge more hunters to bring new faces to the woods or reintroduce the fields to lapsed hunters.The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s second annual contest uses p

Fishing Report Aug. 3, 2018

Varney Creek Trail offers cool respite

On a hot, sunny day, the ultimate reward of a hike on the Varney Creek Trail is a swim in Lake Como, floating lazily on the back while taking in views of Whiteface Peak and Aspen Butte.The Varney Creek Trail is the most popular route that accesses the Moun

Podcast: When fear is legit in the outdoors

Here's my podcast on times when we're legitimately scared while reporting outdoor stories.Enjoy. It's free.

My Adventure: A stunning dip in Crater Lake

We set off on a bright, cool morning laced with birdsong. The night before, we’d camped near Toketee Lake in the Umpqua National Forest, where we visited the famous (and satisfyingly hot, but somewhat begrimed) Umpqua Hot Springs. Now, we were bound for cl

Get Out: Friday, July 27

To have an event listed in Get Out!, email the information to adventure@rosebudmedia.comNative Plant Society outingSaturday, July 28: Katelyn Detweiler, project coordinator of the Freshwater Trust, will lead a tour at 5 p.m. of riparian revegetation along

Southern Oregon leads state in boating under the influence

SHADY COVE From Jason Denton’s position atop the Rogue River boat ramp at Shady Cove, the Jackson County sheriff’s marine deputy could tell one of the paddlers in an open raft clearly wasn’t sober.Denton approached the man, who turned out to be a South Da

Fishing Report July 27, 2018

‘Operation Ship Shape’ targets unlicensed powerboats

Oregon boaters who have let their boat registrations lapse sometimes for years while still using their crafts on Oregon waterways better get into compliance fast or face big fines.Marine deputies in Southern Oregon and across the state will be cracking d

Coast parks fire restrictions eased

Campers at Oregon’s coastal state parks can have campfires again, but beach-goers must remain mostly flameless under eased fire restrictions announced Wednesday by the Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department.Campers visiting places such as Harris Beac

Hendrix fire closes PCT just as thru-hikers hit Oregon

COLESTIN Hikers on a summerlong trek along the length of the Pacific Crest Trail saw their 2,650-mile adventure halted indefinitely Friday just inside the Oregon border because of the Hendrix fire burning less than 2 miles from the trail.The closure of 13

Helicopter rescues woman treed by wolves in Washington

Two gray wolves forced a seasonal U.S. Forest Service employee into a tree in the Washington Cascades last Thursday.The employee was doing a research survey in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service news relea

Volunteers sought to help clear wilderness trails this summer

Willing to put in some long, hard hours working as a volunteer in some of Southern Oregon’s most beautiful wilderness areas?Anthony Benedetti, wilderness technician for the Fremont-Winema National Forest, is seeking people to help on upcoming work parties

GET OUT: Friday, July 20

To have an event listed in Get Out!, email the information to adventure@rosebudmedia.comRogue Valley WalkersSaturday, July 21: 10K walk in Jacksonville. Meet at 7:45 a.m. in the parking lot on D Street, across the bridge from the Jacksonville library. For

55-mile Greensprings bike ride smoked out

Heavy smoke casting its grimy pall on the Rogue Valley has prompted the Jackson County Parks Department to cancel Saturday’s Up and Down cycling event on the Cascade-Siskiyiou Scenic Bikeway out of Emigrant Lake County Park.Park officials said they were co

ODFW turning to smartphones for licenses, tags

The days of long lines of hunters buying licenses and tags in sporting-goods stores on the eve of deer-hunting season will be a thing of the past under Oregon’s new plan to make its licensing system virtually paperless.Unless, of course, you want to get a

ODFW shifts to smartphones for licenses

Fishing report for July 20, 2018

OCEAN OUTLOOKCOASTWIDE: A gale warning is in effect through today, with 25-knot winds and 9-foot swells, easing Friday night to 15-knot winds and swells holding at 9 feet. Saturday sees winds backing down to 20 knots and wind waves hitting 7 feet. Sunday’s

Get Out: Friday, July 13

To have an event listed in Get Out!, email the information to adventure@rosebudmedia.comNative Plant Society outingsSaturday, July 14: Crater Lake National Park botanist Jenifer Hooke will lead a hike to Garfield Peak. Meet at Rim Village at 10 a.m. for a

Three Sisters offer scents and sense of place

Streams of light shimmered, slowly but ever-so gradually changing color and tone.For a brief time the evolving light show, like a gently turned kaleidoscope, was slightly filtered by the mesh covering the tent flap I’d intentionally left open the night bef

Podcast: Meet the tiger trout

Here's my latest podcast on tiger trout at Fish and Diamond lakes.Enjoy. It's free.

Medford cyclist conquers cross-country bike race

After leaving last year’s race due to injury in the first third of the 4,300-mile Trans Am Bike Race, Medford cyclist Tony Lopez flew home to the Rogue Valley last week, this time victorious after completing the 10-state, coast-to-coast trek. He placed 17t

Get Out: Friday, Aug. 6

To have an event listed in Get Out!, email the information to adventure@rosebudmedia.com.Wildflower showWednesday, July 4: The Irene Hollenbeck Memorial Wildflower Show features more than 300 species of native flowers from the Cascades, Siskiyous and the v

My Adventure: Backpacking the Rogue Wolf Loop

This year the Siskiyou Mountain Club announced the rehabilitation of a trail loop in the Sky Lakes Wilderness, around the headwaters of the Middle Fork of the Rogue River.With a lot of help from the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, the Fremont-Winema

Wakesurfers could get new statewide restrictions

State boating managers are coming to Southern Oregon next week to test the waters on how newly proposed statewide rules could help wakesurfers, boarders and relatively new wakeskaters play nice around others.The Oregon State Marine Board is taking comments

Fire restrictions return to Wild Rogue River

Increasingly dry and hot weather has prompted the Forest Service and federal Bureau of Land Management to increase campfire restrictions within the Wild Section of the Rogue River.Those who float or hike the Lower Rogue Canyon can build and maintain fires

Fishing Report for July 6, 2018

Marine Board seeks new, higher boat fees

Powerboat operators would see registration fees rise by one third and nonmotorized boaters would pay new fees earmarked for better water access under the Oregon State Marine Board’s planned budget request in the upcoming Oregon legislative session.The Mari

Marine Board to see new, higher fees

Photography in the outdoors Podcast

Here's a podcast about outdoor photography with Mail Tribune photographer Jamie Lusch and two-time Oregon Outdoors Wild Bird Photo Contest winner Cri Solo.Enjoy. It's free.

Surprises on the hike to Little Hyatt Lake

Excuse my language, but the trek along the Pacific Crest Trail to Little Hyatt Lake is a dam good hike.That’s because the hike, which begins from either the PCT trailhead off the Greensprings Highway or from a parking area a short drive north, ends near th

Beat the bad-air days

The famous blue of Crater Lake became a bit more muted than usual this past weekend in an all-too-familiar sign of summer.A shroud of smoke circled Wizard Island in the lake’s caldera, blown in from wildfires in the Bend area, including the 100,000-acre Bo

CAST for Kids needs boats

An organization that helps special-needs kids and their caretakers partake in a day of fishing is in need of volunteer anglers with boats to help make this special day happen.The CAST for Kids Foundation is planning its second annual event July 14 at Emigr

Fishing Report for June 29, 2018

OCEAN OUTLOOKCOASTWIDE: Forecasts call for 10-knot winds and 5-foot wind waves outside of Brookings today, followed Saturday by winds up to 15 knots and 8-foot wind waves. Sunday looks pretty hairy with 25-knot winds and 8-foot wind waves.The marine aggreg

Rockfish limit drops Sunday

Record bottomfishing effort along the Oregon Coast has led state fish managers to drop the daily general marine fish limit from five to four in an effort to avoid an in-season shutdown like last year.After a very busy May at coastal ports, anglers caught e

My Adventure: Creating 'wild' new memories

Halfway through last weekend’s Wild Rogue Relay, a 218-mile running relay from Applegate Lake to Brookings, teammates were asking each other, “Why did we pay to do this?”The relay includes 12-person teams or 6-person ultra-teams.A year ago, I was asked to

Get Out!

To have an event listed in Get Out!, email the information to adventure@rosebudmedia.comRogue Valley WalkersSaturday, June 23: 10K walk in the city of Rogue River on the day of the annual Rogue River Rooster Crow. Meet at 7:45 at Palmerton Park on West Eva

My Adventure: I fell down a cliff on the Rogue River Trail

The Rogue River Trail, a 40-mile path that parallels the north bank of the lower river, provides hikers with spectacular views while introducing them to the area’s history, plants and wildlife.My wife Peggy and I recently chose to backpack the trail. It ha

Home birds are brainier than travelers

First, let me clear up an issue from my column last month. Due to a production error, my recommended measurement for the opening of a house sparrow-resistant bird box was erroneously changed from 1-1/8 inches to 1-1/2 inches. I suspect a house sparrow is w

Snowy times at Glass Mountain — in June

The calendar said June, but it was snowing like it was January.“It looks like the sun is trying to break through,” Bernie said hopefully.Hmmm, wasn’t that the same thing Anita had said a half-hour earlier.We were sitting in Anita Matys’ car watching as gus

MY ADVENTURE: A different climb up Eagle Mountain

Editor’s Note: In July 2017, Amalie Dieter wrote a My Adventure column about her first trip into the Kalmiopsis Wilderness as an intern with the Siskiyou Mountain Club (http://mailtribune.com/lifestyle/learning-lessons-from-the-trail). That trip didn’t end

Get Out: Friday, June 15

To have an event listed in Get Out!, email the information to adventure@rosebudmedia.comDeer Creek wildflower hikeSunday, June 17: This moderately difficult, family-friendly hike will start at 9:30 a.m. on Deer Creek Road at the edge of the Kalmiopsis Wild

What Rainbow $5,000 derby participants need to know

Anyone fishing Diamond Lake or for any stocked trout will learn from this podcast.

Wild and Scenic quest

When Zach Collier paddled down the cool and clear upper Chetco River last week, he couldn’t help but think back to events five decades ago that helped put him there.Men in suits on the East Coast who were worried about the river-damming era of their time p

Swimming hole water tests begin

The Ashland-based Rogue Riverkeeper program this week launched its annual water-quality monitoring program to track bacteria levels in many of the Rogue Valley’s more popular swimming and fishing holes.Volunteers and a Rogue Riverkeeper intern will collect

June 15 Fishing Report

Stoned trout

TRAIL As a die-hard steelhead angler, Ri Konetski of Grants Pass is well schooled in the ways of underwater flies, but for a few weeks each late spring he tries his best to be a top-water guy.Konetski ties a fat stonefly imitation onto his line hoping it

Botanizing with Bob in The Devil's Garden

Flowers of all varieties colored the ground as we meandered through the brush on our short walk from our car to Devil’s Garden. Although our main goal was locating and measuring a large Ponderosa pine that Bob Bastian thought might be among the largest in

10-minute free-parking spots at Gorge, Natural Bridge to offset new fees

Those taking a quick peek at the Rogue Gorge or a quick pee at the Union Creek Wayside can continue to do so for free, despite new and increased fees adopted this week for the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest day-use and camping sites.Beginning next ye

Get Out: Friday, June 8

To have an event listed in Get Out!, email the information to adventure@rosebudmedia.comLet’s Pull TogetherSaturday, June 9: The Southern Oregon Land Conservancy, Jackson County Weed Management Area and other local organizations are holding a weed-pulling

My Adventure: 10 years of birding the Klamath

Claudia turned off Stateline Road to head up a back way toward Klamath Falls. “There’s a nest!” she exclaimed.As she stopped the car, I could tell there was something in the nest. Training my binoculars into the tree, I saw two baby great horned owls.“Owls

June 8 Fishing Report

OCEAN OUTLOOKCOASTWIDE: Today’s forecast calls for winds up to 10 knots and swells up to 5 feet, rising Friday night as rain sets in. Saturday’s forecast calls for winds up to 10 knots and 6-foot swells, with rain in the afternoon. Sunday’s forecast is for

Outdoor Notebook: Trebles could be banned at Hatchery Hole

State fish biologists are trying to take eight-ninths of salmon poachers’ tricks away from them by ratcheting down on hook rules at the Rogue River’s Hatchery Hole during the spring chinook salmon-fishing season.The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife h

Fishing stoneflies during the hatch

Here's my new podcast about Rogue stoneflies and how to fish during the hatch.It's free, so enjoy.

Applegate Open: It's the new Rat Race

Up to 140 competitors from across the nation and overseas will participate in the inaugural Applegate Open paragliding competition June 9-16 to ride the renowned thermals offered by launching from Woodrat Mountain.Rogue Valley Hang Gliding and Paragliding

Backpacking the North Umpqua Trail

The North Umpqua Trail has it all: Waterfalls, including a horsetail-style cascading down a 100-foot drop Weeping walls, where water seeps down moss-covered cliffs, some as long as football fields Wildflowers and towering trees, more than enough varieties

Birds' Eye View: Dealing with house sparrows can be murder

I wish to report a murder. Several actually.This spring I had the good fortune to attract a pair of western bluebirds to one of the many bird boxes on my property. The pair worked hard to build the nest. Flashes of brilliant blue accented the yard as they

Get Out: Friday, June 1

To have an event listed in Get Out!, email the information to adventure@rosebudmedia.comLithia Park nature walksSundays, Wednesdays and Fridays: Ashland Parks and Recreation offers free, guided nature walks in Lithia Park from 10 to 11:30 a.m. May through

Fishing Report: Friday, June 1

OCEAN OUTLOOKCOASTWIDE: Today’s forecast calls for 5-knot winds and swells up to 5 feet, which should bode well for bottomfishers as well as chinook trollers. Saturday sees winds kicking up to 20 knots and wind waves building to 6 feet, and that’s enough t

Outdoors Notebook: Hunting reg changes proposed

Tags for Southwest Oregon’s spring bear season would go from first-come to meted out in the controlled-hunt lottery under a new suite of proposals offered as a way to simplify and streamline regulations.Also proposed by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wi

Spooked on the mountain

Diana heard it first.“Is that a bear?” she asked, her voice anxious and quivering. “Listen!”The sound was a low, menacing growl. Whoa! Then again, a longer, louder, “GRRRrrrrrr...”Bears, I later learned, don’t actually growl. They grunt, click and chomp th

5 waterfalls in 5 miles

UNION CREEK When East Coasters Zander Farr and Joseph Kilgallen awoke Tuesday morning at Diamond Lake, the visitors decided the next stop on their epic tour of America ought to be a waterfall one close to Highway 230. And a short hike, because Berlin wan

Tax Deduction No. 1: The Sk8er R8er

Episode 11: Tax Deduction No. 1, known better as son Ben Freeman weighs in on everything you want to know, and didn't want to know, about Rogue Valley skateboarding parks. Check it out. It's free.

Outdoor Notebook: Free Fishing Weekend, Illinois booze ban

Next Saturday and Sunday mark the latest iteration of Free Fishing Weekend, when anglers can fish, crab or dig clams without the normally requisite license or tags.That includes spring chinook salmon or winter steelhead fishing on the Rogue River, where on

Rafting the Illinois — river of isolation

All was going well. We ate breakfast, broke camp and were on the river a half-hour earlier than planned.We warmed up with some easy and more challenging “rowdy” whitewater rapids. The adrenaline was flowing. No one was saying it, but we were getting pumped

May 25 Oregon Outdoors Fishing Report

Sights and sounds of the Sound of Music trail

All that was missing was Julie Andrews.About midway along the Greensprings Mountain Loop Trail, the path emerges from the woods into a spacious open meadow. From the trail, the panoramic view west includes knobby Pilot Butte, Mount Ashland and the southern

Get Out: Friday, May 18

Mountain-biking teens get league of their own

Sierra Samhammer powers her mountain bike down Ashland’s White Rabbit Trail, deftly executing a banked turn before launching herself off a jump, bike and body as one.She pumps her brakes, skidding to a stop. Not bad at all for a 13-year-old. But is it good

May 18 Fishing Report

Fishing report: Friday, May 11

OCEAN OUTLOOKCOASTWIDE: Forecasts call for winds starting at about 20 knots and ratcheting up to 30 knots today, with gale warnings in effect through this evening. Wind waves will rise to 5 feet today. Saturday calls for 15 knots around Brookings on Saturd

Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument hikes

Hikes are being led into the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument by the Soda Mountain Wilderness Council through July 1. Sign up required at sodamtnwild@yahoo.com.Saturday, May 19: Ornithologist Pepper Trail will lead a hike to explore the canyons, oak park

David's Chair opens the way back into the outdoors

Casey Moore’s withered right hand pushes the small joystick that thrusts a special wheelchair down a TouVelle State Park trail, with the chair’s tracks carrying him over rocks and thick grass.“It feels like I’m driving a mini tank,” Moore laughs.He powers

Outdoor Journal: Remembering an old friend

Here we are toasting the suds to an old friend on the eve of the third anniversary of his death.An old friend for decades and decades, part of the family really. Always got together in the spring to trout fish at Howard Prairie, or sometimes Hyatt Lake. Lo

Biologists remove arrows from wounded deer

SHADY COVE Two black-tailed deer are on the mend and expected to survive after biologists on Wednesday captured and successfully removed target arrows embedded in each of them, authorities said.The two tame “city deer” were located late Wednesday morning

Southern Oregon Land Conservancy to lead free, guided hikes at nature hotspots

EAGLE POINT Eugene Wier interrupts his stroll through the tranquil fields of the new Rogue River Preserve to peer into a puddle that will soon turn into a watery coliseum where amphibians will become gladiators.Hundreds of tiny tree-frog tadpoles flit abo

Medford man prepares to lead another group up Mount Shasta

MOUNT SHASTA CITY, Calif. Each time Kelly Andersen ascends Mount Shasta, the more than 7,000 feet in elevation gain burns his thighs, taxes his lungs and muddies that mental mantra of “don’t give up, don’t give up.”“Even though it’s really hard and misera