Saturday, June 29, 2019
Rangeley (ME 4) to Redington Campsite
8 miles
We said good-bye to Blue Feather
and Daisy after breakfast at the Rangeley Inn.
They decided to stay another day to see what the weather was going to
do. Forecast says rain today, and people
say you don’t want to do Saddleback Mountain in the rain, but we decided to
move on anyway.
Linda from the Ecopelagicon
(hiker supply store in Rangeley) shuttled us to the Maine Highway 4 trailhead
for $17.
It was a pleasant trail, easy at
the beginning past Eddy Pond USFS Road then started going up. It was steep going up Saddleback Mountain but
had switchbacks. The last mile or so
goes up bare rock face but it was easy to walk up, since it is not raining
yet. It looks a lot like Baldpate. We caught one view behind us before reaching
the summit and getting fogged in. No
more views the rest of the day.
There were several hikers on
Saddleback in spite of the forecasted rain and thunderstorms. No rain came and not much wind—just enough to
cool us off. We got lucky.
There was a steep short decline
down saddleback, then up to The Horn It
was steeper coming down The Horn and slower because of a boulder field. We made it to Redington Campsite at 3:00 Water was a good distance from the
trail. The tent sites were hard to find—up
a blue blaze behind the privy.
YouTube of Saddleback Mountain
https://youtu.be/tEYRXLv1Jns
