Rode the 7.5 miles from start of trail in Ashland to Phoenix and back. The trail itself is great. Nice and wide, place to pull off and rest if desired, nice views of the creek and hills. Can still see the devastation from the Alameda fire that took place in August 2020. Sad to see all the house destroyed but nice to see the new construction taking place. When the vegetation and trees come back the trail will be even nicer. Did not encounter any homeless camps on this section of the trail. Saw lots along sections of the trail in Medford and Central Point areas. Look forward to going back when the weather warms up.

Shame on the people who review this badly because of the middle of the trail. Just bought this for the first time from dog Park to Valley view Road. It is truly lovely. Some fire damage but frankly Datz the life we have right now. Just so you know I resisted this path because of the reviews it’s a great path, but don’t goFarther than you are comfortable

We rode 11 miles each way on great paved surface along the river. We loved this trail.

Could be called homeless trail. Very unnerving with so many people coming out of the bushes and actually laying on the trail. Nicely paved a bit hard to follow with so many entrances and exits.

Our experience was great. Beautiful and safe and in Ashland we had lunch in a nice outdoor cafe before we returned to Central Point.

I needed to grab a 12 mile run on my vacation and was looking for a relatively flat route. This was it! I picked up the path at S. Stage Rd and ran to the end in Ashland. The path is well-maintained with any cracks or bumps marked with bright spray paint. The path passes several parks and parking areas with restrooms and water fountains. I think I passed a total of three point to point. The trail was well marked except for the final turn into the neighborhood in Ashland where it picks up a different trail to conclude.

We started the bike ride at MP27 in Central Point at the newly-built Southern Oregon RV Park at the fairgrounds. We turned around at MP16.

Except for a couple of areas with root heaves which were marked with paint, the asphalt trail was in very good condition. The trail is relatively flat and runs along Bear Creek. This section of the trail is not particularly scenic and parts of the trail parallel I-5. At some points, the trail even runs underneath freeway overpasses. There are a couple of nice parks along the way – Hawthorne Park, Bear Creek Park and the very large US Cellular Sports Park. Most of the parks mentioned have water and restrooms.

The sad part of this section of the trail is the number of homeless and transient encampments on the trail. People are living under the underpasses and along the river. No one bothered us and I heard that the cities along the trail sweep through the area on a regular basis and cleanup all the garbage left behind and try to break up the encampments.

Overall, I would recommend this ride if you are in the area.

Walked all but .5 miles of this trail yesterday, starting at the Rogue River Rest Stop (where you can park for four hours for free). The beginning of the trail (starting at the rest stop) is shaded and the paved trail runs alongside the camp grounds. There is a secondary gravel trail that runs right along the bank of the river for about 2 miles. It is not accessible for bikes but is easy to walk and has a lot of access to the river. At just about the 2 mile mark (again starting from the rest stop) the shade ends! We did not encounter any shaded areas for the last half of the trail which is why we turned back before finishing. It got way to hot with the sun directly on us and heat radiating up from the asphalt. It was still a great walk, lots of cyclists were out and it was beautiful. Would do it again, only this time I will be prepared for shade only on the first half.

We started in Ashland (had trouble finding the start of the trail and where to park at first) and rode to Medford and back. I would say about 85% was very enjoyable and nice scenery. The other 15% was a little sketchy, but not enough to recommend against it.