After mostly taking a few years off from the Mount Jefferson area after the publication of 101 Hikes in the Majestic Mount Jefferson Region in 2016, I decided to go back and begin exploring the area again in 2019. I will be writing about some of these experiences here.
One of these days I’ll hike the entire Jefferson Lake Trail.
This trail has been on my mind for years, just sitting there, taking up space. I’ve been to the trailhead to look around, to hike a short distance, to take in the views on the road in…to just be there. This corner of the Mount Jefferson Wilderness is seldom traveled, but beloved by those who know it well.
I first visited this area in July 2012, while Wendy and I were camping along the Metolius River. After hiking the Metolius River Trail upstream from Wizard Falls in the morning, we drove out to the Jefferson Lake Trailhead to go check out the huge trees in the afternoon. Driving into the area, it felt like were passing into a different world, one forgotten after the B+B Fire ravaged the area in 2003. The views on the drive in are almost alien; I can’t think of another place in Oregon that really looks like this:
Driving towards the Jefferson Lake Trailhead, July 2012.
All we were able to do that day was to visit the two enormous Rocky Mountain Douglas firs along the trail, not even 200 yards from the trailhead. Not long after we visited, my friend Brad came here and managed to make it all the way to Table Lake, and back. His report on Portland Hikers stayed with me, and paradoxically made me want to hike this trail even more. It’s worth reading if you’ve got some time; it’s a fantastic piece of Type 2 fun.
I returned in 2015 to hike as much of the trail as I could. We were staying along the Metolius River, and spent the first day of our trip exploring Green Ridge. Rainy, cold weather drifted in on day 2 of our trip, and we were lucky to get a window to go explore the Jefferson Lake Trail. To my surprise, we found the trail in good shape for the first mile or so from the trailhead. Brush began to encroach on the trail as followed it through the lava, and by the time we made it to Cougar Spring, it was clear that we needed to turn around. The trail was getting faint, and the weather was letting us know in no uncertain terms that it was time to get out of the mountains. On our way out, however, we did manage to stop and take a few photos of what was an excellent display of fall color:
Magnificent fall color on the Jefferson Lake Trail.
I was grateful to make it as far as Cougar Springs (2.2 miles from the trailhead) before what turned out to be a torrential rain began to pour on us. I wrote about this stretch of trail in 101 Hikes in the Majestic Mount Jefferson Region, hoping that others would go check out what trail still existed and help save it from the encroaching tide of snowbrush (ceonothus) that was threatening to overtake the trail for good. Around this time, the Deschutes National Forest proposed permanently decommissioning the Jefferson Lake Trail, cutting off this entire corner of the Mount Jefferson Wilderness from the public.
In the few years after I published 101 Hikes, I would occasionally receive updates from folks who went to explore the Jefferson Lake Trail and found it in better shape than ever. One day, I received word that a citizen group had adopted the trail and was fixing it up. Later on, I received another email telling me that the entire trail, from the Jefferson Lake Trailhead to Patsy Lake, had been brushed out and was again passable (the spur trail to Jefferson Lake itself is believed to still be lost to the brush). Glorious news this was! So I can’t wait to go backpacking here, to Table Lake, to hike this newly saved trail.
So on Memorial Day weekend last year, Gene and I decided to meet up in Sisters to go visit Skylight Cave. I’d never been there before and Gene knew the way. After we visited the cave, I suggested we go explore some of the Jefferson Lake Trail to go see what the wildflower show looked like there. I knew we wouldn’t make it to Table Lake, but I wanted to go see the trail just the same. So we set out on the same route along the Metolius and into Jefferson Creek’s long, brushy canyon. Once we started our hike, I was shocked and dismayed to see that the two enormous Rocky Mountain Douglas firs near the trailhead had fallen in a storm:
This was a shock and a great sadness to me. The tree in the photo was believed to be the largest Rocky Mountain Douglas fir in the country, and it was with profound sadness that I walked through the huge gap between the tree that had been sawed out. That the tree had been sawed out here was also quite surprising; for more information see the article in this link.
We found the trail in excellent shape, as expected. Once we reached the lava field, I was hoping to see flowers growing along the trail. Unfortunately, it seems we were either too early for flowers, or there weren’t any to begin with. Regardless, this is a neat stretch of trail, unique to this corner of the Mount Jefferson Wilderness:
The trail winds through the Forked Butte Lava Flow.
Mount Jefferson and the Forked Butte Lava Flow.
The Forked Butte Lava Flow is geologically recent, believed to be only 6,500 years old. Forked Butte itself is a peak near the Cascade crest south of Table Lake, near the head of the Jefferson Lake Trail.
As we hiked along our merry way, Gene was less enamored with the Jefferson Lake Trail than I was. He liked lakes and water features, and this stretch of trail might be the driest place in the entire Mount Jefferson Wilderness. So we decided to turn around, and leave me to go explore the Jefferson Lake Trail another day.
So it goes; there’s a beautiful trail that is seldom traveled through the remote eastern corner of the Mount Jefferson Wilderness, and I’ve only hiked a little over 2 miles of it. One of these days I’ll make it there, once and for all. One of these days…