But, primarily, you’ll want to climb Saddle Mountain for the views — not just at the top but on the exposed road wending around the south-eastern ridge, affording unobstructed gazing of the San Francisco Peaks and Kendrick Mountain, as well as the green expanse of the Kendrick Meadow hugging Highway 180 down below. Recently, driving west on 180 to the Grand Canyon, I had seen blackened patches of forest really close to the highway, but was buoyed by seeing that many of the ponderosa pines emerged relatively unscathed. But — and here’s another pleasant surprise — things didn’t look so bad from the summit. Yes, you could see blackened spots that looked like male-pattern baldness. But there was no widespread scarring; the forest still looked mostly intact.

Source: Daily Sun July 13, 2021 15:31 UTC