The Upper Rogue is a fun and convenient run for those of us in Southern Oregon. From Ashland, it takes about 25 minutes to get to any of the put-in areas (there are a number of different places to put-in and take-out). Commonly, people put-in on river left below Gold-Ray dam and float to either the boat ramp above Gold Hill or the bridge at Gold Hill (both on river right).

The run consists of a lot of flat water punctuated with one small (II+) rapid and two larger rapids known as Nugget (III) and Powerhouse (III). This run gets extremely interesting with higher water (flows above 7,000 cfs at Gold-Ray) and the features change dramatically from small waves and holes to some bigger stuff that can catch you by surprise.

The shuttle is a piece of cake as there is a road along the river throughout the run.

There is one hazard on this run: a low head dam, which is often run but still poses a threat. At high water it creates a huge boil line and can be extremely dangerous. Just be cautious and consider portaging (which can be done in the middle of the river on a big rock) to get around the dam.