Scar Ridge (11 June 2010)

[jniehof]

(Banging out last week's TRs before leaving for this week.)

We spent the night at Big Rock campground with almost no company; kind of nice. Unfortunately it's quite close to the Kanc and bike week traffic was starting up so the earplugs got some use. Does the Forest Service get the extra $2 from not having exact change, or is it pocketed by ProSport?

It's a very quick car shuffle over to the Discovery trailhead (paved, pit toilets, site-specific kiosk, no picnic table, no fee) and the path down to the Hancock branch from the campground is quite obvious. After some scouting of the river we chose to cross right where the path comes in (smiley face rock) and mostly rock-hopped; I crab-walked on all fours and got a little water on my boots but didn't have to ford.

From here we took a map bearing on the 2000' contour of the ridge. I get the impression most people cross a little further downstream and indeed we didn't hit any herd paths, but the going was quite easy. We did see some trees marked up with orange spray paint; the 420 one made me think it was kids but then we found other three-digit numbers.

The herdpath really appears about where the ridge is defined at 2400' and is followable with some care until the ridge flattens about 3200'. After that it breaks apart and it's a matter of following easy going to the fairly obvious high point. We were pretty soaked by this point; it had rained the day before and nothing had dried out. At least the only truly thick stuff was near the very end.

The official 4k register was nearly full and starting to disintegrate (it was replaced the next day and the original sent to the 4K committee); we signed in as best we could and headed towards the west knob on a direct bearing. It was thick but occasionally herd-pathed until the col; staying on bearing and working around the worst seemed to do the job. After the col it was mostly very open except for one thick patch, then we came out on the very nice west plateau. The canister here is quite high and I walked straight under it.

On return we followed some herd paths quite a bit left (north) of the ridge; this made for easier going until right under the east knob, which was downright miserable. From here, being careful not to fall off the ridge to the left, we fell off to the right. The ridgeline really isn't in existence here until a few hundred feet down from the summit.

We looked a bit for herd paths or easier going on the way down, but it seems the best route was the ascent route, staying just on the left (northwest) side of the ridgecrest all the way down, even as the ridge curves right. We had to ford on the way out; either the water was a bit higher or we were tired. Easy ford, though.

This took a somewhat embarassing ten hours and it's hard to say how I feel. The truly thick stuff was pretty rare and it seems the blowdowns are starting to return to the dirt. It's still quite a bit of bushwhacking and the ground is covered with the blowdowns, making the footing a little tricky.

 

[MichaelJ]

Wow - kudos for doing it the old-school way from the other side and hitting the west-east summit! Most don't bother any more, it's good to know it's still out there.

 

[jniehof]

Nah, truly old-skool would be Little East Pond....!

We left taunting messages in the west canister for an AMC group doing it from Loon the next day (they were kind enough to do the register replacement) and they definitely seemed to think that was the way to go. I guess a really good herdpath is forming now? I was under the impression it was pretty thick going once off the bootleg ski trail.

 

[MichaelJ]

Oh, it's a true bushwhack, no herd path and thick in spots, once you past Black Mtn, which is the destination of the herd path from the ski slope. Still quite the challenge but not as much, IMHO, as your route.

 

[Jen R]

I was with the AMC group on Sat. It took us 8 1/2 hours. We went in from the Loon side and included grabbing Loon too since we were so close. Once we jumped off the ski trail we picked up a herd path for maybe 10 minutes but jumped off of it since it was heading towards Black. We hit only 1 thick spot on ascent reaching the west west canister first. It was thick though as we got close to the other canister. Going back we took a different route and hit very thick stuff for a good hour. But we hit the herd path again on the way out and were on it for a longer period. Overall the approach from Loon I thought was pretty good.

 

[MichaelJ]

Only 10 minutes on the herd path on your way out? I want to say that it sounds like you jumped off too early, but who can argue with the successful result.

Coming back from Scar is definitely the harder trick. If you're off-line too far in either direction, and not very far, either, you hit nasty, nasty stuff. It's very easy to fall off to the south from the summit, too, as there's a well-defined herd path going that way (someday I want to figure out where it goes).