Established in 1908, the 630,000-acre park encompasses two very different territories. Southwest of I-5, the 7,533ft Mt. Ashland towers above narrow canyons, high ridges, dense conifer forests and the Applegate River in the ancient Siskiyou Mountains. Northeast of the highway, the turbulent waters of the upper Rogue River cut through Shasta red fir and mountain hemlock forests on the younger, volcanic slopes of the Cascade range where Mt. McLoughlin (9,495ft) stands as one of the major volcanic cones in Oregon. Locally known as the Upper Rogue, this section embraces myriad alpine lakes in glacial basins, huckleberry slopes, wild mushrooms and old-growth forests.