May 23, 2026

Start/End: Rt. 4

Peaks: Saddleback (4,120'), The Horn (4,023')

Elevation Gain: 4,160 ft

RT Mileage: 15.17 mi

Duration: 9 hours, 39 minutes

Rock Difficulty: Class 1

For my first hike after coming back home for the summer, I decided to bag the next two closest Maine 4,000-footers after Old Speck (which I did last month), the Saddlebacks. I chose to ascend the AT all the way from Route 4 instead of taking the Saddleback ski trails up to the ridge for a longer but gentler and more scenic hike.

Although the second-closest Maine 4,000-footers, the Saddlebacks are still over three and a half hours away. After picking up some friends a little after 5:00 AM, we arrived at the trailhead at 8:45, and started out on the trail at 9:15. After a brief initial descent and reascent on either side of a short bridge over the Sandy River, the trail flattened out for most of the remainder of the 1.8 miles to Piazza Rock, crossing a dirt road and passing within earshot of a firing range along the way.

From Piazza Rock, the trail briefly begins to descend into the basin on the other side of the drainage divide, then sharply turns back to the north and ascends steeply for 0.2 miles before flattening back out at Ethel Pond. During this ascent, the trail also enters the coniferous forest at 2,200 ft, rather low even for Maine. At 2,300 ft, we encountered two lingering patches of monorail, both within the vicinity of Ethel Pond. Seeing this, we expected to see more monorail higher up on the Saddlebacks later, but these ended up being the only two patches of snow we saw all day, which was a little strange.

After Ethel Pond, the trail next meanders by Mud Pond and then finally by Eddy Pond, the largest of the three, located right at the base of Saddleback. After crossing another dirt road, the trail began steeply ascending towards the southwest shoulder of Saddleback. Our group of eight quickly fractured into several smaller groups that didn't reunite until the summit, which I had anticipated. After roughly a mile, we gained the southwest shoulder of Saddleback and emerged above treeline at 3,700 ft (rather low even for Maine as well), and were greeted with great views of the lowlands back to the south and west.

It's always striking how the mountains in Maine rise straight out of the lowlands, especially compared to the Whites (where I have the most hiking experience). Being able to see Rangeley Lake from treeline on Saddleback would be like if you could see Squam Lake from Bondcliff. It was also cool to be able to see spring leaf out progressing up the mountains from the lowlands, although that's certainly not unique to Maine.

From treeline, the summit of Saddleback was another, much gentler mile away on its beautiful southwest ridge. There were at least two false summits along the way. We gained the true summit just before 1:30 PM, putting us around 30 minutes behind schedule.

We didn't have to wait as long for the whole group to make it to the summit of Saddleback as I expected. Three people decided to turn back for the car there. The other five of us continued on towards The Horn. The AT follows the ridge between the two summits above treeline for the next 1.7 miles, and I can only describe this ridge walk as one of the finest in all of New England, up there with the Bonds and Franconia.

The descent from Saddleback to the col is steep and at times close to rock scrambling, easily the steepest part of the entire route. In and around the col, the trail weaves in and out of areas of krummholz that momentarily interrupt the exposed ridgeline, unsurprising given that the col is at an elevation of 3,500 ft, which "should" be below treeline in most of Maine. The 500-vertical-foot ascent from the col to the summit of The Horn is much gentler than the 600-vertical-foot descent from Saddleback to the col, and felt significantly shorter too. We summited The Horn at 2:50, just under an hour after leaving the summit of Saddleback.

After a short break on the summit, we turned around and headed back towards Saddleback. The descent to the col was much easier than the ascent had been, apart from one sketchy ladder. As expected, the ascent of Saddleback from the col was challenging, but perhaps not as much as I had worried it would be. We regained the summit of Saddleback around 4:00, now running a full hour behind schedule.

The descent from Saddleback back to Eddy Pond was not as bad as I had expected either, despite a few areas of wet rock. The descent from Eddy Pond to Piazza Rock, on the other hand, was much rockier and slower than I had remembered. From Piazza Rock it was smooth sailing all the way back to the trailhead. We were back at the parking lot a little after 7:30 (now an hour and a half behind schedule, if you were wondering), and New England 4,000-footers #51 and #52 were in the books. This had us back home at midnight and I wasn't able to hit the hay until 2 AM. Fortunately, the friend I was going to hike with the next day bailed, so I was able to get some much needed extra sleep Sunday morning.