Majestic Mount Jefferson

Or returning to Seekseekqua!

Author

Matt Reeder
May 07, 2026

When I was a child growing up in Salem, we lived in a small house on a hillside with a view out to the Cascades. On clear days we could see Mount Jefferson, rising over the rumpled quilt of mountains east of Salem. I used to sit there and dream about exploring all of that country, and before long, this is what we did. We bought our first hiking guide, the first edition of 100 Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades by William L. Sullivan, who would go on to be the dean of Oregon guidebook authors.

Before long we were exploring the area as often as possible, and I fell in love with the Majestic Mount Jefferson Region.

Me on the summit of Grizzly Peak, June 1991. We tromped through waist-deep snow to make it to the summit. I wasn’t even 10. This hike kicked my butt!

Me in Boca Cave, July 1991. This was a wonderful hike before all the fires.

Me at Sullivan Creek Falls in the Opal Creek area, July 1992. I would return to this falls over and over and over again over the years, and I’ve spent more time just sitting by the falls than I could ever count. The last time I visited was in 2019.

Me in Canyon Creek Meadows, September 1994. It was nice to do this hike before the B+B Fire, which happened in late summer 2003. I’ve since been back to this area quite a bit, and it’s still beautiful.

Me in Jefferson Park, September 1996. I was well into my grunge phase then…and even though I cut my hair, I never really left my grunge phase.

When we moved back to Illinois in 1997, I was happy to be near my family but very sad to leave the region that had become my home. And so it was - I dreamed about going back to the Majestic Mount Jefferson Region for years before I made my return to Oregon in 2005. I’ve told this story many times before, but it should provide some context.

After I published my first guidebook, Off the Beaten Trail, in 2013, I turned my attention to writing the guidebook I wished I’d always had on the Mount Jefferson area. Over the next two and a half years, I spent almost all of my free time exploring the region to the fullest extent, documenting more hikes than I ever could have imagined in the region near Seekseekqua, the great eroded volcano known as Mount Jefferson. And I nearly lost my mind.

When I finished the book, I had the worst mental breakdown of my life, and I spent the next several months in a haze of severe depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. This is not a story I tell lightly, but it’s the truth. The process of writing 101 Hikes had completely emptied every reserve of physical and mental energy I had in me, and I was at last forced to deal with my mental health in real terms, rather than hiding from it by finding new projects to occupy all of my free time. Somehow in the midst of all of this, I managed to cobble together PDX Hiking 365, my third hiking guidebook and my most successful project to date. But I needed therapy, and I needed to learn to slow down and process both my depression and anxiety. This is another story for another day, because it is painful. But it’s also a huge part of who I am now.

By the time the thought of another edition of 101 Hikes came to mind, it was the summer of 2020 and the fires that would eventually burn down much of the region were already smoldering in the Majestic Mount Jefferson Region. Six years later, many areas have reopened but some still remained closed. The Little North Santiam River canyon and Opal Creek area burned so hot and so intensely that they look unrecognizable, and both will likely be closed in some capacity until next year, but possibly longer.

Do yourself a favor and don’t look up photos of what that area looks like now. It’s best to remember it the way it used to be:

An unnamed waterfall along Opal Creek, September 2014.

It has taken me a lot of therapy and processing grief to come to terms with the fire damage in my favorite place. And yet - I’m ready to go back.

So with that, I am proud to announce that I am working on a new edition of 101 Hikes in the Majestic Mount Jefferson Region!

I have been dabbling with this project for a couple of years now, as I have not been sure I was ready to commit to it fully. I have re-hiked a couple dozen hikes in the book over the past 3-4 years. Here are a few highlights:

Olallie Butte, October 2023. This hike seems to be fully legal to hike now as best I can tell.

Marion Lake, June 2024. I’ve been here a whole bunch over the past few years. As I always say: never let anybody tell you there isn’t a view of Mount Jefferson at the lake. It’s real and it’s spectacular!

Elk Lake and Mount Jefferson from the summit of Battle Ax, July 2024. This area escaped the fire damage, sitting in a gap in between the Lionshead and Beachie Creek fires.

Mount Jefferson and Table Lake, August 2024. The fires spared Table Lake yet again. This place is pure magic. We went in via Bingham Ridge, which I had not done since my first time visiting Table Lake in 2012. It was a beautiful weekend with great friends.

Me at Emerald Pool on Opal Creek, September 2025. It was hard work getting back here, as parts of this canyon still need significant trail maintenance. But it was also pure pleasure, and I’m looking forward to getting back here at least once this year.

I’ve also been able to do a few new hikes, small and scattered things that escaped my grasp during the fever dream that was working on the first edition:

Mount Jefferson from the north end of Green Ridge, June 2024. This is a short but spectacular hike.

Exploring the mysterious Minto Mountain Trail, September 2024. This was one of the only hikes in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness that I did not complete for the first edition. I’m looking forward to going back to this hike during flower season, which should be next month.

Huge trees and secret meadows at Crabtree Valley, October 2024. For whatever reason I never did this hike when I was working on the first edition of 101 Hikes, so you’d better believe it will be in the second edition.

Downing Creek Falls, October 2024. This hike used to be a mystery and it is my general rule to never include off-trail locations in my guidebooks. But this place is known now, and I’m going to include this in the second edition of 101 Hikes.

The lower end of the Metolius River near Monty Campground. I never got around to hiking this section of the lower trail when I was working on the first edition of 101 Hikes, and I found it to be beautiful. This will be Hike 101 in the new edition.

So yeah, I’ve got a lot to do. If you’re in the area, let me know if you want to join me for some guidebook research this summer and fall. It will be lots of fun! And I promise - I’ll try to keep the mental breakdowns to a minimum this time.

The second edition will be out sometime next spring, probably about a year from now. I’ll see you there. I would also appreciate any help with editing and any suggestions on what I should or should not include, as well as any updates on places if you’ve been somewhere in this area recently. And if you want to contribute financially to this project, I’ll be in touch about that soon as well. All help will be much appreciated!

See you on the trails !

Matt