Mad Townie
New member
Able to grab a day "off", I decided to climb Saddleback and the Horn with my friend Shrink Rap. The weather forecast was good, with summit temps in the teens and a mostly clear day. Well, it was mostly clear--clear mostly everywhere around EXCEPT on the summits of the mountains.
We got started around 8:15 or so after checking with the ski operation people and learning that Grey Ghost (my favorite fishing fly) to Tricolor would be the best hiking route up the mountain. Unlike the staff at a certain other nearby ski mountain, the people at Saddleback are friendly and supportive to hikers.
The hike up was uneventful. We took our time, stopping at the warming hut to have a snack and dry off a bit. We were in the clouds but the visibility wasn't too bad...yet. As we approached treeline the winds picked up, and I would estimate they were between 50 and 60 on the summit. Enough to knock you over if you weren't being careful enough.The temperatures were pretty comfortable, but the wind still made us notice it was winter when we took our gloves off.
The problem was the visibility. We could see about ten to fifteen feet, and everything was so covered in rime that it was impossible to tell what was a shrub and what was a cairn. Neither of us had been to this summit recently, and after thrashing around for a while we decided that we were not going to find the AT to the Horn easily. We had plenty of time, but it didn't seem that the conditions would be improving anytime soon. After searching for some sign of a trail, we decided to head back down and leave the Horn for another day.
Oh well, one more W67, even though I'll have to do it again to get to the Horn! The whole hike took us about three hours, up and down--not counting the bar time. Maybe someday I'll start doing hikes that take longer than my round trip driving time!
We got started around 8:15 or so after checking with the ski operation people and learning that Grey Ghost (my favorite fishing fly) to Tricolor would be the best hiking route up the mountain. Unlike the staff at a certain other nearby ski mountain, the people at Saddleback are friendly and supportive to hikers.
The hike up was uneventful. We took our time, stopping at the warming hut to have a snack and dry off a bit. We were in the clouds but the visibility wasn't too bad...yet. As we approached treeline the winds picked up, and I would estimate they were between 50 and 60 on the summit. Enough to knock you over if you weren't being careful enough.
The temperatures were pretty comfortable, but the wind still made us notice it was winter when we took our gloves off.The problem was the visibility. We could see about ten to fifteen feet, and everything was so covered in rime that it was impossible to tell what was a shrub and what was a cairn. Neither of us had been to this summit recently, and after thrashing around for a while we decided that we were not going to find the AT to the Horn easily.
We had plenty of time, but it didn't seem that the conditions would be improving anytime soon. After searching for some sign of a trail, we decided to head back down and leave the Horn for another day. Oh well, one more W67, even though I'll have to do it again to get to the Horn!
The whole hike took us about three hours, up and down--not counting the bar time. Maybe someday I'll start doing hikes that take longer than my round trip driving time!
