Grave Creek (Oregon)

Grave Creek
The covered bridge over Grave Creek on Sunny Valley Loop Road
Name origin: The grave of a child, Martha Leland Crowley, who died near the creek in 1846[1]
Country United States
State Oregon
County Douglas, Jackson, and Josephine
Source Cedar Springs Mountain
 - location Klamath Mountains, Douglas County, Oregon
 - elevation 4,556 ft (1,389 m) [2]
 - coordinates  [3]
Mouth Rogue River
 - location about 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Galice, Josephine County, Oregon
 - elevation 623 ft (190 m) [3]
 - coordinates  [3]
Basin 163 sq mi (422 km2) [4]
Discharge for near Placer
 - average 132 cu ft/s (4 m3/s) [4][5]
 - max 8,000 cu ft/s (227 m3/s)
 - min 1 cu ft/s (0 m3/s)
Location of the mouth of Grave Creek in Oregon

Grave Creek is a tributary, about 30 miles (48 km) long, of the Rogue River in southwestern Oregon in the United States. The creek begins near Cedar Springs Mountain just north of the Douglas County – Jackson County border and flows generally southwest through Jackson County and Josephine County to its confluence with the Rogue.[6] Wolf Creek and Sunny Valley are the main communities along the creek. Major tributaries include Reuben, Poorman, Wolf, and Rock creeks.[4]

Contents

Outdoor activities

Hiking trails and river runs converge at the confluence of Grave Creek and the Rogue River. Boaters sometimes run the lower 6 miles (10 km) of Grave Creek when its flow is 500 to 1,000 cubic feet per second (14 to 28 m3/s).[7] The run, rated class 3 on the International Scale of River Difficulty, has "short twisting blind drops on the section not visible from the road"[7] and possible hazards that include low-hanging footbridges as well as brush along the stream banks. A handy stopping place for this run is the boat ramp near the Grave Creek Bridge over the Rogue River.[7] The ramp is also popular with rafters and kayakers running the 40-mile (64 km) "wild" stretch of the Wild and Scenic lower Rogue, which begins at the mouth of Grave Creek.[8] It is "one of the best-known whitewater runs in the United States."[9] Parallel to the wild stretch of the river, the Lower Rogue River Trail winds through the Wild Rogue Wilderness between the mouth of Grave Creek and Illahe.[8]

References

  1. ^ McArthur, Lewis A.; McArthur, Lewis L. (2003). Oregon Geographic Names (Seventh ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. pp. 424–25. ISBN 0-87595-277-1. 
  2. ^ Source elevation derived from Google Earth search using Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) source coordinates.
  3. ^ a b c "Grave Creek". Geographic Names Information System, U.S. Geological Survey. November 28, 1980. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:1121329. Retrieved June 1, 2009. 
  4. ^ a b c "Grave Creek Water Quality Restoration Plan 2001" (PDF). Bureau of Land Management, Medford District Office. http://www.blm.gov/or/districts/medford/plans/files/wqrpgraveck.pdf. Retrieved June 3, 2009. 
  5. ^ "USGS 14372000 Grave Creek near Placer, Oregon". United States Geological Survey (USGS). http://waterdata.usgs.gov/or/nwis/annual?referred_module=sw&site_no=14372000&por_14372000_1=547413,00060,1,1913,1955&year_type=C&format=html_table&date_format=YYYY-MM-DD&rdb_compression=file&submitted_form=parameter_selection_list. Retrieved June 3, 2009. The average flow was derived by adding the average annual flows from this discontinued gauge for the years 1951–54 and dividing by 4.
  6. ^ DeLorme Mapping. Oregon Atlas and Gazetteer (Map) (1991 ed.). Section 26–27. ISBN 0-89933-235-8. 
  7. ^ a b c Giordano, p. 117
  8. ^ a b Sullivan, pp. 187–93
  9. ^ Giordano, p. 120

External links

Works cited