Hiking Table Rock and Roxy Ann Peak in Medford

Basecamp to Hiking Beauty

Hike Table Rocks and Roxy Ann Peak in Medford

Hikers at Prescott Park in Medford

Located in the beautiful Rogue Valley, Medford is a road-trip basecamp for some stellar hiking and sightseeing, including a must-visit natural landmark, Table Rocks.

Hiker at Upper Table Rock near Medford

Hikers on the plateau of Upper Table Rock in Medford

The city has a tasty culinary and craft beer scene, including Common Block Brewing, a family-friendly brewpub downtown.

Two people at the bar at Commonblock Brewing in Medford

For a beautiful late-day to early-evening hike, east of Medford is Prescott Park, featuring 1,740 acres of paved and unpaved terrain with incredible views of the Rogue Valley. Its crowning glory is Roxy Ann Peak, decked in pine forest with mountain wildflowers spilling down meadows in spring and summer. The background is cinematic, with wide vistas of Mount Shasta, Mount Ashland, and Mount McLoughlin.

Go on a 5-mile (round-trip) hike to the peak by starting on the Greenhorn Trail, followed by Manzanita Trail, which goes to Roxy Ann Peak. Return on the Ponderosa, Oak, and Madrone Trails. Prescott Park and Roxy Ann Peak are dog-friendly! More details and a map.

hiker with hands up in the air at Roxy Ann Peak in Medford

Just outside of Medford, Upper and Lower Table Rock are a natural landmark formed some seven million years ago from lava. The nature here is incredibly rare, including dwarf woolly meadowfoam, found nowhere else on earth. (This is also why Table Rock is the only Bureau of Land Management destination locally that does not allow dogs.)

A hiker on a rock pile at Upper Table Rock Southern Oregon

A group of hikers on the plateau of Upper Table Rock in Southern Oregon

Hiking to Upper Table Rock is a moderate 2.5-mile out-and-back ascending just over 700 feet. Your destination is a vast, otherworldly volcanic plateau with dramatic cliff drops and a panorama of Southern Oregon’s distinct mountains: Mount McLoughlin, Mount Ashland, Roxy Ann Peak, and Pilot Rock. A hike to Lower Table Rock is longer, at 3.5 miles (out and back) and has interpretive panels along the way.

Table Rocks Southern Oregon

JAPANESE GARDEN TIP: Another charming town with an urban park worth spending an afternoon in is Ashland. Lithia Park is nicknamed the emerald urban oasis, with Ashland Creek flowing through its 100 acres of terrain. Not to be missed: the park’s newly opened Japanese Garden, an oasis of pure tranquility. Toru Tanaka designed the garden, staying true to tradition with an A-symmetry design and counterclockwise route featuring ten distinct areas—from the Bamboo Forest to the Tea Garden. The large cedar deck here is wheelchair accessible.

Downtown Ashland

Travel Medford. Heart of the Rogue

Travel Ashland Oregon

Discover the Distinct Regions of Southern Oregon

Trending Stories NorCal

View all Stories
  1. Sequoia Re-opens Crystal Cave

    Step inside Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park's hidden world by visiting the newly re-opened Crystal Cave—the only cave in the parks open to the public. Closed for four years, this rare marble karst cavern is welcoming visitors once again, but only through the summer season!

    View
  2. Afternoon on the Island

    What is it about tiny islands in the middle of lakes? There’s something that just draws you in. It’s even more fun when getting there is half the adventure because you have to reach it by canoe, kayak, paddleboat, or a ranger-guided boat tour!

    View
  3. Easiest Best Hike in the World

    Choose the easiest and most view-rewarding hike in Yosemite. Okay, we’ll go first: the combination of hiking to Sentinel Dome and Taft Point. Both of these lookouts are within a couple miles of each other on Glacier Point Road

    View
  4. Hiker in the forest at Mount Sutro in San Francisco

    San Francisco's Middle Earth

    No need to travel to New Zealand to visit Middle Earth. San Francisco’s Mount Sutro Open Space is practically Hobbiton—a hidden “shire” in the middle of the city. Okay, maybe not quite as magical, but still an incredible place to take a hike in city limits.

    View

Trending Stories SoCal

View all Stories
  1. Locals' Feature: Jim Litchfield, Owner of Reno Fly Shop

    If there's a river, you're likely to find Jim Litchfield there. As the owner of Reno Fly Shop, Nevada's premier fly fishing outfitter and shop, Jim's passion for rivers knows no bounds: he's fished in places near and far, including Alaska, Bolivia and Christmas Island. But home is beautiful Reno, where he has been running Reno Fly Shop and leading tailored river float and fly fishing adventures (including beginner-friendly options) for over a decade.

    View
  2. Can't Top This

    San Francisco’s Presidio was already a fantastic place to hang out for the afternoon, a beautiful site within the largest urban national park in the United States (the Golden Gate National Recreation Area). And Presidio Tunnel Tops is like a cherry on top. Make that two cherries on top, with the newly opened (July 2025) Outpost Meadow, a 1.5-acre green space located at Old Mason Street across from the Crissy Field Marsh in the Presidio.

    View
  3. Volcanic Activity

    Northern California is home to one of the most unique ecosystems in the country: Lassen Volcanic National Park. The region features geothermal areas, including the largest dome volcano in the world, Lassen Peak. Hike to the top of this active volcano on a 5-mile out-and-back.  

    View
  4. Oh Ryan

    Sure, it’s those whimsical trees that give Joshua Tree National Park its marquee billing; but this beautiful landscape also has surrounding mountains and its night sky—one of the darkest in Southern California and designated an International Dark Sky Park. Joshua Tree has four allowable stargazing parking lots, and a newly opened haven for spending the night nearby...

    View