Metolius River Headwaters

Water doesn't trickle into the Metolius — it arrives. The river gushes full-grown from springs at the base of Black Butte at roughly 50,000 gallons per minute, one of the largest spring-fed rivers in the United States. Geologists trace the source not to the butte itself but to the Cascade Mountains to the west, where faulting brings the water to the surface. A paved quarter-mile trail reaches the overlook. The river flows north through old-growth ponderosa pine toward Mount Jefferson, cold and clear from the first foot.