Saddle Mountain sits north of Dow Mountain and east of Lake Cushman. It’s just outside the Olympic Mountains’ southeast boundary near the famous Mount Ellinor. Then to the direct east is the long and narrow Hood Canal.
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Saddle Mountain at a Glance
Access: Prices Lake Road
Round Trip: 4.3 miles
Elevation Range: 840′-1840′
Gear: none
GPS track: available
Dog-Friendly: on the road
The Preface
Today we went up to Saddle Mountain after last weekend‘s sunny outing. At 15 weeks, the recruit now weighs 25 pounds, the equivalent of my climbing gear. So today, Mr. Connor managed to make the entire trip by himself.
Saddle Mountain sat under 2000′, so I doubted seeing anything because of the woodsy top. In short, the weather was the reason we couldn’t see much, not the trees. The partly cloudy forecast turned into rain right as we started.
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Prices Lake Road to Unnamed Road
I drove through the open DNR gate by Prices Lake Road and turned left at the first fork. Then I parked by a fire pit one mile from Lake Cushman Road. Though I could have gone further, we could use the exercise.
The roadway we turned onto wasn’t on the map, so I wasn’t sure if it’d lead to the ridgeline. So half a mile before the road curved, we left the main path and dove into the light brush. Then we reached the west ridge shortly.
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Saddle Mountain West Ridge
But the minute we stepped out of the shrubs, a road suddenly appeared. After rechecking the map, it ended up being the same one we were on lower down; ugh. So we followed it through the ridgeline before it ended unexpectedly.
Staying on the crest was the only way to continue without another nearby road. But that meant we’d need to contend with the piles of logging debris. But I often wondered why the loggers wouldn’t have cleared the rubble in the first place.
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Saddle Mountain Summit Ridge
I thought letting Mr. Connor go off the beaten path was too soon. But I looked for a way of the least resistance as we carefully worked through the messy piles. Watching him trying to catch up to the yellow dog–a scrambler in the making–was fun.
After going through the clutter, we came upon yet another logging road. Not sure how the puppy felt, but I was happy not to scramble again. Then it was a short and muddy walk to the ridgetop as we walked past logging machinery en route.
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Saddle Mountain Summit Views
Several reports noted the southwest edge of the summit ridge was higher; I also thought so. After briefly stopping by what looked like the high point, we continued to the eastern end. Then we huddled under a tree to wait out the rain.
Despite the sunny weather, low clouds hovered over the Olympic Mountains. Besides a sliver of Lake Cushman, there were no signs of Mount Washington, Mount Ellinor, or Mount Rose. Kitsap Peninsula to the east of the canal was also visible.
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Sunny Afternoon Plus Outro
As I surveyed the area, I realized we were sitting among toilet paper piles. “How gross is this?” I thought. That wasn’t surprising since loggers were up here midweek. But the company could afford at least one porta-potties, I suppose?
After soaking in the heat for another hour, we left the broad summit. We dillydallied while enjoying the scenery, but going the other way through the debris only took half the time. Then we stayed on the main path the rest of the way.
See more trip photos here.