Highest point in northwest Oregon, this saddle-shaped peak commands a panorama from the ocean to the truncated cone of Mt. St. Helens. The climb is especially popular in May and June, when wildflowers fill the mountain’s meadows with the richest floral display in the entire Coast Range. Avoid the steep path after mid-winter ice storms.

The Columbia River basalt forming Saddle Mountain erupted 15 million years ago near Idaho, poured down the Columbia’s channel, and fanned out to the sea. Here the lava puddled up in a deep bay. When the Coast Range later rose, erosion stripped away the surrounding soft rock, turning the erstwhile bay into a mountain. The summit still has a lumpy, pillow-shaped surface typical of lava cooled quickly by water.

This chapter is an excerpt from 100 Hikes : Oregon Coast