Phantom Bridge and Opal Lake

I should start by saying that finally I think I’m up to speed with this thing. Before I could start writing posts and putting up pictures, I had to put the pictures in order and that took a longer than what I expected. Maybe later I will tell stories of past trips I’ve made but for now I will just concentrate on current trips. I will start with a coupe of trips from last weekend for two reasons. One because I took some really nice pictures that I haven’t share so far and two because the hike I did this past weekend is going to be more story and less pictures (I will tell you about that later).
Last Saturday we went to Phantom Bridge and Opal Lake. I was a bit hesitant for that trip since half of it was 4x4 roads and half actual hiking. Despite the fact that the 4x4 part of the trip was not my bread and butter, I decided to go. The name Phantom Bridge sounded really interesting. This route is in the Detroit Lake area South of Portland. After the drive there we got into the dirt road. These roads are mainly service roads. The trip ended up being really interesting with winding road up the mountains not suited for the faint of heart. We got to the first interesting point just by pure accident. At the end of one of the roads, we decided to climb to the top of the ridge. The views from up there where incredible, having Mt Jefferson right in front of us. As you’ll see in the pictures, there was nothing taller around us. After spending some time there, we went on the right route and found what we were looking for. After a short hike, we found the bridge. The bridge is a rock with a huge hole in the middle. The angle prevented me from taking a good picture but still it was an amazing site. The bridge itself is wide enough to walk over it (I didn’t do it) and the hole is big enough for a big truck (if there was a road under it). We did spend some time there as well and then drove all the way around down to the trail head to Opal Lake. The walk to the lake was a bit longer but very nice. The Lake itself was as amazing as any other lake in the area. I just can’t get tired of the reflections you get from these lakes. Going out we had our last treat of the day. The sunset colors illuminated Mt Jefferson just enough so we could stop and take some pictures there.
Click on the image below to go to the album

Hike to Phantom Bridge and Opal Lake