Scar Ridge, East

[yogi]

Wacked up to the East peak of Scar ridge on Sat. 7/14. A friend joined Yogi Jr. and I with his dog, Moby. Took the East Pond trail from the Kanc to the height-of-land. Here there are nice open fern covered spaces, but you quickly encounter steep spruce infested, blowdown ridden New England forest. I have the Scars to prove it! There are some pretty nice views over to Osceola from some of these blowdown patches and some large rocks here and there. No view from the top though.
Canister is easy to find and the last entry was from MEB and company on 12/3/06. Seems as though someone must have been here since then?
On the way down we found a much easier route bearing North East and popping out about .5 miles down the trail from where we went in. I can explain where this route starts if anyone is interested. E-mail me.
Lost a green leash on the trial near the height-of-land. If anyone finds it let me know! Thanks

 

[Motabobo]

Nice TR ! Glad to hear there's an easier way up this !

Worst whack for me so far
Started a bit before the height-of-land and kept a bearing of approx 291. There was this HUGE blowdown we couldn't go around and we hit 0.1 mile/hour...

Canister is easy to find

yeah right...we circled around the whole summit twice looking for the damn canister. Needless to say, the whole summit is a blowdown...30 mins after we found it outside of the blowdown area

Weird, we've been there Dec. 28th, did we forget to sign in or we didn't close the canister properly ?

 

[onestep]

Canister is easy to find and the last entry was from MEB and company on 12/3/06. Seems as though someone must have been here since then?

A group of us did the peak 01-27-2007. We all signed the register.

There are two bumps on E Scar,
this one is the higher peak.

 

[Motabobo]

Is there a canister on both peaks ? We aimed straight for the right bump so we didn't visit the other

 

[bigmoose]

Like Jean-Sebastien said.
Worst, most extensive blowdown patch I've encountered in the Whites.
Last September I made it up to the canister by keeping left of the sprawling area of dead spires and fallen trunks, but struggled through the stuff on top between the two eastern bumps before stumbling upon the white PVC canister. Then, finding open woods and a bit of a moose trail to the ENE, decided to descend that way instead. Big mistake. Got swallowed up in the aforementioned blowdown tangle and thought I'd never get out. Huge relief to finally get back to the trail.
The canister, as I recall, was on a skinny dead tree surrounded by blowdown on the ridge top.
I didn't go over the smaller eastern bump so can't vouch for jar or canister there.
jt

 

[yogi]

Yep, cannister on both bumps. I wasn't aware the other was higher, looks like (damn) a return trip. Although now knowing how to get to the east bump fairly easily, I'll just have to deal with the crap in between.
There were two logs in the cannister (old Nalgene bottle). MEB and SherpaJohn had signed one in December, and Allbee the other sometime before that I believe. For this I assumed I was in the right place. Oh-well.

 

[MichaelJ]

We were there 7/7/7 and signed into the register in the canister on the east peak. The book was in bad shape, all loose pages, and probably is just all out of order. We also visited the true summit on the west bump, which was open woods and rather nice, but did not see a canister anywhere over there.

 

[Motabobo]

We were there 7/7/7 and signed into the register in the canister on the east peak. The book was in bad shape, all loose pages, and probably is just all out of order. We also visited the true summit on the west bump, which was open woods and rather nice, but did not see a canister anywhere over there.

No offense, but from the description you give, it sounds like you're talking of West Scar Ridge, which is the NE100 peak.

 

[albee]

Yeah, MichaelJ is speaking of West Scar Ridge. East Scar Ridge has two bumps - there is a Nalgene bottle on the FALSE summit, and a cannister (that is a bit tricky to find) on the true summit some severeal tenths of a mile away. I was there with MEB, Sherpa John, and Drewski when we found all 4 jars on Scar Ridge back in early December - Southeast, East, Middle, and West. Only 3 of them count, and unfortunately the one you found wasn't one of 'em.

Now that you've been through some of the worst blowdowns in the Whites, isn't it nice to know that the bushwhacking only gets easier from here? Well, that is, unless you have to go back to East Scar Ridge again

 

[bigmoose]

Some would contend that the current West canister doesn't really count either.
There may be a fifth (!) Scar Ridge canister on the marginally higher West West Scar Ridge sometime soon....

 

[onestep]

There may be a fifth (!) Scar Ridge canister on the marginally higher West West Scar Ridge sometime soon....

Let's hope whoever hangs a jar there flags it well

That is the flattest most non-descript "summit" bump I've come across yet
Finding that highpoint is like looking for the thickest spot on a pancake.

 

[Amicus]

We were there 7/7/7 and signed into the register in the canister on the east peak. The book was in bad shape, all loose pages, and probably is just all out of order. We also visited the true summit on the west bump, which was open woods and rather nice, but did not see a canister anywhere over there.

MichaelJ -

Motabobo and albee correctly point out that we hit the two summits of Scar Ridge West, "true" and then "canister" in the reverse of the customary order, because of our uncommon approach from Loon North. I should note that my altimeter, which did not go significantly out of whack on this hike, showed canister peak to be 5 feet higher than "true." I'll accept the judgment of the topo map, however, which decrees our west bump (3,774) to be the official Scar Ridge West summit. Odd no one has put up at least a nalgene bottle there, since others have done so for bumps that don't count. Perhaps that is because it is big and flat (and green and inviting), with no obvious high point.
{Edit - I see that OneStep said the same thing, while I was typing mine.}

You are not the first to make that slip, by the way, as I recall a post from Oncoman last year that did the same thing. (Where is he, by the way - I don't recall seeing a new post from him in quite a while?)

 

[MichaelJ]

Ahhh ... I didn't realize that the two bumps we were on weren't west and east, but that east is, well, further east.

 

[Amicus]

Ahhh ... I didn't realize that the two bumps we were on weren't west and east, but that east is, well, further east.

Not only that, there is also Middle, which, like East and West, is on the various NE3K lists and has a canister (the correct location of which, however, is not in dispute, to the best of my knowledge). A real "Scar Ridge traverse" would hit all three of those NE3K summits and Loon No. (also an NE3K) for good measure. (I got some excellent information from someone who has done that twice - Neighbor Dave - who I don't think I've ever met. Thanks!)

 

[yogi]

Sounds like the only way out of this mess is to head back and hit every hump between the two I have already climbed as I have finished the NE100's but if the other "West" peak is actually higher…..
Thanks for all the clarification!
I think I'll let these puncture wounds heal a few weeks first.
Neighbor Dave...any info you would share on this traverse??!!!!