Oregon trails · Blue Canyon
Blue Canyon
A 5.4-mile out-and-back in Oregon, with 589 ft of climbing. Reaches Meadow Lake and other lake destinations. Managed by the U.S. Forest Service.
Elevation profile
Most of the climbing sits in the final third — 82% of the ascent, between mile 3.6 and mile 5.4. It gives back about 388 ft along the way, so it rolls rather than climbing steadily.
3-D terrain
USGS 3DEP ELEVATION × ESRI WORLD IMAGERY · VERTICAL ×1.5
Reaches
- Meadow Lake (lake)
- North Blue Lake Group (lake)
- Round Lake (lake)
- Blue Lake (lake)
- South Blue Lake Group (lake)
- Pear Lake (lake)
- Dee Lake (lake)
- Horseshoe Lake (lake)
- Island Lake (lake)
Getting there
BLUE CANYON — parking nearby. About 1 h 52 min drive (60 mi, 16 of them unpaved) from Medford. 42.52964, -122.29698 · directions
Daylight at the trailhead
On October 14, 2026 — the day this page was generated — first light reaches this trailhead at 6:52 a.m., the sun rises at 7:20 a.m. and sets at 6:28 p.m., and the last usable light fades about 6:57 p.m. (PDT) — 11 h 08 min of daylight. At about 2.7 mph plus 30 minutes per 1,000 feet of climbing, the 10.7-mile round trip takes roughly 4 h 34 min, so leaving the trailhead at sunrise puts you back around 11:54 a.m. — 6 h 34 min before sunset.
Nearby trails
- Snow Lakes — 5.8 mi
- Buck Rock-Berry Rock Trail — 27.4 mi