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 The Rabbit Lake Trail, Little Grayback Peak, Cave Junction, Oregon. |
| Return to Cave Junction | |
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The Rabbit Lake Trail, Little Grayback Peak, Cave Junction, Oregon. |
| Return to Cave Junction | |
Rabbit Lake Trail, OregonBackcountry adventures in the Heart of the Siskiyou Mountains
Directions
IMPORTANT NOTE: There are quite a few nails on the turnaround area, probably the result of people camping there and burning palettes. If you have a high clearance vehicle suitable for driving up the two-track road, it is recommended that you park in the large open area and walk from there to avoid the risk of puncturing your tires. Trail Description
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Rabbit Lake is on a
rocky ledge near the top of Little Grayback Peak, located about six
miles off of the road to Oregon Caves National Monument in southwest
Oregon. It is about 16 miles from Cave Junction to the trailhead.
The trail is about a mile in length with much of it following the rocky ridge
seen in the picture above. 
From Cave Junction on Highway 199, drive 9.8 miles
on Oregon Caves Highway toward Oregon Caves and turn left on Little Grayback Road, a gravel surfaced Forest Service road that climbs up
the mountain. Drive 5.9 miles to the top of the ridge where you will
see a two track road going off to the left. The road is shown in the
center of the picture. The road gets rough and
high clearance is needed to drive the short distance to the
trailhead. If you do not have high clearance, park at the
intersection shown in the picture above and walk from there. The road enters a large open area
then reenters the forest on the other side where it climbs for a short distance and ends at a turn around point.
As you approach the turn around point, look to the left for
the trail. There is no sign at the trailhead.
The trail drops down through a heavily wooded ridge
to a saddle before beginning to climb toward Little Grayback Peak. There are many Brewers spruce along the trail,
one of
the endemic trees that grow only in this region. Brewer spruce, also known as the weeping spruce, is easy to identify because of
the distinctive galls that grow on the tips of the branches (left).
The trail
is seen in the center foreground following a rocky ridge toward
Grayback Peak (center background). The picture below was taken just
after crossing the ridge to give you an idea of what the elevation
of the crossing is in comparison to the flat ridge in the
background. IMPORTANT NOTE: The trail has become heavily eroded and
poorly defined at this cross-over. Rock cairns have been put up in
the past to help guide the way through this part of the hike.
Once on
the other side of the cross-over, the trail becomes obvious again
as seen in the lower part of the picture to the right. The trail climbs to the flat ridge
in the distance and then drops down to the other side where the
modest sized Rabbit Lake is located. Once on the other side of the
flat-topped ridge in the distance, some
parts of the trail become indistinct but if you stay to the left, heading toward the base of the
peak, you will find the lake with no problem.