South Saddle Mountain

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South Saddle Mountain

Snow on South Saddle Mountain - Oregon.JPG

The tops of the two peaks of the mountain.
Highest point
Elevation 3,465 ft (1,056 m)   NAVD 88 [1]
Coordinates 45°32′53″N123°22′30″W / 45.548045347°N 123.374901381°W / 45.548045347; -123.374901381 Coordinates: 45°32′53″N123°22′30″W / 45.548045347°N 123.374901381°W / 45.548045347; -123.374901381   [1]
Geography
USA Oregon location map.svg
Red triangle with thick white border.svg
South Saddle Mountain
Parent range Northern Oregon Coast Range
Topo map USGS Roaring Creek

South Saddle Mountain is the tallest mountain in Washington County, Oregon, United States. [2] Part of the Oregon Coast Range, the peak is located in the Tillamook State Forest in the northwest section of the state of Oregon. It is the eighth-highest peak of the Oregon Coast Range. [3]

Washington County, Oregon county in Oregon, USA

Washington County is one of 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 census, the population was 529,710, making it the state's second most populous county. The county seat and largest city is Hillsboro.

Oregon State of the United States of America

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region on the West Coast of the United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. The parallel 42° north delineates the southern boundary with California and Nevada. Oregon is one of only three states of the contiguous United States to have a coastline on the Pacific Ocean.

United States federal republic in North America

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

Contents

History

South Saddle Mountain is one of 17 peaks in Oregon with the name Saddle. South Saddle was originally known as simply Saddle Mountain but in 1983 officially became South Saddle Mountain to avoid confusion with Saddle Mountain 33 miles (53 km) to the north in Clatsop County. [4]

Saddle Mountain (Clatsop County, Oregon) mountain in United States of America

Saddle Mountain is the tallest mountain in Clatsop County in the U.S. state of Oregon. Part of the Oregon Coast Range, Saddle Mountain is in Saddle Mountain State Natural Area in the northwest corner of Oregon. The peak is listed on Oregon’s Register of Natural Heritage Resources.

Geology

Origins of the mountain begin in around 40 million years ago during the Eocene age when sandstone and siltstone formed in the region consisting of parts of the Northern Oregon Coast Range. Igneous rocks and basalt flows combined with basaltic sandstone to create much of the formations. Other sedimentary rock in the area formed more recently, around 20 million years ago. It is hypothesized that the region was an island during the Eocene era. [5]

The Eocene Epoch, lasting from 56 to 33.9 million years ago, is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Paleocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the Eocene is marked by a brief period in which the concentration of the carbon isotope 13C in the atmosphere was exceptionally low in comparison with the more common isotope 12C. The end is set at a major extinction event called the Grande Coupure or the Eocene–Oligocene extinction event, which may be related to the impact of one or more large bolides in Siberia and in what is now Chesapeake Bay. As with other geologic periods, the strata that define the start and end of the epoch are well identified, though their exact dates are slightly uncertain.

Sandstone A clastic sedimentary rock composed mostly of sand-sized particles

Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized mineral particles or rock fragments.

Area and access

A golden-crowned kinglet. Regulus satrapa 28258.JPG
A golden-crowned kinglet.

The lower peak houses a microwave transmission tower, while the lower parts of the mountain are popular for bird watchers and off-road motorcycle enthusiasts. [6] This 110-foot-tall (34 m) tower includes amateur radio repeaters [7] and an AT&T microwave transmitter. [8] Surrounding the mountain are forests of western hemlock and Douglas fir trees. Fauna in the area include a variety of birds such as hermit warbler, sooty grouse, chestnut-backed chickadee, golden-crowned kinglet, Steller's jay, and Pacific-slope flycatcher. [6]

Transmission tower tall structure used to support an overhead power line

A transmission tower or power tower is a tall structure, usually a steel lattice tower, used to support an overhead power line.

Motorcycle two- or three-wheeled motor vehicle

A motorcycle, often called a bike, motorbike, or cycle, is a two- or three-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long distance travel, commuting, cruising, sport including racing, and off-road riding. Motorcycling is riding a motorcycle and related social activity such as joining a motorcycle club and attending motorcycle rallies.

Douglas fir species of tree

Pseudotsuga menziesii is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is known as Douglas fir, Douglas-fir, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are two varieties: coast Douglas-fir, and Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir.

South Saddle Mountain is approximately 7 miles (11 km) due northwest of Henry Hagg Lake and due west of Forest Grove. From mile post 33 on Oregon Route 6 near Lees Camp, access is via Saddlemountain Road. Nine miles from Highway 6 is a gate, the summit is then 0.5 miles from that point. [6] The lower peak containing the radio tower is in Tillamook County.

Henry Hagg Lake

Henry Hagg Lake is an artificial lake in northwest Oregon, in the United States. The reservoir is an impoundment of Scoggins Creek, which drains a small portion of the eastern side of the Northern Oregon Coast Range. The lake and creek are part of the Tualatin River’s watershed in the Tualatin Valley. It is located about 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Forest Grove.

Forest Grove, Oregon City in Oregon, United States

Forest Grove is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States, 25 miles (40 km) west of Portland. Originally a small farm town, it is now primarily a bedroom suburb of Portland. Settled in the 1840s, the town was platted in 1850, then incorporated in 1872, making it the first city in Washington County. The population was 21,083 at the 2010 census, an increase of 19.1% over the 2000 figure (17,708).

Oregon Route 6 highway in Oregon

Oregon Route 6 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Oregon that runs between the city of Tillamook on the Oregon Coast, to the Willamette Valley, near Banks. OR 6 traverses the Wilson River Highway No. 37 of the Oregon state highway system, named after the river paralleling the highway's western segment.

See also

Related Research Articles

Tillamook County, Oregon county in Oregon, USA

Tillamook County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 census, the population was 25,250. The county seat is Tillamook. The county is named for the Tillamook, a Native American tribe who were living in the area in the early 19th century at the time of European American settlement. The county is located within Northwest Oregon.

Oregon Coast

The Oregon Coast is a region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It runs generally north–south along the Pacific Ocean, forming the western border of the state; the region is bounded to the east by the Oregon Coast Range. The Oregon Coast stretches approximately 362 miles (583 km) from the Columbia River in the north to the California state border in the south. The Oregon Coast is not a specific geological, environmental, or political entity, but instead includes the entire coastline of Oregon, including the Columbia River Estuary.

Santa Lucia Range mountain range on the central California coast of the USA

The Santa Lucia Mountains or Santa Lucia Range is a rugged mountain range in coastal central California, running from Monterey County southeast for 105 miles (169 km) into central San Luis Obispo County. It includes Cone Peak, which at 5,158 feet (1,572 m) tall and three miles (5 km) from the coast, is the highest peak in proximity to the ocean in the lower 48 United States. The range forms the eastern boundary of the Big Sur region, and was a barrier to exploring the coast of California for early Spanish explorers.

Marys Peak mountain in United States of America

Marys Peak is a mountain in Benton County, Oregon, United States, just southwest of Philomath. It is the highest peak in the Oregon Coast Range. It is also the highest point in Benton County, and ranks eleventh in the state for prominence. It may have been named after Mary Lloyd, who came to Oregon in 1845, and was known as the first white woman to cross the Marys River, which has its origin on the mountain, though there are alternate theories about the name.

Tillamook State Forest

The Tillamook State Forest is a 364,000-acre (1,470 km2) publicly owned forest in the U.S. state of Oregon. Managed by the Oregon Department of Forestry, it is located 40 miles (64 km) west of Portland in the Northern Oregon Coast Range, and spans Washington, Tillamook, Yamhill, and Clatsop counties. The forest receives large amounts of precipitation and is dominated by Douglas-fir trees. Activities include commercial logging, recreation, and other commercial resource extraction activities such as mushroom hunting.

Maiden Peak (Oregon) mountain in United States of America

Maiden Peak is a steep-sided shield volcano in the Cascade Range of central Oregon. It is the highest point in the 43-mile (69 km) distance between Mount Bachelor and Diamond Peak. Ice Age glaciers carved a large cirque into the northeast flank of the mountain, exposing magma which hardened in the volcano's conduits to form the numerous rock pinnacles now found in the upper part of the cirque.

Yamsay Mountain mountain in United States of America

Yamsay Mountain is a large shield volcano in the Cascade Range of south-central Oregon, located about 35 miles (56 km) east of Crater Lake on the border between Klamath County and Lake County. It is part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc but is located in a mountain range 30 to 50 miles behind the main Cascade volcanic front. The best known members of this enigmatic arc are the massive shields of Newberry Volcano, about 55 miles (89 km) farther north in Oregon, and Medicine Lake Volcano, about 80 miles (130 km) south in Northern California. Yamsay is the highest volcano in the eastern arc, almost 300 feet (90 m) higher than Newberry and Medicine Lake.

Pelican Butte mountain in United States of America

Pelican Butte is a steep-sided dormant shield volcano in the Cascade Range of southern Oregon. It is located 28 miles (45 km) due south of Crater Lake and 12 miles (19 km) northeast of Mount McLoughlin, and rises over 3,800 feet (1,200 m) directly above the shore of Upper Klamath Lake. Ice Age glaciers carved a large cirque into the northeast flank of the mountain, forming a steep bowl which is popular in winter with backcountry skiers and snowmobilers. Several proposals have been made over the last few decades for ski area development on the northeast flanks, but none of the proposals has obtained the regulatory approval from the United States Forest Service necessary to proceed with construction. If the ski area is ever built, its skiable vertical of over 3,800 feet (1,200 m) would be the largest in Oregon exceeding the 3,590 feet (1,090 m) of Timberline Lodge ski area on Mount Hood.

Gallatin Range mountain range

The Gallatin Range is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains, located in the U.S. states of Montana and Wyoming. It includes more than 10 mountains over 10,000 feet (3,000 m). The highest peak in the range is Electric Peak at 10,969 feet (3,343 m).

Northern Oregon Coast Range mountain in United States of America

The Northern Oregon Coast Range is the northern section of the Oregon Coast Range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, located in the northwest portion of the state of Oregon, United States. This section of the mountain range, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, contains peaks as high as 3,710 feet (1,131 m) for Rogers Peak. Forests in these mountains are considered to be some of the most productive timber land in the world. The Central Oregon Coast Range is directly south of this section with the Southern Oregon Coast Range beyond the central range.

Rogers Peak US mountain

Rogers Peak is the highest mountain in Tillamook County, Oregon. In the Tillamook State Forest, the peak is also the highest peak in the Northern Oregon Coast Range, which is the northern section of the Oregon Coast Range.

Central Oregon Coast Range

The Central Oregon Coast Range is the middle section of the Oregon Coast Range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, and located in the west-central portion of the state of Oregon, United States roughly between the Salmon River and the Umpqua River and the Willamette Valley and the Pacific Ocean. This approximately 90-mile (140 km) long mountain range contains mountains as high as 4,097 feet for Marys Peak. Portions of the range are inside the Siuslaw National Forest and three wilderness areas exist as well: Drift Creek Wilderness, Cummins Creek Wilderness and Rock Creek Wilderness.

Trask Mountain

Trask Mountain in the Northern Oregon Coast Range, is the tallest mountain in Yamhill County, Oregon. It is located in the northwest corner of the county. Evidently the mountain was named for Elbridge Trask who settled west of the peak in Tillamook County in 1852.

Oregon Coast Range

The Oregon Coast Range, often called simply the Coast Range and sometimes the Pacific Coast Range, is a mountain range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, in the U.S. state of Oregon along the Pacific Ocean. This north-south running range extends over 200 miles (320 km) from the Columbia River in the north on the border of Oregon and Washington, south to the middle fork of the Coquille River. It is 30 to 60 miles wide and averages around 1,500 feet (460 m) in elevation above sea level. The coast range has three main sections, a Northern, Central, and Southern.

Siletz River Volcanics A sequence of basaltic pillow lavas that make up part of Siletzia

The Siletz River Volcanics, located in the Oregon Coast Range, United States, are a sequence of basaltic pillow lavas that make up part of Siletzia. The basaltic pillow lavas originally came from submarine volcanoes that existed during the Eocene.

Wilkins Peak mountain in United States of America

Wilkins Peak is a small mountain located in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, between the cities of Green River and Rock Springs. It is primarily used for radio and television station transmitters, but it also serves radio needs of the FAA, EMS, and local businesses such as Questar Gas. In 2003, a tower on the peak was knocked down by a vehicle delivering propane to customers. The tower was owned by Wyoming Public Radio and was serving the local area with programming from National Public Radio. There are numerous access roads to the peak and it is not gated and open year-round, weather permitting. Along with the radio uses, the mountain is also a popular location for mountain biking and hiking. The mountain contains geology typical of its location in southwestern Wyoming.

Round Top (Oregon)

Round Top is a mountain in Washington County, Oregon in the Northern Oregon Coast Range and is located 5 miles (8 km) west of Timber, on Oregon Route 6 and 9 miles (14.5 km) south of South Saddle Mountain. From 1933 to 1946, the summit was the site of a fire lookout tower and cabin.

Coast Range (EPA ecoregion)

The Coast Range ecoregion is a Level III ecoregion designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, and California. It stretches along the Pacific Coast from the tip of the Olympic Peninsula in the north to the San Francisco Bay in the south, including Grays Harbor, Willapa Bay, and the Long Beach Peninsula in Washington, the entire length of the Oregon Coast, and the Northern California Coast. Named for the Coast Range mountains, it encompasses the lower elevations of the Olympic Mountains, the Oregon Coast Range, the Californian North Coast Ranges, and surrounding lowlands.

Lake Mountains mountain range in Utah, United States

The Lake Mountains are a 15-mile-long (24 km) mountain range located on the western edge of the Utah Valley in northwestern Utah County, Utah, United States. The range forms the northwest border of Utah Lake, and its proximity allows its use for communication towers, mostly in its north section, bordering Eagle Mountain.

References

  1. 1 2 "Saddle Mtn". NGS data sheet. U.S. National Geodetic Survey . Retrieved 2008-11-02.
  2. ↑ "South Saddle Mountain, Oregon". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2008-04-03.
  3. ↑ "Oregon Coast Range". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2008-04-03.
  4. ↑ McArthur, Lewis A.; Lewis L. McArthur (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (Seventh ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. pp. 897–898. ISBN   0-87595-277-1.
  5. ↑ "Upper Nehalem Watershed Analysis" (PDF). Oregon Department of Forestry . Retrieved 2008-04-03.
  6. 1 2 3 "Site Guide: Saddle Mountain, Washington County, Oregon". The Bird Guide. Retrieved 2008-04-03.
  7. ↑ "Amateur radio repeaters in Oregon". Artsci Publishing. Retrieved 2008-04-03.
  8. ↑ "Long Lines Techs at work". AT&T Long Lines. Retrieved 2008-04-03.
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