Saddle Mountain Hike in Coast Range with the Native Plant Society of Oregon

The hike up Saddle Mountain isn’t easy, but the trip to this botanist’s Mecca in the Coast Range is worth it. We’ll leisurely ascend 1,700 feet over a challenging, five-mile, out-and-back hike to the highest point in Clatsop County. Along the way, we’ll see plants that have found refuge there since the last Ice Age, some that can’t be found anywhere else for dozens of miles, and some that can’t be found anywhere else in the world. Among the many wildflowers, expect to see saxifrages, larkspurs, lomatiums, prairie smokes, Saddle Mountain bittercresses, chickweeds, checkermallows, wallflowers (aromatic!), chocolate lilies and monkeyflowers carpeting the hillsides below the mountain summit. Enjoy an amazing "big bloom" wildflower display and fill your senses. Cameras are encouraged. Bring lunch and be prepared for a moderately difficult hike in potential variable weather. Hiking shoes/boots with good traction recommended for travel over some rougher trail including chicken wire covered upper section. Hiking poles strongly recommended.

A carpool will leave early from Hillsboro at 7:30am with the aim of arriving at the trailhead by 9am. Carpool rider RT cost $18 cash. Trip limited to eight participants. Contact Linda at abenteuerbc@yahoo.com if you have questions