| Roxy Ann Peak | |
|---|---|
 Roxy Ann Peak overlooks Medford from the east. | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 3,576 ft (1,090 m) NAVD 88[1] |
| Prominence | 753 ft (230 m) NGVD 29[a] |
| Coordinates | 42°21′17″N122°47′08″W / 42.35486°N 122.78542°W /42.35486; -122.78542[1] |
| Geography | |
  Roxy Ann Peak Location in Oregon | |
| Location | Jackson County, Oregon, United States |
| Parent range | Western Cascades |
| Topo map | USGS Medford East |
| Geology | |
| Rock age | 30–35Ma[3] |
| Volcanic arc | Cascade Volcanic Arc |
| Climbing | |
| Easiest route | Hike |
Roxy Ann Peak, also known as Roxy Ann Butte, is a 3,576-foot-tall (1,090 m) mountain in theWestern Cascade Range at the eastern edge ofMedford, Oregon. Composed of severalgeologic layers, the majority of the peak is ofvolcanic origin and dates to the earlyOligocene epoch. It is primarily covered byoak savanna and opengrassland on its lower slopes, andmixed coniferous forest on its upper slopes and summit, stopping short of the summit. Despite the peak's relatively smalltopographic prominence of 753 feet (230 m), it rises 2,200 feet (670 m) above Medford and is visible from most of theRogue Valley. The mountain is Medford's most importantviewshed,open space reserve, and recreational resource.
The area was originally inhabited beginning 8,000 to 10,000 years ago byancestral Native Americans. TheLatgawaNative American tribe was present in the early 1850s when the sudden influx ofnon-indigenous settlers resulted in theRogue River Wars. After the wars, the Latgawa were forced away from the region ontoreservations. The peak was named in August 1853 by immigrants arriving from Missouri via the Oregon Trail. Roxy Ann Hutchinson Hughes Bowen was the (step)grandmother of the McKee-Bowen family. Her step-daughter Maryum Bowen and Maryum's husband John McKee settled on, and filed a Donation Land Claim for, 320 acres on the SW flank of the butte (today's Hillcrest Orchards and Roxy Ann Vineyards).
In 1883, the city of Medford was established to the southwest of the mountain, and becameincorporated two years later. After acquiring a large amount of land from theLions Club and thefederal government between 1930 and 1933, the city created the 1,740-acre (700 ha)Prescott Park in 1937. The park protects much of the upper slopes and summit of the peak and remains largely undeveloped. The peak's southern foothills have some quickly expandingsingle-family residentialsubdivisions.
Roxy Ann Peak is part of the old and deeply erodedWestern Cascades, along with nearbyPilot Rock,Grizzly Peak, andBaldy.[4][5] It is composed of several distinct geologic layers. The oldest layer, the 35 to 50-million-year-old Payne Cliffs Formation, forms the base of the peak and consists of sedimentarysandstone,shale, andconglomerates. Most of the rest of the mountain is made up of 30 to 35-million-year-old volcanicbasalt,breccias, andagglomerates, known as the Roxy Formation.[3][6][7] These rocks are some of the oldest in the Cascades.[8] At the summit, younger basaltdikes andintrusionsK–Ar dated to 30.82 ± 2 million years ago form a relatively erosion-resistant cap,[7] likely contributing to the peak's isolation and familiar conical shape.[3][6] Much of the lower slopes of Roxy Ann are covered by a 4-to-5-foot-thick (1.2 to 1.5 m) layer of dense, stickyclay.[3][9] Due to the clay's lowshear strength, the soil is prone tocreep,earthflows, andlandslides. Several largesubdivisions lie on top of these deposits, some of which are up to 20 feet (6.1 m) thick.[9] The upper slopes and peak have shallow dark brown gravelly loam of the McMullin soil series, while deeper gravelly loam soils on lower slopes are assigned to the Tablerock series. The surrounding clays are mapped as Heppsie or Carney series.[10]
The peak stands 3,576 feet (1,090 m) above sea level with a topographic prominence of 753 feet (230 m),[1][a] and rises 2,200 feet (670 m) above the surroundingRogue Valley.[11] The unique rounded top, location, and height of the peak create a landmark distinguishable from as far away asShady Cove, 15.5 miles (24.9 km) to the north, and theSiskiyou Summit, 23.5 miles (37.8 km) to the south.[12]
Humans have lived in the vicinity of Roxy Ann Peak for the past 8,000 to 10,000 years.[13][14] The first inhabitants were semi-nomadic, most likely living off ediblebulbs and large mammals such asmastodons andgiant bison.[13] Within the last millennium, the region became home to theLatgawaNative American tribe, who called the peakAl-wiya.[13][15][16] They probably used the mountain for gatheringacorns and huntingblack-tailed deer and small birds, animals which are still abundant there.[6][15]
The first European Americans to visit the area were a group offur trappers led byPeter Skene Ogden who traveled north through the Rogue Valley on February 14, 1827.[13][14] The first non-indigenous settlers arrived a few decades later. The sudden increase in population created conflicts with the Latgawa, which ultimately led to theRogue River Wars of 1855 and 1856. After the wars, the remaining Latgawa were forced hundreds of miles north to theSiletz Reservation on the centralOregon Coast.[13]
Early settlers named the peak Skinner Butte, afterAlonzo A. Skinner, the Rogue ValleyIndian agent between 1851 and 1853.[13][17][18] The current name of the mountain originates from one of its first residents, Roxy Ann Bowen. Two couples—Roxy Ann and her husband John McKee and Stephen and Mary Taylor—claimed almost the entire peak in 1853, and by the late 1850s, it came to be known as Roxy Ann Peak.[13][14][17][18]
In October 1883, construction of theOregon and California Railroad was begun through the center of the Rogue Valley, bypassingJacksonville, thecounty seat. The railroad company also constructed atrain depot halfway betweenCentral Point andPhoenix, andplatted 82city blocks around it. The townsite was named Medford in December.[19] In 1884, residents celebrated the town's firstIndependence Day by firing 38 cannon blasts—one for each U.S. state—from Roxy Ann Peak's summit.[17][20] Medford grew quickly, and wasincorporated on February 24, 1885.[21]
Beginning in the early 1900s, the mountain's foothills were predominantly used forpear orchards andlignite mining. Mining ceased at the onset of World War I, and many of the orchards were abandoned during theGreat Depression, but some still remain.[6]
In 1929, theLions Club purchased two sizable portions of land on the peak, anddeeded 200 acres (81 ha) to Medford for recreational use the following year.[12][22][23] In 1931, the city acquired another 1,500 acres (610 ha) via theRecreation and Public Purposes Act,[14][24] and 40 acres (16 ha) more in 1933.[25][26] The park was dedicated in 1937 to George J. Prescott, a Lions Club leader and Medford police officer who was killed on duty on March 16, 1933.[6][27][28]
Starting in 1933, theCivilian Conservation Corps (CCC) made the first improvements to Prescott Park, including constructing 18 miles (29 km) of trails and a 16-foot-wide (4.9 m) access road (Roxy Ann Road), creating several picnic areas and overlooks, and digging drainage ditches.[14][22][29] The CCC stopped work in 1942, soon after the beginning of World War II. Park maintenance ceased due to municipal budget problems, andgasoline rationing caused the number of visitors to drop markedly. By 1956, the CCC's improvements had suffered $110,000 in damage.[6] The trend of disrepair continued for several decades.[6][27]
During the late 1990s, the park experienced a surge in vandalism, littering, and wildfires caused byoff-roading,[27][30] and Roxy Ann Road became nearly impassable because of lack of maintenance. Medford police officers had to devote much of their time to patrolling the mountain, made difficult by the park's remote location. To alleviate these problems, the cityregraded Roxy Ann Road in 1998,[31] and installed two gates near the park entrance two years later.[27][30] By 2006, vandalism had decreased by 70 percent.[14]
At 1,740 acres (700 ha),[32][33][34] Prescott Park is Medford's largest park, covering much of the upper slopes and summit of Roxy Ann. It is two and a half times larger than the city's other parks combined.[32][35]
Prescott Park and Roxy Ann Peak's upper slopes remain relatively undeveloped, being outside of Medford's city limits andurban growth boundary.[26][31][33] The summit of the peak is home to a 180-foot-tall (54.9 m)radio tower built in 2007; the new tower replaced three of four existing 80-foot (24 m) towers.[31][36] Roxy Ann Peak and nearby Baldy are the only two primarytransmitter station sites in the Rogue Valley.[31]
Residential development of the mountain's southern foothills has been on the rise for several years,[37] primarily in the form ofsingle-family residences.[31] Construction costs have continued to rise as well, in part because of a bill passed in 2003. Oregon House Bill 3375 required that new construction on slopes of 20 percent or greater with unstable soil undergo increased regulation and an extended approval process. The bill doubled the cost of newfoundations to around $20,000 to $30,000, and the cost ofretrofitting an existing structure approached $100,000.[38]
Roxy Ann Peak's southern foothills are also home to the RoxyAnn Winery, aRogue Valley AVA winery founded in 2002.[39] On the opposite side of the mountain is the firstbioreactor landfill inSouthern Oregon, the Dry Creek Landfill, which began a program in 2006 to generate power from collectedmethane.[40][41]
On September 21, 2009, a wildfire broke out on Roxy Ann Peak's western slopes and consumed approximately 633 acres (256 ha).[42][43] It left 25,000 residents without electricity, forced the evacuation of over 100 homes,[44] and cost over $1.3 million to fight, but no structures were damaged.[42]
Roxy Ann Peak's highbiodiversity is due to its wide range of elevations and its location between theCascade,Klamath, andEastern Cascade ecoregions.[45] The lower slopes of the peak supportchaparral,oak savanna, and opengrassland.[46] ScatteredCalifornia black oak,Oregon white oak, andPacific madrone trees grow in these areas,[46][47] as dosclerophyllous shrubs such asbirchleaf mountain mahogany,sticky whiteleaf manzanita,buckbrush,antelope bitterbrush, andPacific poison oak.[46][48] Common grasses includeblue wildrye andprairie Junegrass. Wildflowers includingSouthern Oregon buttercup,common yarrow, andTolmie star-tulip also grow in these regions.[49] At higher elevations, the vegetation transitions to mixedconiferous forest, dominated byDouglas fir,ponderosa pine,incense cedar,western juniper, and Pacific madrone trees.[45][50][51] Shrubs such ascommon snowberry,bearbrush,greenleaf manzanita, sticky whiteleaf manzanita,deerbrush, and Pacific poison oak make up theunderstory of the forest, along withherbaceous plants such ascreeping snowberry andIdaho fescue.[45]
The peak is home to many species of birds, includingblue-gray gnatcatchers,lazuli buntings,oak titmice,acorn woodpeckers, andCalifornia quail on the lower slopes, andmountain quail,mountain chickadees, andred-breasted nuthatches on the upper slopes.[50]Wild turkeys andraptors such asCooper's hawks,golden eagles,bald eagles, andprairie falcons are also common.[27][52] A few speciesmigrate to the peak in the winter, includingruby-crowned kinglets,yellow-rumped warblers, andgolden-crowned sparrows.[50] Mammals that inhabit the mountain include black-tailed deer,cougars,bobcats,skunks,raccoons,coyotes,bears,weasels, andsquirrels.[14][27][49] A large herd ofRoosevelt elk frequent the peak's western foothills. The herd swelled to over 100 individuals in the mid-2000s, causing traffic problems and severe damage to local pear orchards, but shrank to about 40 members by 2009 after anOregon Department of Fish and Wildlife relocation effort.[53] Other common animals on the peak includewestern rattlesnakes andwestern blacklegged ticks.[14]
Roxy Ann Peak and Prescott Park serve as Medford's most importantviewshed,open space reserve, and recreational resource.[37][40] Popular recreational activities on the peak include picnicking andhiking,mountain biking, andhorseback riding on the 4 miles (6 km) of designated trails in Prescott Park, which range in difficulty from moderate to steep.[14][34][54] In August 2013, the city of Medford and theInternational Mountain Bicycling Association released a conceptual plan detailing future improvements to the park's trail system. The plan would add 30 miles (48 km) of new multi-use trails throughout the park, improve existing trails and trail signage, and add a newtrailhead on the mountain's western slope, at an estimated cost of between $360,000 and $720,000.[54][55] If approved, construction on the first phase could begin by 2015.[54]
Achallenge course opened in Prescott Park in April 2012, operated by theTigard-based company Synergo. The course has 15 elements—eightlow and sevenhigh—each formed by various combinations of ropes, wires, platforms, ladders, and swings. They range from 2 to 40 feet (0.61 to 12 m) above the ground.[35][56]
The peak and park can be accessed via Roxy Ann Road on the southern side of the mountain. There are two gates on the road; the first is near the base of the peak and is opened and closed on a set schedule, and the second is about one mile beyond it at the park boundary, and is closed to all unauthorized motor vehicles.[14][57] One mile past the second gate, the road splits into a 2.7-mile-long (4.3 km) loop around the summit. Tower Road begins on the north side of the loop and ascends to the summit of the peak.[14] The peak offers expansive views of the surrounding landscape, including the Rogue Valley,Mount Ashland,Mount McLoughlin, Pilot Rock, theCrater Lake rim, and evenMount Thielsen, 66 miles (106 km) to the north, andMount Shasta, 72 miles (116 km) to the south.[5][6][34][49]
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