salsgang
Member
Date(s) Hiked: - August 26, 2007
Trails(s) Hiked: - From ski area base lodge - Gray Ghost > Tri Color > Appalachian Trial to Summit
Total Distance: - 4 miles
Difficulty: - Moderate +
Conditions: - Partly Sunny around 70 at base - In the clouds - 50's & 30MPH+ wind at top
Special Required Equipment: - none
Trip Report: - My boys (age 9 and 11) conquered their first 4000 foot summit today at Saddleback. Since this was their first ascent above the tree line, I wanted to find a hike that was moderate in nature and Saddleback from the ski area fit the bill perfectly.
There are basically 2 ways to get to the summit of Saddleback. You can take the AT from route 4 which is almost 6 miles one way and about 2600 vertical or go from the ski area which is 2 miles one way and about 1600 vertical. Easy decision to go from the ski area with my boys - but I hear the AT is a great hike too just more strenuous.
We started from the base lodge at around 10AM and the start of the trail basically goes up the Gray Ghost ski trail marked by yellow painted stakes. This turns out to be a great hike as the trial follows what I think is an old road or stream bed... so basically you are climbing up good size rocks instead of treading through grass, which gives better footing IMO. The first mile ascends over 3 moderate humps to get to the top of the Rangeley chair lift.
At this point we are starting to get into the clouds and we followed the tri-color ski trail which is an easy to moderate climb to the top of the t-bar lift that gets close to the summit. We got caught in a brief shower and we ducked into the lift house to eat our lunch. (another advantage to using the ski area!)
Donning our jackets we traversed the short trail to the meet-up with the AT. The wind was really howling at this point and visibility was only a hundred yards or so. I didn't think we were at the summit yet, as no sign indicated as such, but looking both directions seems to go down. We decided to go left and after a a few hundred yards we could make out the last climb to the summit. A short hike and we were there. There is a small 3 foot high semi-circle rock pile which turned out handy to get out of the wind. The temps were probably in the 50's somewhere with a 30+MPH wind.
After watching some thru-hikers pass (they were not having much fun, they had a lot of above tree line hiking ahead of them) we headed back down. Fortunately the cloud ceiling was lifting and we could see great views from the top of the t-bar which is only a few hundred feet below the summit. We checked out the tops of Supervisor and Tight Lines ski trails while we were there and snapped some pictures.
It was a great climb down as we reminisced about the great time we had skiing at Saddleback last March and April and we are looking forward to next year. Its amazing what elevation will do - back at the base lodge it was around 70 and pleasant - a big difference from the top! The total round trip was about 4.5 hours but we took our time and could be done much quicker if needed.
On another hike with better weather we will probably tackle the Horn - another 4000 foot summit about 1.5 miles from the Saddleback summit on the AT. Going from the ski area is a great option if you want a pleasant 1/2 day hike to bag a 4000 footer or two.
Pic 1 is the top of the Gray Ghost trial by the top of the Rangeley Chair
Pic 2 is my boys 'riding the clouds and wind' on the Tri-Color trail
Pic 3-5 are shots from the top of Supervisor ski trial on the way down
Trails(s) Hiked: - From ski area base lodge - Gray Ghost > Tri Color > Appalachian Trial to Summit
Total Distance: - 4 miles
Difficulty: - Moderate +
Conditions: - Partly Sunny around 70 at base - In the clouds - 50's & 30MPH+ wind at top
Special Required Equipment: - none
Trip Report: - My boys (age 9 and 11) conquered their first 4000 foot summit today at Saddleback. Since this was their first ascent above the tree line, I wanted to find a hike that was moderate in nature and Saddleback from the ski area fit the bill perfectly.
There are basically 2 ways to get to the summit of Saddleback. You can take the AT from route 4 which is almost 6 miles one way and about 2600 vertical or go from the ski area which is 2 miles one way and about 1600 vertical. Easy decision to go from the ski area with my boys - but I hear the AT is a great hike too just more strenuous.
We started from the base lodge at around 10AM and the start of the trail basically goes up the Gray Ghost ski trail marked by yellow painted stakes. This turns out to be a great hike as the trial follows what I think is an old road or stream bed... so basically you are climbing up good size rocks instead of treading through grass, which gives better footing IMO. The first mile ascends over 3 moderate humps to get to the top of the Rangeley chair lift.
At this point we are starting to get into the clouds and we followed the tri-color ski trail which is an easy to moderate climb to the top of the t-bar lift that gets close to the summit. We got caught in a brief shower and we ducked into the lift house to eat our lunch. (another advantage to using the ski area!)
Donning our jackets we traversed the short trail to the meet-up with the AT. The wind was really howling at this point and visibility was only a hundred yards or so. I didn't think we were at the summit yet, as no sign indicated as such, but looking both directions seems to go down. We decided to go left and after a a few hundred yards we could make out the last climb to the summit. A short hike and we were there. There is a small 3 foot high semi-circle rock pile which turned out handy to get out of the wind. The temps were probably in the 50's somewhere with a 30+MPH wind.
After watching some thru-hikers pass (they were not having much fun, they had a lot of above tree line hiking ahead of them) we headed back down. Fortunately the cloud ceiling was lifting and we could see great views from the top of the t-bar which is only a few hundred feet below the summit. We checked out the tops of Supervisor and Tight Lines ski trails while we were there and snapped some pictures.
It was a great climb down as we reminisced about the great time we had skiing at Saddleback last March and April and we are looking forward to next year. Its amazing what elevation will do - back at the base lodge it was around 70 and pleasant - a big difference from the top! The total round trip was about 4.5 hours but we took our time and could be done much quicker if needed.
On another hike with better weather we will probably tackle the Horn - another 4000 foot summit about 1.5 miles from the Saddleback summit on the AT. Going from the ski area is a great option if you want a pleasant 1/2 day hike to bag a 4000 footer or two.
Pic 1 is the top of the Gray Ghost trial by the top of the Rangeley Chair
Pic 2 is my boys 'riding the clouds and wind' on the Tri-Color trail
Pic 3-5 are shots from the top of Supervisor ski trial on the way down
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