BIGEarl
Well-known member
October 13, 2012: Scar Ridge – West Peak
Trails: Brookway, Lower Walking Boss, Upper Walking Boss, Herd Path, Bushwhack
Summits: Scar Ridge – West Peak
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue), Larry Donoghue (LarryD), and me
Ever since we started hiking together, Sue and I have been mainly focused on hiking 4000 Footers. A couple years ago during a visit to Baxter Park we hiked some of the New England Hundred Highest peaks located there, and finished hiking the listed NEHH peaks in Baxter on subsequent visits. Having all of the listed peaks in Baxter done made finishing the NEHH list much more within reach. During the past year we have found a number of months with a very light schedule of 4000 Footers for Grid completion and Sue suggested we actually plan to complete the NEHH list together. This became a focus of ours for this year.
We planned the hikes that were needed to even up our lists and then set out to do the hikes. A couple weeks ago we intended to hike Scar Ridge but after checking a few things I learned the planned weekend was also the weekend of The Highland Games in Lincoln. We decided Lincoln was probably a good place to avoid and hiked a different NEHH target leaving Scar Ridge for a “later date”. A difficult weather forecast for elevations over 5000 feet made this weekend “a later date” and completing the NEHH on Scar Ridge became our plan. We made this late decision only a day before the hike. Earlier, LarryD had indicated an interest in joining the hike and was able to work with a short notice.
We all met at the base of Loon Mountain near The Adventure Center. Our plan was to hike via Loon Mountain; climbing to the summit of Loon Mountain – North Peak using various ski trails for the ascent, and then following a herd path and connect-the-dots bushwhack route to Scar Ridge, West Peak. I reviewed reports posted by a number of others and many experienced similar problems along the way. Because of the possibility we would have a very difficult, and very long day, I wanted an early start; just in case. Our target on-trail time was 7:00 am.
When we left the parking area we had a temperature in the mid 20’s, a light breeze from the northwest, and generally clear sky. The conditions were great, but I was looking forward to the sun getting high enough to actually hit the area where we were. We left the lot, made our way to the lower end of Brookway, and started the climb. One good thing about climbing ski trails is they provide a direct way to the top without a lot of extra distance. In a little over an hour and a half, we went from standing at the bottom to standing at the top.
As reported by others, there were two out-of-bounds signs on the east side of the slope near the top and a very short distance uphill from the upper sign was a small cairn marking the start of the herd path. Everything was going great, but I really expected this part of the hike to be problem-free. From the top of Loon Mountain, North Peak to Scar Ridge, West Peak is the section of the hike that included the adventure for the day.
We set off on the herd path. From reports, I had the impression we should plan to leave the herd path in an area that is essentially a three-way col; a low point between the North Peak of Loon Mountain, Black Mountain, and the West Peak of Scar Ridge. I estimated this location and it became our first target. From there we planned to follow a ridgeline southeast to the west end of an upper ridge location west of our final target. Finally, we would head east along the upper ridge to Scar Ridge, West Peak. A main concern I had was to stay on the ridge. Again from the reports I read, the people that had problems with this hike all seemed to have one thing in common, they dropped off the ridge. I wanted to make sure we held the ridge.
We hiked the herd path to the col, which was relatively an easy place to locate. Multiple reports indicated the path made a turn there and headed generally north to Black Mountain. This turn is very obvious. From here we headed southeast to the upper ridge. The sun had made it high enough to be a great help in our hike. Our planned bearing had us hiking directly into the sun. As it turned out, we didn’t really need to work with our compasses very much at all once we had confirmed the bearing and relative location of the sun to it. We were able to concentrate on hiking through the most open sections. In fact, we enjoyed very easy hiking conditions nearly all of the way to our final target.
We reached the upper ridge and reset our bearing. Now, instead of hiking with the sun directly in our eyes we had the sun on our right and we were again able to focus on staying in open conditions. Sue led much of the final climb to Scar Ridge keeping the sun where we needed it and always headed for higher ground. Before long we made our way through an area of blowdowns and soon picked up a herd path that took us the final hundred yards to the canister. To this point, the big surprise we had for the day was – Scar Ridge is an easy bushwhack! I’m not going to tell you we had only open conditions for our hike but the thick sections were few and very far between, and they were very easy to get past. It seems the key to this bushwhack is staying on the ridge; from the time you leave the herd path to the time you break a nail opening the canister.
We enjoyed some time at the canister, we got a few pictures, Sue got a souvenir, LarryD had a snack and actually got most of it in his mouth, Sue broke out some cookies to share, and after some work we actually got the canister open and signed the register.
Note to everybody headed that way: Bring a large pair of water pump pliers, or something similar, to aid in removing the canister cover (screw-in cap base).
With all of the summit formalities done we made the u-turn and started our exit hike. We had the bearings and with a light cover of snow we also had our tracks to follow, for a while. As it turned out, the snow cover was so light by trying to back-track we were taking much longer than if we simply stayed on a bearing and hiked through generally open conditions. Eventually we passed the west end of the upper ridge and shifted from a westerly bearing to a northwest bearing. This bearing was all we needed to go back to the herd path. We generally managed to stay in relatively open conditions except for a small error I made by dropping off the north side of the ridge. We recognized the error, immediately corrected for it, and continued on the northwest bearing. Soon, we landed on the herd path forty paces from the location we had exited from earlier. Not bad!
We made a left and headed for Loon Mountain – North Peak, and then our final descent to the parking lot at the base of the ski area. The walk down was the endless knee pounding a ski trail has to offer. It’s probably better in winter on snowshoes and a little slide with each step. Right now, every step is a little more pounding for the knees and hips. We took our time, enjoyed the views on the way down, and even saw a fox on the trail below us at one point. We reached the Camp III Lodge and changed from Lower Walking Boss to hiking Brookway, which at this time of year is a service road.
Brookway led us back to the parking area which had become loaded with vehicles. There were people everywhere. Evidently, Loon Mountain doesn’t need snow to be a very active place. We made our way to the parked vehicles, tossed our things in the back, said our goodbyes, and got out of there, (way too crowded for me).
Even with the lounging at the summit of Scar Ridge, West Peak, the slower progress on our exit hike trying to actually back-track, plus the course correction, and some extra time at the top of Loon Mountain – North Peak on the way in, we finished the hike a lot faster than planned – nearly three hours faster. I was surprised, but Scar Ridge isn’t the monster I was expecting.
Thanks Larry for the pleasure of your company. We always enjoy sharing a hike with you. Thanks Sue for suggesting we finish the NEHH – I’m really glad we finished the list together. Good hikes – good memories.
I’ve posted some pictures from the day.
Straight to the album on Facebook
Trails: Brookway, Lower Walking Boss, Upper Walking Boss, Herd Path, Bushwhack
Summits: Scar Ridge – West Peak
Hikers: Trail Trotter (Sue), Larry Donoghue (LarryD), and me
Ever since we started hiking together, Sue and I have been mainly focused on hiking 4000 Footers. A couple years ago during a visit to Baxter Park we hiked some of the New England Hundred Highest peaks located there, and finished hiking the listed NEHH peaks in Baxter on subsequent visits. Having all of the listed peaks in Baxter done made finishing the NEHH list much more within reach. During the past year we have found a number of months with a very light schedule of 4000 Footers for Grid completion and Sue suggested we actually plan to complete the NEHH list together. This became a focus of ours for this year.
We planned the hikes that were needed to even up our lists and then set out to do the hikes. A couple weeks ago we intended to hike Scar Ridge but after checking a few things I learned the planned weekend was also the weekend of The Highland Games in Lincoln. We decided Lincoln was probably a good place to avoid and hiked a different NEHH target leaving Scar Ridge for a “later date”. A difficult weather forecast for elevations over 5000 feet made this weekend “a later date” and completing the NEHH on Scar Ridge became our plan. We made this late decision only a day before the hike. Earlier, LarryD had indicated an interest in joining the hike and was able to work with a short notice.
We all met at the base of Loon Mountain near The Adventure Center. Our plan was to hike via Loon Mountain; climbing to the summit of Loon Mountain – North Peak using various ski trails for the ascent, and then following a herd path and connect-the-dots bushwhack route to Scar Ridge, West Peak. I reviewed reports posted by a number of others and many experienced similar problems along the way. Because of the possibility we would have a very difficult, and very long day, I wanted an early start; just in case. Our target on-trail time was 7:00 am.
When we left the parking area we had a temperature in the mid 20’s, a light breeze from the northwest, and generally clear sky. The conditions were great, but I was looking forward to the sun getting high enough to actually hit the area where we were. We left the lot, made our way to the lower end of Brookway, and started the climb. One good thing about climbing ski trails is they provide a direct way to the top without a lot of extra distance. In a little over an hour and a half, we went from standing at the bottom to standing at the top.
As reported by others, there were two out-of-bounds signs on the east side of the slope near the top and a very short distance uphill from the upper sign was a small cairn marking the start of the herd path. Everything was going great, but I really expected this part of the hike to be problem-free. From the top of Loon Mountain, North Peak to Scar Ridge, West Peak is the section of the hike that included the adventure for the day.
We set off on the herd path. From reports, I had the impression we should plan to leave the herd path in an area that is essentially a three-way col; a low point between the North Peak of Loon Mountain, Black Mountain, and the West Peak of Scar Ridge. I estimated this location and it became our first target. From there we planned to follow a ridgeline southeast to the west end of an upper ridge location west of our final target. Finally, we would head east along the upper ridge to Scar Ridge, West Peak. A main concern I had was to stay on the ridge. Again from the reports I read, the people that had problems with this hike all seemed to have one thing in common, they dropped off the ridge. I wanted to make sure we held the ridge.
We hiked the herd path to the col, which was relatively an easy place to locate. Multiple reports indicated the path made a turn there and headed generally north to Black Mountain. This turn is very obvious. From here we headed southeast to the upper ridge. The sun had made it high enough to be a great help in our hike. Our planned bearing had us hiking directly into the sun. As it turned out, we didn’t really need to work with our compasses very much at all once we had confirmed the bearing and relative location of the sun to it. We were able to concentrate on hiking through the most open sections. In fact, we enjoyed very easy hiking conditions nearly all of the way to our final target.
We reached the upper ridge and reset our bearing. Now, instead of hiking with the sun directly in our eyes we had the sun on our right and we were again able to focus on staying in open conditions. Sue led much of the final climb to Scar Ridge keeping the sun where we needed it and always headed for higher ground. Before long we made our way through an area of blowdowns and soon picked up a herd path that took us the final hundred yards to the canister. To this point, the big surprise we had for the day was – Scar Ridge is an easy bushwhack! I’m not going to tell you we had only open conditions for our hike but the thick sections were few and very far between, and they were very easy to get past. It seems the key to this bushwhack is staying on the ridge; from the time you leave the herd path to the time you break a nail opening the canister.
We enjoyed some time at the canister, we got a few pictures, Sue got a souvenir, LarryD had a snack and actually got most of it in his mouth, Sue broke out some cookies to share, and after some work we actually got the canister open and signed the register.
Note to everybody headed that way: Bring a large pair of water pump pliers, or something similar, to aid in removing the canister cover (screw-in cap base).
With all of the summit formalities done we made the u-turn and started our exit hike. We had the bearings and with a light cover of snow we also had our tracks to follow, for a while. As it turned out, the snow cover was so light by trying to back-track we were taking much longer than if we simply stayed on a bearing and hiked through generally open conditions. Eventually we passed the west end of the upper ridge and shifted from a westerly bearing to a northwest bearing. This bearing was all we needed to go back to the herd path. We generally managed to stay in relatively open conditions except for a small error I made by dropping off the north side of the ridge. We recognized the error, immediately corrected for it, and continued on the northwest bearing. Soon, we landed on the herd path forty paces from the location we had exited from earlier. Not bad!
We made a left and headed for Loon Mountain – North Peak, and then our final descent to the parking lot at the base of the ski area. The walk down was the endless knee pounding a ski trail has to offer. It’s probably better in winter on snowshoes and a little slide with each step. Right now, every step is a little more pounding for the knees and hips. We took our time, enjoyed the views on the way down, and even saw a fox on the trail below us at one point. We reached the Camp III Lodge and changed from Lower Walking Boss to hiking Brookway, which at this time of year is a service road.
Brookway led us back to the parking area which had become loaded with vehicles. There were people everywhere. Evidently, Loon Mountain doesn’t need snow to be a very active place. We made our way to the parked vehicles, tossed our things in the back, said our goodbyes, and got out of there, (way too crowded for me).
Even with the lounging at the summit of Scar Ridge, West Peak, the slower progress on our exit hike trying to actually back-track, plus the course correction, and some extra time at the top of Loon Mountain – North Peak on the way in, we finished the hike a lot faster than planned – nearly three hours faster. I was surprised, but Scar Ridge isn’t the monster I was expecting.
Thanks Larry for the pleasure of your company. We always enjoy sharing a hike with you. Thanks Sue for suggesting we finish the NEHH – I’m really glad we finished the list together. Good hikes – good memories.
I’ve posted some pictures from the day.
Straight to the album on Facebook
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