The ride over Santiam Pass wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected it to be. While we were definitely climbing, the grade was not that steep until very close to the top. It was overcast and rainy pretty much the whole day. This morning we stopped at two amazing waterfalls on the way up.
Koosah Falls
Sahalie Falls
The view from the pass.
It is amazing to see the difference in the vegetation from one side of the mountain to the other. It is very obvious that the moisture all gets trapped on the other side of the mountain range. While the ground was almost always damp and mossy before, the ground here is dry and there are a lot of ponderosa pine trees. It reminds me a lot of Flagstaff, Arizona.
This evening we have set up camp at Sisters City Park. Today was a forecast of things to come as we will be going over five more passes in the next two to three days.
