Sol Neelman/The Oregonian

We here at The Oregonian/OregonLive are gearing up to release a beautiful new book this summer, "Oregon's Natural Treasures," that will showcase the natural wonder of our state. In advance of publication, we're posting previews of each of the chapters online. But be sure to pre-order a copy of the full book before it's released on July 27.



Mountains mean a lot to us in Oregon. They represent a great power, a certain sacred presence that lords high above our cities and towns. We make trips to their highest slopes. We drink water from their glacial melt. We can see their silhouettes when we close our eyes.



Stretching more than 700 miles from northern California to British Columbia, the Cascade Mountains are the backbone of the Pacific Northwest. These mountains are creators and destroyers of land, boundless sources of life, and deep wells of wonder, awe and exhilaration.

The mountains run up the spine of the state, a series of towering individual peaks, each with its own personality. There’s majestic Mount Jefferson, the crowded Three Sisters, domed Mount Bachelor, and the craggy spires of Three-Fingered Jack. And perhaps no peak speaks to Oregon as much as Mount Hood, standing at an awesome 11,240 feet, its iconic profile visible from distant reaches of the Northwest.

For all the majesty the mountains imbue, it’s easy to ignore the force found within them. All the major Cascade peaks are volcanic, and several have erupted in the past 300 years. In 1980, across the Columbia River in Washington, Mount St. Helens showed the world the full power of the range, erupting in catastrophic fashion. The lateral blast killed 57 people and wiped out the entire north side of the mountain, exhaling a cloud of ash that circled the globe.

As long as Oregonians live near the mountains, we remain at the mercy of their eruptive potential. But the true power of the Cascades is not in the magma that bubbles beneath, but in their inherent ability to fill us with awe.

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

1. Mount Hood

At more than 11,200 feet, Mount Hood is the tallest mountain in Oregon and the fifth-tallest in the Cascade Range. Home to dozens of campgrounds, trails, lodges and ski resorts, Mount Hood is one of the most popular destinations in the Pacific Northwest. In 1792, a lieutenant sailing with British explorer Capt. George Vancouver named the mountain for Lord Samuel Hood, a Royal Navy officer.

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Ian Malkasian/The Oregonian

2. Jefferson Park

Mount Jefferson stands majestically in Jefferson Park, an immensely popular area in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness. The wilderness covers more than 100,000 acres and has 163 miles of trails, including a particularly scenic 40-mile stretch of the Pacific Crest Trail.

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Bill Monroe/The Oregonian

3. Diamond Lake

An angler relaxes on Diamond Lake, with the jagged peak of Mount Thielsen in the distance. The alpine lake is popular among swimmers, boaters and anglers, who hook stocked rainbow and tiger trout. Several campgrounds and a resort line the lake’s nine miles of shoreline.

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Torsten Kjellstrand/The Oregonian

4. McKenzie River

A mountain biker crosses a bridge over a huge fallen log on the McKenzie River Trail. The 25-mile trail is one of the most scenic and popular destinations for mountain bikers in Oregon, passing waterfalls and over bridges along the river.

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Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian

5. Tamolitch Pool

Trees are reflected in the blue-hued Tamolitch Pool in the Willamette National Forest. About 1,600 years ago, a lava flow buried a stretch of the McKenzie River, forcing it to resurface in the pool at the base of dry Tamolitch Falls. The name is a Chinook jargon word that means “bucket.”

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Terry Richard/The Oregonian

6. Broken Top

Hikers traverse a trail on Broken Top, a Cascade mountain named for its distinctive peak. Over time, glaciers eroded the peak of the long-extinct volcano, opening a large amphitheater-shaped area on its southern side. At about 9,200 feet, it’s shorter than the nearby Three Sisters and slightly taller than neighboring Mount Bachelor.

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Steven Nehl

7. Trillium Lake

A man walks out onto a fishing platform at dawn at Trillium Lake on the south side of Mount Hood. The 65-acre lake was created in 1960 by damming the headwaters of Mud Creek. The area the lake now occupies was once part of the Barlow Road, a toll road at the end of the Oregon Trail.

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Jamie Francis/The Oregonian

8. Terwilliger Hot Springs

Terwilliger Hot Springs, also known as Cougar Hot Springs, is a popular natural spring in the central Cascades. It faces frequent closures because of rock slides, which have threatened the safety of bathers and of drivers on nearby roads.

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Jamie Francis/The Oregonian

9. Three Sisters Wilderness

Mist rolls over the flat meadows around Sparks Lake in the Deschutes National Forest. The nearby Green Lakes Trailhead is a starting point for the popular Three Sisters backpacking loop, which runs almost 50 miles around North, Middle and South Sister.

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Terry Richard/The Oregonian

10. Salt Creek Falls

Salt Creek Falls plunges into an icy pool at Willamette Pass in the Cascades. The 286-foot waterfall is easily seen from an observation deck off the side of the Willamette Highway. Its location in a shady forest area makes it a frosty scene in winter.