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| Hiking | 5.76 Miles |
1,813 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.76 Miles | 7 Hrs 6 Mns | | 1.26 mph |
| 1,813 ft AEG | 2 Hrs 31 Mns Break | | | |
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[ show ]
| no partners | | There are two summits on Saddle Mountain:
1) A summit to the north that is marked "6535" on topo maps. This one has the benchmark and 2 reference marks.
2) A summit to the south that does not have its elevation marked on topo maps.
If you look at a topo map the north summit is in a closed contour of 6520-6560 feet, and the south summit is in a closed contour of 6480-6520 feet. So based on the topo map, the north summit would be higher.
Based on this, I only went to the north summit when I hiked this peak back in early April of this year.
However, I subsequently found out the the topo map is missing a contour line for the south summit. This goes back to 2010 when the USGS revised their topo maps. The revised maps had a number of shortcomings, including some missing contour lines. Some color is provided in this link: http://www.cohp.org/writers/andymartin/ ... arison.txt
Here is the 2010 topo map for Saddle Mountain: [ image ]
With the extra contour line, both the north and south summits are in a closed contour of 6520-6560 feet. The north summit elevation of 6,535 feet is known, but the elevation of the south summit is not known, and the south summit might actually be higher.
Given that, I decided to head back up there and hike to the south summit, which is what I probably should have done the first time. That way, I could be assured that I tagged the Saddle Mountain highpoint.
I thought that getting to the south summit was tougher than getting to the north. There was a rocky, bouldery ridgeline to ascend that was very, very brushy. I managed to slowly make my way to the south summit -- at times I was going like zero mph.
The south summit had nicer views than the north summit, as there was no vegetation obstructing your views.
I had originally intended to return the way that I came, but after going up that ridgeline I wanted no part of going back down it. So I dropped down the saddle between the two summits, and traversed back underneath the north side of the south summit. From there I descended down to near Potato Patch before heading back to the TH.
It was a pleasant and sunny day for the hike. It was 42 degrees when I started, along with a pretty stiff breeze. The breeze died down as the day went on, and it was in the low 50's when I got back to the TH.
Synopsis
I can't believe that I hiked up to Saddle Mountain for a second time, but I can unequivocally say that there won't be a third time. |
| _____________________
| Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there |
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