This morning, I woke up at about 5:30 AM and left Bunker Creek at around 6:30 AM. The loud, constant sound of Bunker Creek awakened me multiple times during the night. I remember promising myself that I would do everything possible to sleep as far away from the sounds of rapids/running water for the remaining nights of the trip.
The first few miles of the trail were pleasant due to the cool weather and absence of the sun. Between Bunker Creek and Horseshoe Bend, there were two side-trails which descended from the main trail to Black Bar and Horseshoe Bend. These side-trails were steep and about .25 mile each way, adding a total of one additional mile of difficult hiking to the relatively flat and easy Rogue River Trail.
At Horseshoe Bend, I met an older couple and their dog who were on a rafting trip with their friends visiting from Vietnam. They were very sweet and offered me breakfast/coffee, but I decided to just continue on because of the long day ahead to Blossom Bar.
Like yesterday, today’s hiking included many creeks and water sources along the trail. Also, like yesterday, the weather was very pleasant with temperatures ranging from about 50 degrees in the morning to 80 degrees in the exposed mid-day sun. During yesterday and today, there were also alternating periods of rain, sun, clouds, and everything in between.
While hiking between Kelsey Creek and Ditch Creek on the Rogue River Trail, I noticed a beautiful black/white colored bird which was perched on a branch and spreading its wings. It maintained this pose during the entire time I was walking past it.
Winkle Bar was one of the few areas with an interesting history along the Rogue River. Archaeologists and historians estimate that the entire Rogue River area (including Winkle Bar) has inhabited by Native Americans since about 8,500 years ago. More recently, during the early 1900s Winkle Bar was part of a mining claim just like so many areas along the river. Here is an article explaining Zane Grey’s passionate interest in the Rogue River, his acquisition of the land, his building of a cabin for a personal wilderness retreat at Winkle Bar, until the eventual acquisition of Winkle Bar by the BLM in 2008.
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Slide Creek 
Slide Creek 
Rogue River Trail 
Rogue River Trail 
Quail Creek (19 miles) 
Quail Creek 
Quail Creek 
Quail Creek 
Quail Creek or Paradise Creek
A few miles downstream from Zane Gray’s wilderness retreat, the history of Rogue River Ranch is a beautiful story of an independent, hard-working family who succeeded in building a family, community, and livelihood on the Rogue River. Here is the Wikipedia which provides information about the history of the property from the late 1800s to its current designation and use as a National List of Historic Places.
The Rogue River Ranch reminded me a lot of Will Roger’s Ranch off of Sunset Blvd in the Pacific Palisades. Both ranches include many acres of manicured green lawns surrounded by white ranch fences, with just a couple of modest, historical structures located on the ranches. It seems to have been the beautiful surroundings and independent, self-sustaining lifestyle that attracted the Billets Family and Will Rogers to live on their ranches.
The caretaker of the ranch was a middle-aged man (likely living with his wife) who came out of the caretaker’s house as I descended the hill into the ranch. The first question he asked was whether I was part of a group of a kayakers, rafters, and hikers. I knew that he was trying to figure out if I was the middle-aged hiker (“with a grey shirt and blue backpack”) who was separated from his group of kayakers and rafters. Earlier that day, a kayaker in the Rogue River had pulled up along the edge of the Rogue River and asked me if I had seen a middle-aged hiker wearing a grey shirt and blue backpack. A few days later at Foster Bar, I would eventually meet the group of 6-7 people including “lost-hiker,” kayaker, and rafters. The lost-hiker and rafter would end up giving me a ride from Foster Bar to McKay’s supermarket in Gold Beach, Oregon.
The caretaker of the ranch mentioned that I was the only visitor currently at the ranch. He also pointed out that there was a picnic table across the lawn, water spigots with filtered water channeled directly from the nearby Mule Creek, and that the Tabernacle building and Blacksmith Shop were unlocked and available for self-guided public tours.
The museum, which I assume to be at least 75 years old was currently in process of being restored and renovated. As one of the pictures taken from a side angle shows, one side of the outside of the building has been restored (bright red paint, refurbished windows, and refurbished woodwork) and the other side of the building hasn’t been restored yet (faded red point, clouded windows, and rotting/peeling window frames). It was interesting to see the contrast between the two sides of the museum building.
At about 6PM, I arrived at Blossom Bar, the most popular rapids along the Rogue River. Blossom Bar was previously considered impassable, but dynamite has since been used to clear some of the rocks to make passage much easier. I walked a few hundred feet down to the Rogue River and enjoyed the sight and sounds of the whitewater portion of Blossom Rapids which stretched hundreds of feet on the Rogue River.
Afterwards, I set up camp but the sun was still shining and I wasn’t yet ready to retire into the tent for the night. Luckily, a couple of hikers were passing by along the trail and I asked I could borrow a lighter for a few minutes. They offered me to keep the lighter, mentioning that they had an extra one. I then reciprocated by offering each of the hikers a Cliff Bar as a means of expressing gratitude. The Native Americans would have been proud of the bartering and reciprocity.
While building the fire, I couldn’t help but start making some connections between building a fire and building a real estate portfolio.
- Warmth= income
- Logs = Properties that are leased out on long term land lease; will eventually revert to landowner/atmosphere
- Real estate supply: trees ( never ending supply…. Be patient)
- Real estate portfolio = Sum of all the logs (campfire)
- Asset management = moving the logs, adding logs, removing logs, firestarters in different areas
- Investor= person making asset management decisions
- Foreclosure = Log prematurely burning out (not fully burnt)
There needs to be a balance between cash flow (warmth) and property maintaining value over the long term (log efficiency). If you try to light a big fire too fast (impatience), you’ll end up with charred, healthy logs, that haven’t been fully burnt (wasted potential).
Good properties/portfolio/asset management not only generate income, but each property/log increases the efficiency of all the logs/properties in the portfolio (diversification, economies of scale, specialization, secrets of each property type leading to more efficiency).
Videos from today:
