elhefe007a
New member
6/18/2006
Do you like lots of sun and zero tree cover? Hike Saddleback and The Horn on a 90-95 degree day up the Ski Trails. Thank god for 15 bottles of Gatorade, Powerbars, PB&J and sunblock (Although today it doesn’t look like I put any on).
All in all, it was a beautiful day to hike. I drove to my fathers house Saturday evening in Northern VT. Sunday, at 3AM we drove out too Rangley ME to Saddleback and the Horn, #111 and #112 on my fathers NE 115. A 4.5 hour drive, but the time was passed pretty easily with 6 moose in the road, 3 deer and 1 black bear. Good stuff.
We got to the base lodge parking lot around 8AM, first car in the parking lot, and we were expecting seeing a few people at least on the ski trails. We headed up the slopes (which were in rough shape, even for summer ski slopes), it was pretty obvious this area has had a ton of rain lately. I’m a big snowboarder, and I’ve never been up to Saddleback…I’m curious as to if anyone has and how they like it. (I pretty much live at Jay Peak in the winter time…I think I’m spoiled).
Anyways, we reached the summit of Saddleback, without seeing anyone so far. Had a quick bite to eat, took some pictures and started working our way over to the Horn. The sun was really starting to beat down, and the only woods we had seen all day were the ones we walked into purposely to take a leak.
Coming off of Saddleback was much steeper than I expected from looking at a topomap. But, that has to be one of the most amazing ridge walks I’d ever been on, absolutely fantastic. We summated the Horn, and to our surprise we did not find any people, but to actually see a Deer standing right on the summit marker. Good stuff, not enough time to grab a camera. After recharging for a bit, we headed back over to Saddleback. On the way over, we actually ran into an AT through hiker, who had run into a moose right in the col between the two peaks…no surprise, I had seen 2 of them from the summit of the Horn.
By this time, it was about 12:30, and the sun was really starting to bear down on us. The climb back up Saddleback was that much tougher because of it. We summated, did a final recharge, and headed back down the ski slopes (which were tough going down with how much of a mess they were in general…).
Overall a great day, I’m really surprised as to the lack of people (1?!?). As stated, it was number 111 and 112 for my father on the 115 list. It was number 82 and 83 on his NEHH list. For me, it was #68 and #69 on the 115 list, and #65 and #66 on the NE HH List. Coupled with 8 moose instances, 4 deer and 1 black bear, it was a good day.
Pictures at http://www.forthoseabouttorock.net/climb/NE/saddlehrn/saddlehrn.html
I’m going to add some GPS logs of it later tonight.
Do you like lots of sun and zero tree cover? Hike Saddleback and The Horn on a 90-95 degree day up the Ski Trails. Thank god for 15 bottles of Gatorade, Powerbars, PB&J and sunblock (Although today it doesn’t look like I put any on).
All in all, it was a beautiful day to hike. I drove to my fathers house Saturday evening in Northern VT. Sunday, at 3AM we drove out too Rangley ME to Saddleback and the Horn, #111 and #112 on my fathers NE 115. A 4.5 hour drive, but the time was passed pretty easily with 6 moose in the road, 3 deer and 1 black bear. Good stuff.
We got to the base lodge parking lot around 8AM, first car in the parking lot, and we were expecting seeing a few people at least on the ski trails. We headed up the slopes (which were in rough shape, even for summer ski slopes), it was pretty obvious this area has had a ton of rain lately. I’m a big snowboarder, and I’ve never been up to Saddleback…I’m curious as to if anyone has and how they like it. (I pretty much live at Jay Peak in the winter time…I think I’m spoiled).
Anyways, we reached the summit of Saddleback, without seeing anyone so far. Had a quick bite to eat, took some pictures and started working our way over to the Horn. The sun was really starting to beat down, and the only woods we had seen all day were the ones we walked into purposely to take a leak.
Coming off of Saddleback was much steeper than I expected from looking at a topomap. But, that has to be one of the most amazing ridge walks I’d ever been on, absolutely fantastic. We summated the Horn, and to our surprise we did not find any people, but to actually see a Deer standing right on the summit marker. Good stuff, not enough time to grab a camera. After recharging for a bit, we headed back over to Saddleback. On the way over, we actually ran into an AT through hiker, who had run into a moose right in the col between the two peaks…no surprise, I had seen 2 of them from the summit of the Horn.
By this time, it was about 12:30, and the sun was really starting to bear down on us. The climb back up Saddleback was that much tougher because of it. We summated, did a final recharge, and headed back down the ski slopes (which were tough going down with how much of a mess they were in general…).
Overall a great day, I’m really surprised as to the lack of people (1?!?). As stated, it was number 111 and 112 for my father on the 115 list. It was number 82 and 83 on his NEHH list. For me, it was #68 and #69 on the 115 list, and #65 and #66 on the NE HH List. Coupled with 8 moose instances, 4 deer and 1 black bear, it was a good day.
Pictures at http://www.forthoseabouttorock.net/climb/NE/saddlehrn/saddlehrn.html
I’m going to add some GPS logs of it later tonight.
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