Ghost Camp, October 20th

This trip was supposed to be more interesting than it was due to the rain and just bad luck I guess. Weather forecast was not very promising although it said it was going to stop raining and clear by mid morning. As you can probably imagine, we met under the cold rain and it didn’t seems it was going to stop. Still, being adventurous as we are, we decided to take off and leave it to chance. After driving for about two hours, we found, almost by surprise an interesting waterfall. Although it wasn’t very tall, it was carrying a lot of water (rain maybe?). We took a short break to check it out and those are the only pictures from this trip. Then we continued to what we thought was the trail head. This is not me just making the story, we really thought it was. At this point, we putted all of our rain gear on started the ascend. The trail was not special at all (sorry Anna) because we never found Ghost Camp which is supposed to be really interesting with some old, abandoned mining equipment. The only thing that we had during the whole hike was the copious rain and the “Creek”. The Creek was interesting to see. With all the rain and water coming down the mountain, it was carrying a lot of water to the point that it looked more like a river with some very decent falls. The trail also became almost a river so on our way down we didn’t have a choice but to get wet. This four hour trip actually helped us test our rain gear and see how good or bad it is. It also made us thank for having car heaters!

Hike to Ghost Camp October 2007

Hike to Blue Lake, October 14th

This hike was decided at last minute. A friend of mine had told me about it but since I wasn’t sure how late I was getting back from Opal Lake, I wasn’t sure I would be able to make it. Besides that, this is a trail I already know. Now, that doesn’t mean it’s not worth it. Actually this trail is one of the most beautiful trails I’ve done so far. This hike was to Blue Lake, when you see the photos you’ll see why the name. This is the same place I went on my first backpacking trip in early spring. As a contrast to the first time, colors where more vibrant. The yellows and reds and the contrast with the water is simply amazing. The trail was a bit harder than the first time though. Since it already started raining, the lakes are filling up and the ground just can’t absorb the extra water, so it was a walk in the mud. As you might imagine, Lakes, Water and Mud made a perfect combination for Shia. She and the other four dogs had a blast on Sunday.

Hike to Blue Lake October, 2007

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

Finally here

Finally I decided to share this thing. I think this will be much easier for me to share stories and pictures of my hikes and camping trips. I might share other stories as well as recommendations