The Final Word
To bring everything full circle and return to the original point of this thread, I finally revisited Randolph and Crescent this past weekend, and found the canister on each. Due to the snowy conditions I encountered late last October, I would have had great difficulty locating either one, and wasn't dressed properly for trying.
For Randolph, the mountain's highest peak isn't noted on the AMC map, and since the point labeled as Mount Randolph on the map has the same elevation as that given on the Y-Alpine List, anyone who doesn't possess outside information would think this is the mountain's highest peak. I know when I passed through area the first time, I thought the north peak was merely a subsidiary peak on Randolph. Since the extent of the vertical rise of the true summit isn't visible from the trail, it isn't readily apparent that the north peak is the higher one. Besides, it's the 3081' peak that has a sign on it that says "Mount Randolph." Hence, anyone who doesn't have any outside information would have no reason to think that the trail doesn't pass over the mountain's high point.
As it is, on the north peak, there's two summit cones. From the trail's highest point on the peak, the land immediately leads up to the southwest cone. Its primary bump has some blue blazes and some surveyor's tape (which initially caused me to think this was the true high point). However, the mountain's true highpoint is to the northeast of there, through the saddle and over on the northeast cone. The highpoint is actually a very prominent summit bump that has a small view over to Adams, and the canister is very much still intact.
As for Crescent, because it's such a densely wooded summit, the highpoint can be difficult to locate (even though it is less than 200' from the trail, if not much less). All I did was wander around and check each summit bump I came to (it seems the easiest way to find the summit jar is to first just focus on locating the true highpoint on the mountain). Due to where I had entered the woods, I was lucky enough that I found the register within five minutes, so locating it wasn't nearly the struggle I thought it would be.
For whoever goes over there next, please bring a new bag for the register, because the current one is in pieces and has ceased to protect the pages from moisture.
