Tom Rankin
Well-known member
(I titled a week in Maine with that same phrase several years ago, we got all 11 then, but it was summer. This was much more insane!)
Short form, 7 peaks, 49 miles, 12.5K elevation gain.
Long form:
Sunday 12/30/12 - Sugarloaf and Spaulding with S/L, N/M, and D and K, they can identify themselves if they want. I wrote briefly about this trip a few days ago.
Tuesday 1/1/13 - Just Laurie and K now. The Bigelows, which I also summarized here.
Thursday 1/3 - Saddleback and the Horn - We went up 'Green Weaver' after checking in with the ski patrol. It was mid-week and very few skiers were on the slopes. After Green Weaver we went up 'Tri color' to the top of the lift system. We again checked in with the ski patrol and they pointed us to the summit access trail. Here it started to get windy. Even though the slopes of Saddleback are quite wide, it was never windy up to now. At the end of the access trail, we layered up and hit the wind full on. It was not really intense, but it would alter your intended footfall from time to time. We made it quickly to the false summit, and Laurie stopped to kiss me, thinking we were at the top. (Without her glasses on, she could not see the true summit about 500' away). I told her we had to press on a little farther. From here, we ducked down behind some trees next to the old foundation that is very close to the summit. We would have used it, but it was almost filled with snow. We all decided that we were good to go back into the wind and on to the Horn. So off we went.
The trip over to the Horn is not a straight line, and it alternates between tree cover and exposure. There are some cairns along the way, but we briefly lost the trail and re-found it several times. Eventually we made it over to the top of the Horn, and Laurie took a few pictures. Now that we knew what to expect, we easily made our way back to the other false summit, the true summit, and then skirted the first false summit back to the access trail and the relative calm of the ski slopes. After a quick stop at the ski patrol hut, we headed back down the slopes. The hike is only 6 miles but it took 6 hours. There are more gear stops, and route finding in the winter, as well as carrying more gear, so it slows you down.
Funny I should say slow...
The next day, we decided to walk down Caribou Pond Road (aka Caribou Valley Road - The sign says 'Pond'), and see if the Crockers were broken out. They were not. So, plan 'B' was to attempt Reddington. We had a rough outline from S/L on how to proceed, as they had been there about a week ago. The road to this point had been snowmobiled heavily, but we were not sure now far they went. We kept walking all the way past mile marker 7, (every mile is clearly marked), and turned right when the loop around the pond begins. After about .8 miles, another very obvious road branches off the right. This starts going up hill more steeply at this point. After about another .6 miles, there is a very obvious road to the left. This road went up and down in elevation, but we pressed on. After about .3 miles, there is a very obvious path that has been cut thru the fir trees that branches off to the left. Here is where we finally had to start re-breaking the old trail. It is about 3 feet wide. We followed this trail to a small clearing. The trail turns sharply right and continues on up to the summit. The summit is a wide open flat area, but I will give you a clue: the canister (the only one on a 115er summit) is off to the right side of the trail, somewhere.
At this point, we had come 10 miles in about 6 hours, and we knew we had a long way to go back. It snowed lightly all day, but there was less than an inch of new accumulation. We met a pair of snowmobilers on the way back, who were very friendly. When we finally got back to the car, it was just over 10 hours, so this day was a lot faster then the previous, but also a LOT longer!
It was interesting seeing condos quite close by on the Sugarloaf slopes as we walked the road. It made me wonder if whacking over from one of them might save some time/mileage/effort? There is a stream to be crossed whatever else may be in the valley...
This was the end of our peakbagging efforts, but we did drive up the West Kingfield Road to see how far we could get to the eastern trailhead for Abraham. Surprisingly, even in a Prius, we were able to get over 5 miles up before we turned around in a small turn out. There are 2 bridges out somewhere above this point. We did not come to them, but apparently we came pretty close, as it is 6 miles to the old trail head. The road is plowed, but it is only one lane in most places.
Overall, we were quite pleased to have gotten 7 peaks. It was very windy and very cold most of the time, but we were prepared and made the most of the week we were up there.
We now have 104 of the 115W.
Pictures, all credit goes to Laurie:
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/sp1.jpg - Spaulding summit with masked peakbaggers
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/bi1.jpg - Stream Crossing for the Bigelows - It was safe
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/bi2.jpg - Eastern summit from the Fire Warden's Trail
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/bi3.jpg - Typical scene above tree line
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/bi4.jpg - Looking East from near the Western Summit
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/bi5.jpg - Gearing up just below tree line
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/ho1.jpg - Summit of the Horn
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/re1.jpg - Some one should bring a Sharpie up there!
Views and Brews notes.
Short form, 7 peaks, 49 miles, 12.5K elevation gain.
Long form:
Sunday 12/30/12 - Sugarloaf and Spaulding with S/L, N/M, and D and K, they can identify themselves if they want. I wrote briefly about this trip a few days ago.
Tuesday 1/1/13 - Just Laurie and K now. The Bigelows, which I also summarized here.
Thursday 1/3 - Saddleback and the Horn - We went up 'Green Weaver' after checking in with the ski patrol. It was mid-week and very few skiers were on the slopes. After Green Weaver we went up 'Tri color' to the top of the lift system. We again checked in with the ski patrol and they pointed us to the summit access trail. Here it started to get windy. Even though the slopes of Saddleback are quite wide, it was never windy up to now. At the end of the access trail, we layered up and hit the wind full on. It was not really intense, but it would alter your intended footfall from time to time. We made it quickly to the false summit, and Laurie stopped to kiss me, thinking we were at the top. (Without her glasses on, she could not see the true summit about 500' away). I told her we had to press on a little farther. From here, we ducked down behind some trees next to the old foundation that is very close to the summit. We would have used it, but it was almost filled with snow. We all decided that we were good to go back into the wind and on to the Horn. So off we went.
The trip over to the Horn is not a straight line, and it alternates between tree cover and exposure. There are some cairns along the way, but we briefly lost the trail and re-found it several times. Eventually we made it over to the top of the Horn, and Laurie took a few pictures. Now that we knew what to expect, we easily made our way back to the other false summit, the true summit, and then skirted the first false summit back to the access trail and the relative calm of the ski slopes. After a quick stop at the ski patrol hut, we headed back down the slopes. The hike is only 6 miles but it took 6 hours. There are more gear stops, and route finding in the winter, as well as carrying more gear, so it slows you down.
Funny I should say slow...
The next day, we decided to walk down Caribou Pond Road (aka Caribou Valley Road - The sign says 'Pond'), and see if the Crockers were broken out. They were not. So, plan 'B' was to attempt Reddington. We had a rough outline from S/L on how to proceed, as they had been there about a week ago. The road to this point had been snowmobiled heavily, but we were not sure now far they went. We kept walking all the way past mile marker 7, (every mile is clearly marked), and turned right when the loop around the pond begins. After about .8 miles, another very obvious road branches off the right. This starts going up hill more steeply at this point. After about another .6 miles, there is a very obvious road to the left. This road went up and down in elevation, but we pressed on. After about .3 miles, there is a very obvious path that has been cut thru the fir trees that branches off to the left. Here is where we finally had to start re-breaking the old trail. It is about 3 feet wide. We followed this trail to a small clearing. The trail turns sharply right and continues on up to the summit. The summit is a wide open flat area, but I will give you a clue: the canister (the only one on a 115er summit) is off to the right side of the trail, somewhere.
At this point, we had come 10 miles in about 6 hours, and we knew we had a long way to go back. It snowed lightly all day, but there was less than an inch of new accumulation. We met a pair of snowmobilers on the way back, who were very friendly. When we finally got back to the car, it was just over 10 hours, so this day was a lot faster then the previous, but also a LOT longer!
It was interesting seeing condos quite close by on the Sugarloaf slopes as we walked the road. It made me wonder if whacking over from one of them might save some time/mileage/effort? There is a stream to be crossed whatever else may be in the valley...
This was the end of our peakbagging efforts, but we did drive up the West Kingfield Road to see how far we could get to the eastern trailhead for Abraham. Surprisingly, even in a Prius, we were able to get over 5 miles up before we turned around in a small turn out. There are 2 bridges out somewhere above this point. We did not come to them, but apparently we came pretty close, as it is 6 miles to the old trail head. The road is plowed, but it is only one lane in most places.
Overall, we were quite pleased to have gotten 7 peaks. It was very windy and very cold most of the time, but we were prepared and made the most of the week we were up there.
We now have 104 of the 115W.
Pictures, all credit goes to Laurie:
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/sp1.jpg - Spaulding summit with masked peakbaggers
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/bi1.jpg - Stream Crossing for the Bigelows - It was safe
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/bi2.jpg - Eastern summit from the Fire Warden's Trail
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/bi3.jpg - Typical scene above tree line
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/bi4.jpg - Looking East from near the Western Summit
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/bi5.jpg - Gearing up just below tree line
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/ho1.jpg - Summit of the Horn
http://viewsandbrews.com/temp/re1.jpg - Some one should bring a Sharpie up there!
Views and Brews notes.
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