New Hampshire photo quiz

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Just for that, here are some bonus photos to ponder.

1.
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2.
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3.
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4. I wonder if this one is guessable...
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5. And does anyone know what is going on here with the trees? I sure don’t.
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#1 View from summit ledges of Whaleback

#1 View of Potash Knob, Black Mt, Hancock Branch, and Scar Ridge from summit ledges of Whaleback. We just happened to be planning a hike to visit this area on Saturday after T-day and I was just looking at this very picture.

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Loon Mt ski slopes are just to the right. Have you been there recently? When I went thru there in 8/07 I didn't see any structure like you saw at the camp site. Is the trail over the summit ledges still pretty clear of blowdowns? When I went over them then it was pretty snarled, but someone cleared them out.
 
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RE: Bonus #5

Maybe created by aliens . . . sort of a White Mountain version of a UGM (Unusual Ground Marking)?!:rolleyes::D
 
Well, I could be wrong. Area 51 is still off limits and the Kennedy assasination is still in question.
 
I seem always to be incorrect as my memory fades me..

however..I remain undeterred

#3 looks like the cliff face on Scar trail on Adams.."Durand Scar"?
 
Sorry, ’Fox, Frankenstein Cliff was correct.

And Jazzbo of course identified the view from the ledge below Whaleback.

Jazzbo, I was there two months ago, to climb the 3K peak South Whaleback. It was a miserable hike, rain off-and-on all day long (Picture #10 from in front of The Mountain Wanderer was taken the same day), and I was soaked to my underwear. My summit photo was a mess, as I was shivering so violently. Couldn’t stop shaking, but not so hypothermic I was considering removing clothes, thank goodness. Anyway, the summit is the bump farther from the col, natch, not the closer one as the most recent AMC map indicates -- and after I returned to the col, I decided to go up Whaleback as far as the view ledge, which was higher up than I expected it to be. Had I but known I was as close to the Whaleback summit as I was, I would have gone on to tag it, but after taking some pictures, I headed back down. And it immediately began to rain again. I remember just one sizable blowdown along the trail. I think there may have been faint herd paths on either side of it. I was surprised the trail was in as good of shape as it was in; well marked, plenty of blazes. I even noticed one wood AMC sign just below the ledge during my descent... which some eager ranger will probably now go up and remove. There were some wet places below the col; not surprising, considering the summer we had and the day’s rain, and I lost the trail a few times for short stretches here and there, but all in all, thoroughly enjoyable but for the weather.

The tent-like arrangement of sticks was on the left, just before a stream crossing about a mile in. When I saw it, I knew it would make a good entry for a photo quiz.

MichaelJ, you’re in the right neighborhood with your guess for Number 4, but on the wrong side of the highway. Is West West Scar the true summit, rather than the originally canistered summit? I read in a recent report that it too now has its own canister. I wish that had been the case when I (think) I climbed it a few years ago. Hard to be sure without confirmation. (I made it back to the summit with the AMC canister 15 months later, just so there would be no doubt.)

NewHampshire, I had a sneaking suspicion that that area on Wildcat Ridge had been obliterated. I thought I’d recently read about some changes up there. They replaced the steps, too, didn’t they?
 
NewHampshire, I had a sneaking suspicion that that area on Wildcat Ridge had been obliterated. I thought I’d recently read about some changes up there. They replaced the steps, too, didn’t they?

Depends which ones you mean. There was a wooden ladder lower down all rotted out that was replaced with rock steps. But if you mean the rock "steps" that immediately follow that section pictured then....they did add some nice handholds there, but nothing was replaced. :cool:

The pro croo really did a nice job spiffing the place up. You should head over and check it out when conditions are a little better since it really is a nice trail......but I am of course biased :D;).

Brian
 
MichaelJ, you’re in the right neighborhood with your guess for Number 4, but on the wrong side of the highway. Is West West Scar the true summit, rather than the originally canistered summit?

Yes. The original canistered summit was the East peak of West Scar Ridge, while the "true" was the West peak of West Scar Ridge. The photo looked a lot like the fern-covered, open woods on the latter. Across the highway, eh? That makes it Hitchcock, another shot from Whaleback, Potash, or Coolidge.

I got nothin'.
 
You are one-fifth correct. East Hitchcock, to be precise. It looks very quick and easy on the map (the bushwhack part, that is), but somehow I got all turned around in there, convinced my compass was 180-degrees off. I followed it, though, and eventually found the canister. Then I got turned around again hiking out and lost one of my water bottles and one of my insulated water bottle jackets, and the two weren’t even together at the time; the bottle fell out of a different bottle-jacket, and the lost jacket slipped off my other bottle. Aargh. I was fortunate to stumble back onto the trail before it got any darker.

And see my rain coat draped over that tree? I had it mostly tied around my waist during the hike, which was a huge mistake (as Gob might say), because I got absolutely soaked thrashing through the spruce, so wet that I even had to empty my wallet and leave the money and other items laying about my motel room afterward, trying to dry them out. At least I had the foresight to bring a second pair of boots that week, anyway, or I would not have done much more hiking. The boots I wore on that East Hitchcock hike were still wet when I returned back home four days later, and they have been relegated to grass-mowing duty since.

That was one of those hikes for which I really wish I’d had my GPS, because I would love to know just where the heck I wandered. Never mind helping me get in and out; I just want to know where I was!

I haven’t been back to try for any more Hitchcocks.
 
Looks like you indeed found the true summit of E. Hitchcock, with the characteristic canister hanging on a branch like an XMas ornament. There is a second jar up there somewhere, presumably on a false summit, but only MarcHowes and Barbarossa have been able to find it in recent years...


Oh, and I'll guess that bonus #2 is on the rock-climber's path leading up to the col NW of Eagle Cliff.
 
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And thanks for the info on East Hitchcock. I didn’t realize there might be a second canister, but I’m relieved I don’t have to go back!

Apparently, I do have to go back :(

East Hitchcock was disorienting, and the ground was soggy, even in dry weather. If you go back, West Hitchcock is relatively easy hiking and navigating.
 
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