Fish Lake
Fish Lake
- Easy (to Fish Lake)
- 3 miles round-trip
- 630 feet elevation loss
- Open May to mid-December
- Use: hikers, horses
- Difficult (to Rocky Ridge)
- 12.6-mile loop
- 2800 feet elevation gain
- Open July through October
This Fish Lake (not to be confused with the larger, better-known reservoir near Mt. McLoughlin) won its name in 1889 when a group of explorers caught 70 trout in an hour using venison for bait. Fish still jump in this forest-rimmed, half-mile-long natural lake near the South Umpqua River’s headwaters, but you’ll find other wildlife too: ducks, eagles, and a cute family of river otters. If the stroll down to the lake seems too easy, you can continue on a moderate loop past two smaller lakes, or take a longer loop along Rocky Ridge past dramatic cliffs with views across the Rogue-Umpqua Divide Wilderness.
To start, drive Interstate 5 …
This chapter taken from the book 100 Hikes in Southern Oregon.