Days: 4
Level: Easy
Mileage: 36 ave - 144 total
Start/Finish: Portland, OR
Price: 650

 

Meals: All included except dinner in Ashland
Restaurants: Choice of restaurant in Ashland
Motels: Motel in Cave Junction and Lithia Springs Inn in Ashland
Events & Activities: wine tasting, optional concert or Shakespeare play


All of our Wine Tour Weekends have the same formula - moderate mileage, camp on vineyard properties where possible, wine tasting at camp in the afternoon, and we try to include some fun evening activities. This tour does every bit of that along with some top notch entertainment options too.

This tour will take you through the three river valleys that make up the Rogue Valley AVA - the Applegate, Bear Creek, and the Rogue Valleys. The ride is a fairly easy ride. The average mileage is only 36 miles per day which will give us plenty of time to visit local vineyards. The terrain for the most part follows the valley floor but there are a couple of hills of 750' or less.

We require an early Thursday afternoon departure to allow us time to drive south to Cave Junction. We will be staying in a motel Thursday night due to our late arrival time.

On Friday morning we ride out from our motel to make a loop around the the Sucker Creek Valley with stops at the vineyards around the town of Holland. We try to stay off Highway 199 as much as possible but just north of Cave Junction we must share the road for 3 or 4 miles. We cut off there and head towards Lake Selmac. Beyond Lake Selmac we ride out into the Deer Creek Valley where we find a few more vineyards to visit before heading to our camp for the evening.

On Saturday we ride up through the Applegate Valley. This is an easy ride up a fairly flat valley floor climbing at a 2% grade. As we ride along we pass by ranches and farms of every size and kind. It is beautiful valley that is good for growing everything from hay to grapes.

The Applegate Valley now boasts the distinction of having it's own AVA and there are some truly good vineyards in the hills along our route. We finish up our ride at the county park that we will be camping in for the night. If the timing is right we may also be able to camp on the grounds of a vineyard on Saturday night.

We again start our day out with a climb on Sunday morning but it is much easier then yesterday's climb. To cross over from the Applegate Valley to the Rogue Valley we must climb an 800 foot hill. It's a slow climb up the Jacksonville Highway so we cut off there and take the back way in to Jacksonville. We stop in Jacksonville for a break because it is such an nice "old" town. The shops and old Jacksonville Inn take you back in time a 100 years. We find a couple of vineyards to stop at as we ride into Ashland.

On Sunday night we will be staying at the Lithia Springs Inn to give you a chance to "recharge" and catch a play or a concert. The Inn has a nice country ambiance with beautiful gardens. Our rooms have large soaking tubs in them so that you can soak in the spring fed mineral waters. After a wine tasting at the Inn our bus shuttles the group to dinner and a play in Ashland or dinner and a concert in Jacksonville.

On Monday we ride the side roads between the hills and I5 as we head out of town. We turn north away from I5 and ride though ranch and farm land on or way to Eagle Point. We turn to the west and meet up with the Rogue River. We ride along the river for a couple of miles before riding to our finish in Gold Hill. We get cleaned up here and head back to Portland.

Tour details may change without notice. Although you'll have an up-to-date itinerary prior to departure,
changes due to unforeseen circumstances may occur at any time.