{"id":3018,"date":"2019-09-26T20:39:57","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T20:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/?p=3018"},"modified":"2020-05-02T20:41:12","modified_gmt":"2020-05-02T20:41:12","slug":"phantom-natural-bridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/2019\/09\/26\/phantom-natural-bridge\/","title":{"rendered":"Phantom Natural Bridge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Friday, September 13, 2019<\/p>\n<p>Greg and I rented the Gold Butte Lookout this weekend, so before heading up to the cabin we decided to do the hike to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oregonhikers.org\/field_guide\/Phantom_Natural_Bridge_Hike\">Phantom Natural Bridge<\/a>.<!--more--> <!-- more --><\/p>\n<p>We parked at the trailhead on Road 2207, crossed the road, and picked up the French Creek Ridge Trail heading west:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48747332832_793aa5aa2d_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48747147676_ae7d5e2bfd_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48747328877_cb94fd9b7a_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Some early fall color:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48747329972_fd16f57774_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There were SO MANY HUCKLEBERRIES:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48743561451_9f1d3abe7c_c.jpg\" alt=\"Huckleberries\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately this trail is like a roller coaster and has a lot of up and down. It was also quite brushy in many spots and since everything was soaked from the previous night&#8217;s rain that meant we got soaked too.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48747319987_988fcdd0b9_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48746802153_363f00d152_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There were spots where someone had brushed out the trail earlier this season, but it must not have been an official trail crew because the cut branches were just left laying on the trail tread:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48747129851_57cfb45685_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>At 1.3 miles we reached a tiny pond which, incredibly enough, has a name: Cedar Lake. This is the point where the French Creek Ridge Trail ends at its junction with the Elkhorn Ridge Trail, which comes up the hill from Road 2207 below and continues on towards Phantom Bridge:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48747328307_b918a8f6bf_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We were pretty socked-in:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48747143391_ab95804d9b_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48747142706_d97cdf65bc_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We reached the end of Road 2223. You can drive here, but the road is a reportedly a bit sketchy:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48746798673_fd6d09f005_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>At a point where a big tree has fallen across the trail we turned and scrambled up the slope to our right:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48747325972_ab78084e94_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And there is the Phantom Natural Bridge:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48746807903_14998c977c_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48747317587_6614eeb756_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>There were some impressive tenacious trees growing on the arch:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48747318692_01eacb3023_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I have no idea if there were good views from here. We certainly couldn&#8217;t see anything but clouds:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48746801703_eeb9249e0b_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Because we were wet from the vegetation we quickly got chilled sitting at the arch, so we didn&#8217;t spend a lot of time there. We tried to find the geocache but no luck. On the hike back out the clouds finally started clearing up a bit and we could see Dome Rock:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48746797093_1cb81dbd09_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Greg was tired of getting wet from the brush so when we reached the junction he chose to take the trail down to the road and road-hike back to the car. I stayed on the trail. On the way in we had passed a rocky prominence that we figured had good views, but it was too cloudy so we didn&#8217;t check it out. On the way back I did:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48747321762_cee6acbffc_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I could see Opal Lake below to the north:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48747325002_7c8cc542bb_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Dog Tooth Rock on the left and the base of Mt. Jefferson to its right (the rest was in the clouds):<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48746806873_6f1814636b_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A closer look at Jefferson&#8217;s base:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48747323957_fb0ef2917c_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Dome Rock on the right:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48747139476_af7d17925e_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Battle Ax Mountain, which we would be hiking the next day:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48746805358_d98130cdd7_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Looking northwest up the valley of Cedar Creek. You can see a snippet of Road 2207:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48747322432_30a8273844_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Panorama to the north:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48746803683_37ffb9a8cb_c.jpg\" alt=\"Phantom Natural Bridge hike\" width=\"800\" height=\"399\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Greg got back to the trailhead less than five minutes after I did. 4.6 miles and 976&#8242; elevation gain according to Gaia. On to Gold Butte!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Friday, September 13, 2019 Greg and I rented the Gold Butte Lookout this weekend, so before heading up to the<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/2019\/09\/26\/phantom-natural-bridge\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Phantom Natural Bridge<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3019,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[159,158],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3018"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3018"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3179,"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3018\/revisions\/3179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherylhill.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}