A Late Summer Night’s Dream

[Ashland, OR, Sep 5, 2026]

A rainstorm had come through the area overnight, but we woke up to sunny skies. It was still a bit chilly though, so we were not in a hurry to go out for our hike. We slept in and enjoyed the breakfast at our hotel, although the dining room was very crowded due to the late hour.

We considered the Pilot Rock Trail in the Soda Mountain wilderness. However, the tricky drive to the trailhead and the class 4-5 scramble required to actually get on top of the rock dissuaded us. I wanted great views without a lot of climbing, so eventually we settled on the 5.2-mile trail to Siskiyou Peak. Since the trailhead is just a mile or so after the Mt Ashland ski area, the bulk of the climb is done by car. The gravel road to the trailhead was a bit narrow but well graded, and we didn’t see any other cars going the other way. In fact, we were the only car at the trailhead, which surprised me because it was 11 am on a holiday weekend!

These few miles of the Pacific Crest trail up to Siskiyou peak were spectacular. After a little bit of climbing, the views opened up in both directions! The cloud cover had definitely increased compared to earlier in the morning in town. It was still mostly sunny albeit a little windier than I would have liked.

For the last little 0.3 miles to the summit, the trail leaves the PCT for a sustained climb that took our breaths away. Siskiyou peak is at 7146 feet, and we felt it! The final scramble to the rocky outcropping was not bad at all.

The views were pretty spectacular to the south, but Mt Shasta was definitely hiding in the clouds. I kept looking and eventually I could see just a sliver of it peek out from behind two layers of clouds.

We didn’t see any PCT thru-hikers, which I was not surprised about because it’s already so late in the season. We did see, however, a cooler left for them not too far in from the trailhead. I was curious to see what’s in it – it was a bunch of Lacroix! I can imagine how refreshing a cold can of sparkling water might be!

It took us about 2.5 hours to cover the trail. By the time we came back to the trailhead, there were many more cars. I was glad we were done though, as the cloud cover was definitely increasing at a rapid pace.

After some rest and relaxation in our hotel, we headed out to dinner. We had walked along Calle Guanajuato the day before. As I am a sucker for al fresco dining, I wanted to have a meal at one of the restaurants that utilize the pedestrian walkway along the creek behind the buildings fronting Ashland Plaza. Little Tokyo was our first choice but they were closing down their patio space due to bees. How bad could they be, I wondered? None of the other restaurants seemed to be doing that, so we decided to have dinner at Louie’s because it had a huge menu. The food was decent but not memorable, although we did enjoy the free lava cake for our anniversary.

We had some time before our Shakespeare production started, so we walked along the main street in downtown Ashland. I admired the Ashland Springs Hotel. Built in 1925 and lovingly restored, this downtown landmark is a haven of taste reminiscent of small European hotels. It was even featured in Architectural Digest!

The giftshop for the Oregon Shakespeare festival was around the corner from our theater, so we ducked in to check it out. I usually only buy magnets from national parks, but Ashland felt special enough to deserve its own.

Finally, it was time for our Shakespeare experience. We had booked A Mid Summer Night’s Dream at the Angus Bowmer Theater. It’s named after the English teacher who started the Shakespeare festival. Back in 1935, he hosted a 3-day event at an outdoor theater. World War II temporarily shut it down, but after that, the festival returned and steadily grew in the 1950s with local business support, the addition of indoor venues, and radio appearances. Today, the festival runs from March to October.

A Mid Summer Night’s Dream is a romantic comedy with a fairly complicated plot. We read the plot summary ahead of time so we didn’t rely too much on understanding everything in the songs or Shakespeare’s middle English. In essence, the play is about four young Athenian lovers and a troupe of amateur actors. They escape into a magical forest, where the fairy king and queen’s servant, Puck, uses a love potion to tangle their affections. After a night of chaotic romantic mix-ups and shape-shifting illusions, the spells are broken, leading to a triple wedding alongside Duke Theseus and Hippolyta. The play had been modernized a bit both in language and characters, and we enjoyed it a lot more than we anticipated!