Saddle Mountain

For our anniversary, Ethan and I wanted to spend some time in the mountains.  We decided to hike Saddle Mountain.  Well, it's more like Ethan decided to hike Saddle Mountain.  I was a little unsure.  I had heard it's pretty steep and that was intimidating.  But Ethan was pretty excited to do it, so off we went.  

I wasn't too nervous until we got to the trailhead.  The parking lot was actually pretty packed and everyone headed up or coming back down seemed like they were younger than me, way more fit than me, or both.  And sure enough, the trail started off with a nice steep slope and pretty much held that the whole time.  There were brief moments of almost flat, or not quite as steep, but for sure, with climbing about 1600 feet in elevation in about 2.5 miles, there was a lot of up.

It started off in a nicely shaded forest.

And with all that steep climbing, you quickly come to some nice views of the surrounding area.

The mountain is protected as a State Natural Area and know for it's many wildflowers.  This is a Chocolate Lily.  Some of the plants on Saddle Mountain are rare.  Here is a quote from the pamphlet we grabbed at the trailhead:

"Saddle Mountain State Park is a rare living example of the northern Oregon Coasts Range's ice age past.  Grasslands were once much more common in this area.  Since the last ice age, much of the grassland of the coastal mountains has given way to forest.  Over time, plant species became isolated in fewer and fewer grassland pockets.  Some of the plants on Saddle Mountain's grassy slopes are rare because of the habitat loss.  Only a few coastal grassy "balds" remain that host the rarest species found on Saddle Mountain."

Pretty cool, isn't it?

Here's a picture of the two of us around the point where we left the forest behind and entered the grassy basalt mountains. I'm not doing too bad here.  But we were only about half way through the hike.

Isn't it just beautiful?  The trail itself is actually quite dangerous.  A lot of steep drop offs and rocky, gravely, slippery trails.  Definitely not a hike you want to bring young children on.  I think the youngest kid I saw was probably about 10 years old.

Saddle Mountain is shaped like, well, a saddle.  You go up, up, up, and then you step down quite a ways into the middle of the saddle, then, even though you are quite tired already, you have to hike up the steepest part of all to the top of the mountain.  Ethan made sure to let me know this when we started so I could be mentally prepared for this little dip.  He didn't, however, mention that the worst of it was at the end.   It was tough!  Super tough!  Ethan was so patient with me as I slowly trudged up the mountain.

Success!  I made it!  Here's the view from the top.

And here's me all red-faced from the huffing and puffing I had to do to get there!

Look!  You can actually see the ocean from here.  It's that white line you see past all the mountains.  Facing North you can see the Columbia River.  It was pretty cool.  And definitely worth it.  I loved all the gorgeous views, grass hills, wildflowers, and especially my company.

Now it was time to head back down.  I knew about the saddle going up, but I didn't think about having to hike the saddle again on my way down.  I was so bummed!  I was already exhausted.  But I kept plugging along.  And of course, coming back down the steep mountainside isn't really all the much easier than going up it.  Oh, my poor knees!  

But I did it, and I survived to tell the tale.  And it was great.  It was so nice to be out in the wilderness with my husband.  Can you believe it's been 12 years?  I can't.  Time sure does fly by quickly.  But, at the same time, it feels like we've always been together.  

And now, thanks to his insistence, I can now say I've hiked Saddle Mountain.