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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Our View: Law lets lobbyists keep public in the dark ... Britt commissions NY composer Michael Gordon to capture Crater Lake in sound ... Murders at Crater Lake: The slaying of auto-parts reps in 1952 remains a mystery ... Our View: Law lets lobbyists keep public in the dark ... Britt commissions NY composer Michael Gordon to capture Crater Lake in sound ... Murders at Crater Lake: The slaying of auto-parts reps in 1952 remains a mystery ... DAY TRIPPIN' DAY TRIPPIN': Taking the backdoor route to Applegate Lake Comment MailTribune.com Writer Posted Apr. 13, 2015 at 12:01 AM Posted Apr. 13, 2015 at 12:01 AM --> You can be a travel writer Do you have a favorite destination or scenic drive that’s within a couple hours of the Rogue Valley? If so, email us a 300- to 500-word story about it... » Read more X You can be a travel writer Do you have a favorite destination or scenic drive that’s within a couple hours of the Rogue Valley? If so, email us a 300- to 500-word story about it that includes directions, and send pictures if you have them, to Mail Tribune features editor David Smigelski at [email protected] .   » Social News Editor's Note: Day Trippin' is a regular feature that gives readers a chance to play tour guide and tell us about a nearby getaway. By Curt Kline for the Mail Tribune A lot of people love to go to the Applegate Lake every year. It’s an easy trip and the weather in the Applegate Valley is almost always nice. But 99 percent of them take the “easy” way. Turn at Ruch and follow the nice paved road along the river all the way to the lake. But there’s a more fun way of getting there. When you get to Ruch, just keep going straight. Then after driving along for about 7.6 miles, you come to the town of Applegate. Go left around the corner and turn left onto the Applegate Store parking lot — if you’re hungry, that is. If you decide to eat, then when you leave the store look over to your left and you’ll see a green steel bridge over the Applegate River right next door to the parking lot. That bridge is your next destination. Cross the bridge and turn left onto Thompson Creek Road. Don’t worry, it’s a nicely paved, two-lane country road for the next 9.6 miles, and then you’ll see a sign saying, “Caution, One Lane Road Ahead,” but don’t worry, it’s still paved nicely and more like 1.5 lanes wide than just 1. The speed limit is 45 mph, but you’ll be better off staying around 40. The road along Thompson Creek is truly Oregon. Lots of farm houses, farm land, farm critters, shrubs, trees, flowers and a beautiful view of tree-covered hills and mountains with lots of blue sky in the background. After about 2.5 miles of this, you’ll come to the end of the pavement and enter Jackson County at the top of the hill. Stay to the left and cross over and head down. The road is mostly crushed granite, but well maintained. The only complaint you might have is the somewhat washboard effect. Continue for about 3 miles, passing by more homes along the way and you will come to a bridge on the right. That bridge is Steve’s Fork and, if you were to cross the bridge and continue back along the creek, you’d come to a camping area. However, let’s assume you continued going straight and didn’t cross the bridge. You’ll see a sign on a tree across from the bridge telling you that Applegate Lake is just 7 more miles. Now, historically speaking, you’re surrounded by land that used to belong to the town(?) of Steamboat, a mining camp from the 1860s. If you continue down the road toward Applegate Lake, go just a very short distance and check the area on your left and you’ll see a wire fence in the trees, which is the Steamboat cemetery. If you go inside the fence, you’ll see some headstones still in place, mostly current ones though. Across the road on a large plot of bare land is where the town used to be. Now continue down the road and on your left you’ll pass a two-story house that was built during the Steamboat era and is still there and still lived in. Continue down the road toward the lake, and you’ll pass a few more houses along the way and end up following Carberry Creek, which eventually feeds Applegate Lake across from where the Applegate River comes in. The dirt road is well maintained and two lanes wide, but winding, so watch your speed and keep an eye out for deer and flowers. Three miles from the Steve’s Fork turnoff is the turnoff to Whisky Peak. Many years ago it was the location of a fire lookout, but they took it down and moved it to another location a few years back. If you just like driving around on nice, dirt mountain roads, you might try it some time. You’ll end up on the “other side,” i.e. California, and then you just follow the road along the Applegate River headwaters and campgrounds until you get back around to Applegate Lake. So, assuming you didn’t go up the road to Whisky Peak, continue two miles and before you get to the lake you’ll start driving on pavement again. Just before the lake is a campground on your right, and then just around the corner is a stop sign and the intersection which, if you were coming from Ruch, would let you go right up Carberry Creek road, which you’re on right now. You can now follow the lake to the dam and head back to Ruch on a nice, paved, two-lane highway. Curt Kline lives in Medford. MailTribune.com Writer Posted Apr. 13, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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