5.3 miles of hiking • 1500' elevation gain •
Past trip, still trying to catch up on my hikes so sorry for spamming the site as I knock these out.
I love Saddle Mountain, and simultaneously hate it. The grating on the steep parts of the hike always make my footing feel a bit unsure. Chain link fence material has been put on a large part of this trail due to the lack of topsoil, but is in bad shape in many places. On this particular day, parts of the mountain that remained in the shade had sheets of ice still on the trail making us have to watch our step in my places. Hikers with dogs beware - I imagine some dogs would be bothered by the feel of the fencing, but my dog didn't seem to care.
With me on this trip, two friends who hadn't hiked in a very long time, but they were both troopers as I lead them up the mountain. My friend Jim remarked how he had driven past the road to the trailhead so many times heading to the coast, and never imagined that this was up there. Oh, the joy of hiking. I'm hoping this trip will light his fire for more exploration.
As we headed back down the mountain, the weather turned on us and it hailed a bit, and we were grateful for our early start in good weather. Sometimes it works out to skip out on beer the night before for an early start before the crowds kick in.
Back in Portland, a victory beer was had by all with a delicious brisket enchilada devoured from La Taq.
Photos if you click on my GPS track below.
