South Fork Rogue River
The South Fork Rogue River is a tributary of the Rogue River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Rising in the Sky Lakes Wilderness in the Cascade Range, it flows generally northeast through the Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest to meet the Rogue River downstream of Prospect and slightly upstream of Lost Creek Lake.
Course
The river begins in Klamath County in the Sky Lakes Wilderness of the Cascade Range. It flows north from Horseshoe Lake for about before turning northeast and entering Jackson County, leaving the wilderness area and entering the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest. Over its next, the river flows under Forest Road 37 at Upper South Fork Bridge, passes Upper South Fork Campground and receives Parker Creek from the left near Parker Meadows Campground, then Little Billie, Wickiup, and Sam creeks from the right. Below this, it receives Big Ben Creek from the right. The river then flows under Lower South Fork Bridge, which carries Forest Road 37, and by South Fork Campground, which is on the left. Below the bridge, the river receives Nichols and Green creeks from the right and Lodgepole Creek from the left. Imnaha Creek enters from the right at about river mile 10.5 or river kilometer 16.9 just above the South Fork diversion dam.Turning west below the dam, the South Fork flows by a United States Geological Survey stream gauge, which is on the left at RM 10.2. Buck Creek enters from the left about from the mouth, and the Middle Fork Rogue River enters from the right shortly thereafter. About further downstream, Beaver Dam Creek enters from the left, and Smith Creek enters from the left about later. The South Fork meets the Rogue River main stem near the head of Lost Creek Lake and about from the larger river's mouth on the Pacific Ocean.