Rough and Ready Botanical Wayside

The Rough and Ready Botanical Wayside is co-managed by both the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest and the Medford District Bureau of Land Management, as well as by the State of Oregon.

The botanical wayside consists of a 19-acre Oregon State Park, a 1,164-acre BLM Area of Critical Environmental Concern, and a 1,560-acre US Forest Service Botanical Area. A rocked trail originates at the parking area, traverses the State Park, and leads to Rough and Ready Creek, located on BLM-administered lands. The trail continues through to the RRSNF-managed Botanical Area.

Soils at Rough and Ready Botanical Wayside consist of ultramafic alluvial deposits from Rough and Ready Creek. The wayside provides an excellent place to observe the strong effects that soil types have on plants. The ultramafic deposits have led to serpentine soil conditions favoring a unique plant community that is sparse in appearance! But don't be fooled: look closer and you're bound to see a wide variety of plants that have adapted to these soils that are endemic to the area. A starting list of plants you may find in this area can be found at www.cavejunction.com, but visitors may want to bring a plant identification book to add to the list! The best times to see wildflowers are April-June.

This is a diverse area, not just in its flora, but in its topography. Visitors should remember to look up once in awhile and see the mountains that eventually give way to the majestic Kalmiopsis Wilderness to the west. Rising above the wayside are knob-like hills characterized by non-serpentine soils where dense Douglas-fir forests, more typical of Pacific Northerwest forests, flourish, as well as other conifer species.

Fact: Even with the sparse appearance in the area, this area typically receives 60-70 inches of precipitation a year!