Conditioning Hike - Saddle Mountain, 1600 ft

Four intrepid Santiam Alpine Club humans, and one equally intrepid Santiam Alpine Club dog, braved the rainy forecast and headed out to stretch their legs on Saddle Mountain, near Seaside, in the Coast Range. I was proud that though our group was small, we had 100% attendance; the question of canceling due to the weather didn't even arise.

I'm not going to tell you the weather was good, but it could certainly have been worse. It was raining as we began, but mostly held off during the hike, so we got wet but not soaked, and we did not have to waste any time applying sunscreen. Unfortunately, through the mist, there was little we could enjoy of the view, but we had all been there enough to imagine what we were missing. We did get to enjoy many spring wildflowers blooming along the trail.

Everybody made the ascent without too much difficulty. The hike took a little less than four hours, at our fairly leisurely pace, and I believe everybody enjoyed the fresh air and good company.

Fritz