Saddle Mountain!

Yesterday, Reggie and I hiked Saddle Mountain near Seaside, Oregon. Here's what Oregon Parks and Rec. Department website says about Saddle Mountain:

"Two and a half miles. That's all it is from the parking lot (elev. 1,650') to the summit of Saddle Mountain (elev. 3,283'). Be prepared to marvel at the sheer volume of natural beauty packed onto the mountain, from a mature forest setting to fields of wildflowers to an open rocky summit. The view from the top of the mountain is one that cannot be described ... it must be experienced."

It's not a fast hike! All uphill one way, and downhill the other, and sometimes down is harder than up!

The trail starts with some birch forest, then mixes with Douglas fir and some hemlock firs.

The views get better and better the higher you climb. Yesterday was really warm, but also really windy. The east wind, which is usually a cold wind in winter, was a warm wind yesterday. Temps at the trailhead were 50F-in January!
A section of the trail goes through lots of downed trees, probably storm damage. But the trail (and the road leading to it) were well-cleared.
This is definitely old volcano territory. Beautiful rock features to admire! And lots and lots of switchbacks...

We came around the southwest side, and got our first view of the ocean!

A little farther, and there was the saddle. We hadn't been up here for years, and much of the trail is being stabilized with chain link style trail covers. It'll be a lot nicer to hike when it's all finished.

The view from the saddle had Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Adams. Climbing higher, around the shorter side the trail came from, you could see Mt. Hood on one side, and Mt. Jefferson on the other.

Finally, the top! The winds were wild up there, you had to lean sideways to stand up straight! A plane flying along the coast was lower than the mountain top. Yet even with those steady, strong winds with crazy gusts, it wasn't cold up there!

Now pics of the trail going down. This is late afternoon sunlight-it would be so different doing this on an early morning. That'll be another trip!

A very fun afternoon and hike!

A frosty morning...

...but the roads were dry, and that means no ice! It was so nice to have sun from the start of the day! It was cold enough that the frost lasted a little while once the sun hit it, with beautiful, sparkly crystals!

A beautiful day in the neighborhood...

Cascade 1/2 Marathon

This morning was one of my favorite races - the Cascade 1/2 Marathon in Turner, OR. It supports the Tigers at Cascade Middle School, and is a wonderfully flat, rural course. I ran the very first one in 2000, the day of our worst winter storm! I know after running in that (horizontal sleet and ice, winds 40mph gusting to 65mph) that I can run in anything! Today was quite a bit different from the first Cascade 1/2. We're talking shorts weather!

When I got to the gym, I found out my friend, Deborah, hadn't been able to come after all, but I met Jeff, from the Runners World Beginners Forum!



I took my shirt back out to the car, then hit the restroom (lots of them in the school) and stayed walking indoors, for even though it was shorts/long sleeves weather, it felt chilly outside. Then they started sending us out to wait for the start. I started at the very, very back of the pack. That worked well, for once I got into 'my' pace, no one passed me until I started doing the run/walks, then it was mostly leapfrogging with similar-paced runners.

It was misting for most of the race, but I still took my Tyvek jacket off at mile 1, and was comfortable for the rest of the run. Just adjusted my long sleeves up and down, depending on if the wind was a headwind or a tailwind, or from either side. It wasn't a bad wind, but we did notice the loooonnnngggg stretch until the last turn where it was a headwind.

My finish time was 2:18.04, placing 8th in my age group. That's a 10:32 average pace, and considering how bad the weather conditions have been for running and training lately, that was better than I thought I'd do!