6/25, Saturday. Sunny. Early start: 5 of us met at 6:45am. Saw a few hot air balloons when going down I-5: there was a Balloon Festival in Tigard this weekend.
Opal Creek wilderness is 2 hours SE of Portland. The easiest approach is the gravel road to Jawbone Flats of Opal Creek Forest Center - a privately owned education facility. Of course, if you are not part of an activity of this facility, you have to walk the gravel road, only about 2.5 flat miles. Hence a lot of people, of all ages, in all outfits. 
The early start is a good idea. When we drove home at 1pm, the parking was about a mile long. The most notable of this creek is the color and clearness of the water. It's beautiful! Along the walk, you'll see remnants of old mining activities: closed shafts and rusted machinery. 
Jawbone Flats is quite large. Housing facilities, an information center with a map posted (closed then), more abandoned machines and cars, a beautiful meadow. 
From here, walk 1/4 miles to right to Opal Pool: a narrow gorge, where you can stand on the bridge to admire the rushing water, or hop to the rocks on the other side, and have a picnic. Our hike leader of the day was (maybe always is) in a mood of talking and marching. Thankfully, he tolerated me of walking over to the middle of the creek to take photos (at least twice). We headed back on the south side of the creek: more like a trail, a bit muddy. Many campsites on both sides, and many people are coming with huge backpacks. 1/4 miles to the trailhead, he realized that we didn't even have lunch, so we scrambled to the creek side, and had a relaxing 20 minutes, during which he never ceased talking. Talkative is a good quality when driving: we didn't fall asleep on the way back.So total about 6 miles, 3 hours fast-pace strolling and 4 hours driving. I'm glad that I came, wish we could spend a little more time there.
