marysgirl
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- Feb 13, 2013
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The road to get from NH to ME, on route 16, was a series of 30 miles of frost heaves! (decided to leave by 17 then 2 instead and 17 was worse!)
The trail up to the top of Saddleback was groomed and snowshoes were a must!! At the top of the ski trail look for a small side trail, right next to the to shack, to get to the false summit, once you see a post with no sign on it look north and you will see the actual summit with the sign on it.....it is a small downhill, popping back up about a tenth of a mile away, all ice and rocks. Everything on the open summit on both peaks is ice!! After reaching the summit we headed straight for the Horn, there is a very steep icy ledge and stepping off to the left (or west) to descend will take a bit of the "edge" off. Quickly you hit the spruce and the chest high snow drifts!! We found an old set of snowshoe tracks and tried to follow them. At points we had to wing it, which isn't a bad thing on the icy parts because you can see the cairns and follow them. In the deep sags it is best to try to seek out the tracks!! But be aware that the people before us had fallen into spruce traps and so did we, watch for our large gaping holes!! When side stepping be very careful not to fall through yourself (same spruce-different hole)!! After reaching the summit of Saddleback and then back to the top of the ski area (pole with no sign) it was a little interesting to find the short "trail" back to the ski lift....perhaps we weren't paying close attention, that's why I mention it in here. The drive there was much longer than the hike!! It took me 5.5 hours to drive there from Western Massachusetts and only 3.5 to bag 2 peaks....it's all good. I must mention that the views there are spectacular, 360 degrees of mountains and sky.....great day on Saddleback!
The trail up to the top of Saddleback was groomed and snowshoes were a must!! At the top of the ski trail look for a small side trail, right next to the to shack, to get to the false summit, once you see a post with no sign on it look north and you will see the actual summit with the sign on it.....it is a small downhill, popping back up about a tenth of a mile away, all ice and rocks. Everything on the open summit on both peaks is ice!! After reaching the summit we headed straight for the Horn, there is a very steep icy ledge and stepping off to the left (or west) to descend will take a bit of the "edge" off. Quickly you hit the spruce and the chest high snow drifts!! We found an old set of snowshoe tracks and tried to follow them. At points we had to wing it, which isn't a bad thing on the icy parts because you can see the cairns and follow them. In the deep sags it is best to try to seek out the tracks!! But be aware that the people before us had fallen into spruce traps and so did we, watch for our large gaping holes!! When side stepping be very careful not to fall through yourself (same spruce-different hole)!! After reaching the summit of Saddleback and then back to the top of the ski area (pole with no sign) it was a little interesting to find the short "trail" back to the ski lift....perhaps we weren't paying close attention, that's why I mention it in here. The drive there was much longer than the hike!! It took me 5.5 hours to drive there from Western Massachusetts and only 3.5 to bag 2 peaks....it's all good. I must mention that the views there are spectacular, 360 degrees of mountains and sky.....great day on Saddleback!
