Saddle Mountain 11-29-2024
Clastop County, Oregon 11-29-2024
5.15 miles, 2300 ft (with Humbug Mountain)
We decided to stay in Cannon Beach for Thanksgiving, a good time to utilize for days off without taking PTO because Anacortes is stingy and I only get 2 weeks of vacation for 5 years! There are a couple peaks around the area that we chose from.
Ross has hiked Saddle Mountain as a kid and wanted to do it again. It is actually the highest peak in Clatsop County at a massive 3,284 ft a little less than 5 miles to the top. A little background geology this mountain was formed in the Miocene by Columbia River lava connecting with the ocean and creating a type of Brecciated rock. While we were hiking, I thought it was some type of volcanic rock by looking at it, but the touching of the ocean made complete sense.
The trail started out in a parking area with really nice clean new bathrooms. Right out of the gate was a steep grade through a birch tree grove. At ¼ of a mile (there were mile markers here and there) there is a turn off to Humbug Mountain, we did this on the way down and it added about a ¼ of a mile, it lead to a great view of Saddle Mountain. Continuing on, the grade mellowed out a little bit and there were some really easy switchbacks. A mile in there is a nice picnic table (we were wondering how and why they got picnic tables up here). We were trying to find where the trail problem area had been, but there are lots of areas where there might have been a downed bridge or washout from storms.
About 2 miles you come out to a clearing underneath the East Saddle Mountain summit (this is also a peak on PeakBagger but a little much for us today). There is a traverse over to the saddle, it’s quite steep down to the saddle and at the time a little icy. There are some great views of Saddle Mountain at this point and also nice views all around. From the saddle it’s just pretty easy mellow trail up to the summit, at the summit there are 360-degree views of the area. There are also metal railings. We picked a great sunny day to do this as well as half a dozen other parties.
Anyways, this hiking area has been closed the last couple of years we have thought about doing it due to either a bridge washout or trail issues. The type of rock is very brittle and not very strong so it make sense that there would be issues. Hiking up there was lots of chain link looking fencing that was laid out in areas of the trail to hold the rock together, honestly this trail is going to require maintance forever. Ross said he had issues with the metal catching his shoes and we heard from our hotel owners that they had to rescue dogs up there because their feet get cut by these too. IMO, it’s just not sustainable.
Great hike over all, very different than what I am used to in our WA Cascades. It does say dogs welcome but not a great idea with the metal. We didn’t see too many birds; Pacific Wren, Ravens, Chickadees, Northern Flickers. https://ebird.org/checklist/S204020123
