Bushwacking Tips?

[1SlowHiker]

I'm planning on doing W. Scar Ridge(from Loon) and Nancy over the next two days. Any particular hints for the BWs? I've heard Scar is probably the toughest NEHH bushwack (I think Nancy is more of a heard path though).
Only real BWing I've done recentley are Mendon VT (hard) and Fort ME (easy).
I am planning on wearing long sleeves and pants, my M&C skills are pretty good, I have GPS traces for both from wikiloc. I did learn from Mendon to remember which way I came into the peak (going up is easy to find but there are endless ways to go back down). Any thing else in particular (unique to BWing)?

I need any tips before thursday morning when I leave RI. - Thanks

 

[peakbagger]

Safety Glasses with side shield and work gloves are highly recommended. Make sure that there is nothing loose on the outside of the pack. If you have any zippers that are prone to opening make sure they are secure. I haven't done the bushwhack from Loon but the ridge is very thick, in places you have to reach ahead and pull trees to the side to walk between them and all the branches act as very deft pickpockets. The bushwhack path to Nancy is in better condition than many trail in wilderness areas. As long as you take the right path at the tentsites, no need for hardcore bushwhack gear

 

[Daniel Eagan]

I loved Nancy, it was a great hike from start to finish. Minimal route finding necessary. I remember a bog filled with pitcher plants and the final pond was so alluring I intend to go back for a swim.

One piece of advice I was given about Scar Ridge: on your return make sure you don't head too far south. The peak seems to slope that way and it's easy to pulled along until it's too late and you have to sidehill back.

That's what happened to us, briefly.

 

[jniehof]

Nancy's easy, provided you don't slip on the way down and sprain your ankle. I presume you've found the general route directions online. The Forest Service has been nice enough to sign the beginning of the herd path with "this is not a trail," assuming it's still there. There's one bit near the top of the slide which is a bit steep and it's worth spending a moment to choose your line carefully.

I did Scar by the old-new route, up the northeast ridgeline from the Hancock Branch. It was tough, but by no means the hardest NEHH. Hardest in NH, maybe. (Vose was still up there.) Harder than the ME peaks...no. NKD was definitely the hardest, with Cupsuptic Snow a close second. (Snow was just plain a matter of coming in too far west for the easy route.) I hear coming from Loon is easier once you're through a thick band. The area around west-west Scar is very open and easy to travel. East-west Scar is pretty miserable, but there's little point in going there, since it's lower and there's a canister on west-west now.

 

[Stan]

Nancy is easy once you find the herd path. Nancy Falls was a nice swimming hole when we were there.

I'm not a good authority on Scar Ridge, I did it via Little East Pond at a time when the balsam fir were small enough for open views but the footing was still obscured and you had to be careful not to twist an ankle or worse. Besides, I wound up at Middle Peak, having overcompensated to avoid some ledges, before getting my bearing and whacking to West Peak. The foliage was thick enough that the canister was not readily conspicuous. On that route the view due South to Sandwich Peak was clear enough that, once descending into the col, it showed the track directly to the end of Little East Pond where we started. That, to me, is a much more rewarding way to navigate than staring at a GPS. It was a mild fall and Tripoli Road was still open when we did this late November.

 

[Tom Rankin]

The thing about your pack is good advice. If you are bushwhacking, the mountain will reach out and steal all the gear that hangs from your pack. Been there, had that done to me!

 

[1SlowHiker]

thanks all. I have zippers that sort of interlock but think i'll add a few tiny carabiners to keep it locked. Think I'll shoot for Nancy thursday and gert ann earlt start for Scar friday if i'm still up for it. I'll also bring some saftey glasses. Already planned on the gloves. What about hiking poles am i better off stashing them on top of loon? I'll check in again just before i leave RI (~1am). Disappointing to hear that the Maine BWs are harder.

 

[andrewb]

I would definitely say to leave the poles in your car. I brought hiking poles ... once. They catch on everything, it will drive you insane. If you really need them for the downhill trail section, can they fit completely in your pack? Nothing sticking out to be grabbed is a must. You might need to partially disassemble them. I will state Nancy was easy - we just felt our way through the start past the camp and then lucked out at the slide (selecting the correct path). I bet if you don't end up on the correct path it is not so easy.

I have twice done Scar via Loon and have been massively lucky with both times hitting the center of the "magic line" going all the way up. I thought each time the going was exceedingly easy (my lawyer just told me to say *your mileage may vary*). I found the magic line by looking for the bend in that small path off of Upper Walking Boss. This is several minutes after the path leaves the official ski trail, it will bend from a east heading to south, start the bushwhack then and follow your nose. I think a lot of people get too anxious and head into the woods almost right away once they get on the path. Consider grabbing Black Mtn to the south on the way out if time and energy permits. It is an amazing area and has bootleg ski trails you can follow back onto Loon proper.

 

[andrewb]

I would also second Daniel's comment about the way back out - follow your compass, not your nose on the way down. You do need to make sure you don't veer off of your ascent route because if you end up in the that north drainage, it would be a world of hurt.

 

[1SlowHiker]

Thanks. I will probably stash my poles near top of loon and hope i dont forget them when i get back to loon.

I'm off to NH. Nancy today, Scar tomorrow. looks like good weather.

 

[Tom Rankin]

Poles can be useful to fend off branches, test mud depth, etc.

As a wise man once said, there are 359 wrong ways to leave a bushwhack summit!

That statement actually made me calculate the error per degree per mile. It's roughly 90 feet. So, a few degrees off would not be a disaster, if you were aiming for a fairly large target.

Speaking of calculating things, I can judge distances fairly well off trail, by knowing that I take approximately 2500 steps per mile. Figure out your own number and use it to estimate distance.

 

[Neil]

I hate bushwhacking with poles although in open woods they can be beneficial but you can just grab a stick and dump it later. Poles can be dismantled (shorter than telescoping) and stored inside the pack. I just bought a pair of ultra trekking Z-poles and they are even easier to stow. Nothing should be on the outside of the pack. Also, a bushwhacking buddy always said, "anything you take on a bushwhack should be considered expendable". Those black rubbery gloves (cloth on the back) sold at hardware stores are really good btw.

As as been said, unless you will be using a gps keep an eye on the compass and the terrain when descending and consult your map often.

 

[Stan]

... As a wise man once said, there are 359 wrong ways to leave a bushwhack summit!

That statement actually made me calculate the error per degree per mile. It's roughly 90 feet. So, a few degrees off would not be a disaster, if you were aiming for a fairly large target.
...

Don't underestimate the impact of this 90'/m/d. In a heavily wooded area a couple hundred feet can miss a landmark, road, etc. and navigating with a precision of a few degrees, whether by foot or by boat, requires skill and luck. Be sensitive to the topography and where it changes. If visible, distant landmarks can help with a bearing. I've concluded that there are times when I better trust my compass more than my instincts because it is tempting to follow the wrong clues when you're also focused on footing and branches.

Part of the challenge of bushwhacking in Maine is finding the starting point (unless you rely on a GPS which, frankly, spoils the game for me). Otherwise, many routes eventually lead to herd paths as you converge to the summit that other peakbagging whackers have visited. There was one hike where we never did find the summit on the first try and returning to the truck we left at a lonely logging road, we constantly favored a track slightly to the right of what we thought we should because the road took a turn and, looking at the map, if we missed the road where it turned we could just about hike into Quebec before hitting another road. Bonjour, mon ami!

Likewise with Scar Ridge. I would think if you erred it is better to err to the right (north) when returning because that'll eventually lead you to the ski slopes anyway. Same descending towards Little East Pond but there I'd suggest favoring the left (east) when descending, if necessary. At least you'll hit a trail as opposed to bushwhacking a couple more miles to Tripoli Road if you're to the west of the pond. That's an example of a large landmark but dense growth where you could be 100' from the pond and miss it.

 

[Raymond]

Stay out of the col between West and Middle Scar Ridge. Boy, was that awful, trying to climb up to the height-of-land to get back over to Little East Pond, then descend to the pond. Endless blowdown. A nightmare.

John Swanson said years ago that the easiest way he found up Scar Ridge was from (if memory serves) the fourth ridge you come to heading west from Little East Pond. I think I went up the second or third, so it was pretty tough, but I found the canister. However, it was too late in the day to get to the main peak (this was in 2006, before the true summit had a canister). I think I had already gotten to the true summit in 2005, but there was no canister then, and I didn’t have a GPS, so I couldn’t prove I was there, hence my return trip.

Nancy is very steep, but a piece of cake otherwise.

I always bring my sticks with me. They’re handy for probing where I can’t see, to learn if there’s something to step on there or not.

 

[1SlowHiker]

Nancy is very steep, but a piece of cake otherwise.

Nancy was great, I don't know where i got the idea that it was a wack. It's just a nameless trail in good shape. btausends report from 8-30-14 was spot on. Between the great views of the cascade/falls and two ponds it is a worth repeating. Wait ,I wouldnt even have to go up to the peak for those. I will repeat that one. W. Scar on the other hand is one spot on this earth that I can gaurentee that I will never be at again. I found it to be a very difficult hike with log jam after log jam. Cant believe all the comments in the log book and posts calling it EASY. Guess I took a bad route. It didnt help that i picked the day of the Highland festival at Loon and had to road walk 2.5 miles from Lincoln Woods TH. I was tired even befote I started the wack.
BTW; I did end up take my poles and was glad I did - good for sprfeading a path through lived and dead spruce and pobing falling trees to see if they were solid or rotted mush . I also shredded a pair of sacrificial job-lot leather gloves. I didnt wear the saftey glasses I brought - too hard to keep on over my glasses - and I did get poked in the eye a few times - do they make saftey side shields that snap onto regular glasses?

 

[peakbagger]

Yes there are side shields that slide over the temples of glasses. The fit is quite variable, sometimes they can be ground to fit the outline of the glasses.