| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Saddleback Mountain, Saddleback Mountain - The Horn, ME |
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 | Trails: |
Grey Ghost ski trail, Tricolor ski trail, spur trail, Appalachian Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Tuesday, March 10, 2015 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Saddleback Ski area |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Ice - Blue, Ice - Breakable Crust, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow - Drifts |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
none |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Had an early start which is required for the trail finding to the Horn. A very quick easy ascent up Saddleback via the ski trails. The fun starts after the first bump towards the Horn. No travel on the trail for many weeks and many snowstorms since last traversed, put many feet of snow into the col, resulting in no trail remnants of any kind, anywhere. For such a short distance, the trek to the Horn in the winter, can provide the most vexing trail finding anywhere. Last year, with a late start, I had to turn around with similiar conditions.
After reaching the first bump after Saddleback the snow was deep, drifted and the trail was not distinguishable to follow. You could see where you had to go but getting there proved a lot more difficult than you would expect. It became slow going whittling down towards the col. Last summer I bought a Garmin and I GPS'ed the trail. So with it I would go as far as I could then when I needed help on where I was in relation to trail, I brought out my GPS. Without it, I do not know if I could have found the trail. Last winter I was deep post-holing numerous times. This time I stayed more on the trail.
There are about 3 very tricky areas where the snow and snow drifts among the pines were just plain deep! and trail finding became extremely tough, to say the least. These areas are at each side of the col as the land rises up, and one more past the mid point of the col leading to the Horn. Aftering traversing the first area of deep snow and the col flattens out, you can finally follow the white splotch marks on the exposed rocks and the cairns among the frozen slabs of ice and snow. As you get to the trickiest area the, the trails direction is ?? My GPS said the trail pointed down to the left about 20 feet toward a tunnel of snow/tree canopy with about 18 inches to crawl through. Sure enough, that was the trail. So I had to crawl down backwards to get through to the other side and then followed it until I hit a series of snow drifts where your snowshoes only made you go deeper as you tried to step in to the snow. You had to throw your body, knees, poles into the drift to ascend. After traversing the final difficult area, I knew that the snow levels would decrease until I was on frozen snow pack and ice and at last I could see the cross of the Horn summit. Even with the GPS, it’s a very difficult trail when completely unbroken. One of my most gratifying solo hikes in winter. The trail is broken and should remain so till spring.
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 | Name: |
Gordon |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2015-03-15 |
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 | Link: |
 https:// |
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Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense. |
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