Rogue Valley Trail
Hoping the decision to skip the opportunity to use the lovely pit toilets would not come back to bite me, I headed NorthWest up Rogue Valley Trail (another fire road).
As I strode along, I saw some deer up close.
After 1.6 miles of hiking on Rogue Valley Trail (the last 0.5 miles of which was mildly uphill), I reached the "end" of the trail. The trail then did a 180 degree switchback to the left and started climbing in earnest, now known as Upper Rogue Valley Trail. As I climbed, I got a good view of the Rogue Valley.
After a mile of relatively steep climbing, Upper Rogue Valley Trail meets up with several trails, including High Meadow Trail and Upper Wildcat Canyon Trail. I stayed all the way to the right and continued West on Upper Wildcat Canyon Trail. After 0.3 miles, I took the split to the right (and still uphill) on Upper High Meadow Trail. This trail climbed steeply for another 1.3 miles (and extremely steeply for the last tenth or so) to the vista point at 1600 feet.
After stopping to catch my breath and take in the view, I continued downhill on PG&E Trail, now heading East. The trail drops steeply, but occasionally has some short climbs. The views are great. 1.9 steeply descending miles later, I took the singletrack to the left 0.1 miles down to Wildcat Canyon Trail (another singletrack). Wildcat Canyon Trail was in some cool trees and followed a creek through the canyon.
Running low on time, I hauled ass down the trail as it continued descending for another 0.5 miles to Deer Hollow Farm. Just before the farm, I split off to the right onto Farm Bypass Trail for about 0.4 miles. The trail then merged back in with Lower Meadow Trail. I then retraced my steps back to my car (trying to stay ahead of the LOUD teenage girls) for a total distance of about 9.3 miles. I was kind of surprised how tired I was considering the trail wasn't very hard, but I guess that's what happens when you're walking about as fast as you can go...
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