Headwaters of the Metolius River

One place that we've been meaning to go for years but never seemed to find the time is to see the headwaters of the Metolius River. Most mountainous rivers start from several different trickles from snow pack runoff and then merge to make a bigger and bigger stream. The Metolius River is different, though. It bubbles up out of the ground at a single site and is fairly large from the very beginning.

We drove up to the headwaters on Saturday.

Sign on the way in on the trail

It's a nice quarter-mile walk from the parking lot to the viewing platform.

There it is. 

It doesn't look like much, but if you turn your head the other direction, you can see how much water is coming out of the hillside.

Looking the other direction

That's Mt. Jefferson in the background

We arrived here about noon, so the light was very harsh. I'd love to go back towards dusk or even early dawn when the light's a bit softer. It is a beautiful sight. The river is known for its fly fishing and people camp all along the river so they can fish.

Store at Camp Sherman

Camp Sherman is a little general store, fly-fishing shop, and post office. They also have gas available at some more modern pumps. There are cabins you can rent as well as various National Forest camp grounds with limited amenities.

From there we drove up to Suttle Lake, another place we usually blow by on our way to somewhere else. The lake was nice but it was right along the highway. I don't know that I'd choose it over some of the other lakes I've visited over the last few weeks.

Suttle Lake

There's a resort and restuarant at Suttle Lake as well as a day-use area with a nice beach. The restaurant is not dog friendly even though it has outside seating.

On the way back we stopped in Sisters, OR and the Sister's Fresh Hops Festival was going on. It was held in the park in the middle of town. It was dog friendly.

They had a big tent set up where you could get your tastes of beer and listen to music. They also had a large area outside where you could take your beer and food and enjoy the wonderful weather we were having.