I hiked the ridge from the lookout point at the end of the access road leading to the ridge top of Saddle Mountains where the old Nike Missile control site is located at 1975.' This is mainly a cross country route with some hiking on dirt roads. A short and steep trail drops 130' to the Corfu Gap before rising again to a 2070' high point with fabulous views of the area. The trail does not continue beyond here but the undulating ridge is broad and open and again drops to Saddle Gap at 1570' where waters from the Missoula Floods rushed through during the last ice age.
My goal was Taunton Benchmark, a minor point on the eastern end of the ridge and #39 on the list of county prominence peaks in Wa. From there I retraced my steps back to the car.
A long ridge walk at 13 miles RT and 2000' of gain.
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