Haystack Basin Saddleback:
I have been anticipating this hike for a long time with a lot of excitement about the challenge of the much talked about Saddleback Cliffs, and some dread about what a long and tough hike it would be. I knew we wanted a dry day for climbing the cliffs and ideally a beautiful day to enjoy the views. I planned to go a few times this summer and plans changed because of the weather or other factors. So when it looked like this would be the weekend I could get it done, I was nervously checking the weather forecast which changed from sunny to rainy to back to sunny to cloudy over the course of the week. I had gambled and booked a room and the forecast was back to looking ok so we decided it was a go. I drove up Friday and got there early evening to the little inn I found (private room but shared bathroom, which worked out fine and was very cute and inexpensive), which thankfully also had a great restaurant so I could eat, get packed up for the hike, and go to bed early for our 5 am start time.
I met Courtney at the Roostercomb trailhead parking lot so we could take one car to the Garden trailhead lot, which notoriously fills up and then you are pretty screwed (options are to take a shuttle that only runs 7 to 7 or walk an extra 2+ miles each way). We got there at about 5:10 and were fortunate to snag the second or third to last space. So grateful for that given how long this hike was. The sun would not rise for almost an hour so we put on our headlamps and as we headed out at about 5:20 am.
The first few miles were gradual incline heading toward the junction of the long loop that we would take. We made pretty good time even in the dark, but it was a relief when daylight came. We went right at the junction to go first to Haystack, which is a very long 9 miles out to get to the summit. It was a nice trail, with some interesting huge boulders and rock formations, there was just a LOT of it. The last few miles the steepness kicked in and we were feeling the hard work, especially Courtney who had hike Allen Mt. for 11 hours the day before. There were a few sprinkles along the way but nothing terrible -but it was making me worry a bit. Finally we came to a junction to head off the loop to Little Haystack and the actual Haystack. We could seem them looming as big rocky domes – very different looking from most other peaks. They looked far and very steep but as typically happens you get there more quickly than you think. It was very rocky with a few scrambles but nothing like we’d face later in the day. From Little Haystack we got our first great views of all the surrounding mountains and then we had to go down and back up for Haystack for the real views – and what turned out to be the only views of the day.
As we were climbing up Haystack, we actually ran into two of my friends from my running groups. I knew they were out there hiking two of the same peaks that day and I thought if I ran into them, it would be at this point where the out and back gave a couple of chances. It was fun to see them as we have talked a lot about our mutual but separate experiences working on the 46 peaks. We took some pics and then kept moving as the wind was really picking up and chilly just standing around. We summitted Haystack just under 6 hours into the hike. Which I’m pretty sure is the longest hike to get to the first summit that I’ve done. The 360 views were amazing but clouds were building. Looking over to Marcy, the highest peak, was completely socked in at the summit. We felt sorry for those climbing over there today – ha, we jinxed ourselves. We stayed a little while to have a snack and regroup, but it was windy and chilly so we didn’t want to hang out too long. Plus, those clouds rolling in.
Heading down we had to go back over Little Haystack and back to the junction. More than half done with distance for the hike but the major challenges were still ahead. Basin was the next summit but first we went down, down, down to an increasingly alarming degree. And then of course we had to reclimb about 1000+ feet of that elevation pretty quickly. We ran into my friends again along the way and hike together chatting for a while. When we hit some tougher rock scrambles that required some climbing, we said goodbye again and Courtney and I went ahead as they were slower and more nervous about these sections. Some of these were indeed pretty tricky. We finally got to the summit of Basin about 8 hours in. And now the clouds had completely come in and there was no view at all, which was really disappointing because all three of these peaks have great 360 views on a clearer day. We saw gray clouds. It was very windy and chilly, but we sat down and ate again because we still had the hardest part of the hike left and the long hike out. I changed my socks which had gotten a little wet from stepping in mud bogs. That was a big help, but I wished I could also change to dry, warm clothes. Crazy that it’s been so hot lately and here we were putting jackets on. We saw my friends one more time as they made it up to the summit. We took a pic together with the “view” in the background and then said our farewells as they were heading back a different route.
The last peak of the day was Saddleback. The direction we were taking of the loop meant we climbed up the notorious Saddleback Cliffs, which was the reason my friends were not going that way. We met several people coming the other way and asked them how the cliffs were coming down. One woman looked pretty traumatized as she told us it was very “technical” and asked for assurance that the route down Haystack and out was not that bad. Another guy (who had incidentally the most amazing and bluest eyes) told us it was “a bit scrambly” in some European accent I couldn’t place. We were already going down some pretty tough rock scrambles on the way down Basin. This was a steep descent, and one place had a long ladder. We kept waiting for the part where we went up again and this section seemed to take forever. Finally we hit the ascent and then cliffs themselves. They were indeed no joke. There were yellow lines painted on the rock showing the route and we just looked at them on the seemingly sheer rock face and thought they were kidding. Thankfully the sprinkles we had earlier in the day hadn’t been enough to make the rocks wet because it was nerve-wracking enough on dry rock. Courtney went first and she is quite a bit shorter but a lot younger than me so seemed to get up fairly easily. She took her time and debated some steps and holds, and I watched from behind ready to give her a hand if needed on each section. Then I followed, really wishing someone was behind me as well. I love rock climbing but this was a lot more real with some major consequences for a fall. A few times I felt stuck, like I couldn’t move any of my hands or feet without falling but I took some breaths and searched out handholds and footholds with Courtney helping talk me through. It was exciting but I will admit to some mild terror. I for sure did not look down and I’m not normally afraid of heights. For all that, it’s a relative short section and a huge relief and accomplishment to finish. We caught our breath for a minute as we looked down at what we’d just done. We kept going to get to the actual summit, which turns out we passed and had to backtrack so we could say we were at the actual summit. We had hoped for some clearing of the clouds, but no luck. No view, and cold and windy once again. We didn’t stay long because of that and because we still had a long hike out, and we were already 9.5 hours in.
As we descended the other side of Saddleback, we were still processing the climb we had just done and were grateful not to be going down that same way. I can’t even imagine how one gets down that way and I understood the traumatized woman we saw earlier (but not the blue-eyed “a bit scrambly” guy). It was steep enough this way! Very tough descent with lots of rock slabs that felt like you were going to slip and slide all the way down the mountain. It made for a slow descent, especially as we were very fatigued at this point. We came around a turn in one place and saw this massive smooth rock face that looked like we were headed for on the trail. I was so happy to turn the corner and find a set of stairs waiting for us. They were steep and long stairs, several sets of them, but I was so grateful they were there.
We got to 12 hours into the hike and started to realize that it was still going to be 2-3 hours to hike out. Meaning it was going to get dark. This was the first time this year for starting and ending in the dark, making me glad I hadn’t waited longer in the year to get this done with the days getting shorter. It seemed to take forever to get to the junction where we had to turn off to go to the parking area, and I knew that it was still about 3 miles from the junction to our car. The trail was flattening out thankfully and we were both trying to push the pace despite our exhaustion and tired feet so we wouldn’t be out there in the dark any longer than we had to. A very mentally tough last couple of hours. We broke out the headlamps finally and just powered through the last hour. We finally saw some lights of the parking lot about 8:30 pm My watch had died at about 13 hours in, but I recorded the rest using Strava on my phone and it was 15 hours and 8 minutes total. Not my very longest hike, but just 30 minutes shorter and only one of three that clocked in at 15 hours+. The relief we felt at being done was incredible. I thankfully had another night booked at my inn. Everything hurt as I drove back there (grateful for the short 20-minute drive not 4 hour drive) and showered and got ready for bed as quickly as my sore body allowed. I slept like a rock and didn’t hear a thing from any of my neighbors in the hallway. 43 peaks done! 3 to go. Amazing.