Oncoman
Active member
Scar Ridge & PatN on same day-9th Sept. (To be or not to be a Double Trouble hike)
Left Montréal Fri. PM, after bowling session with friends. My average score after 3 games was only 125, so I decided to stop there before things got really humiliating for me. After a 4 hrs drive, slept in my car at the Discovery trail parking lot, planning to do West Scar Ridge the following morning & PatN in PM.
This was my 2nd attempt at West S.R. Last Dec. I had followed the snowshoe tracks of Bob & Geri’s group right up to the East Pk canister. By then it was near 16h00 with barely 30 min. of daylight left (I had done Moosilauke earlier on in the day). I tried to reach West Pk but after laboriously pushing through thick spruce, falling a few times, and darkness now almost there, I decided to put my headlamp on & turn back.
What should have been an easy albeit long downhill hike all the way back to my car, following the group’s tracks, actually turned out to be a not so enjoyable experience, since I had to spend the night in the woods, about ½ m. from Kanc highway & with minus 10C° temps & only an emergency bivy bag to sleep in, when one of the batteries of my headlamp exploded destroying my bulb. Though I had a spare headlamp, its light beam was too anemic to allow safe bushwhacking.
Lessons learned here :
1. When changing batteries, always replace them all to avoid reverse charging & risk of explosion. That evening, a battery was stuck likely due to ice formed from condensation inside casing & I was too impatient to take the time to fix problem.
2. Always bring not only extra batteries, but also extra bulb.
So, was I apprehensive on this one. Not at all. On the contrary with all the bwk I have been doing in the last few months, mostly in Maine, I considered this one as just another routine bwk.
My round trip to bag East & West Scar Ridge and return to my car took 6h15, including a 15 min. of roaming around on flat summit of West S.R. The northern approach from Big Rock campground is relatively easy, except for a few short sections of thick spruce. Furthermore, for the last ½ m. of the ridge walk, there are intermittent herd paths bringing you right to the canister, making for rapid travel.
However the section of ridge walk from East Pk to West Pk is quite thick for about 200 yards, thereafter it opens up but you encounter blowdowns here & there until the plateau which is totally open.
Upon returning to the canister on East S.R., I signed the register. Noticed that the last 2 parties had come from Little East Pond and had encountered very thick spruce & tough going. On the way down, had to swing east & west intermittently to stay on the ridge line, as the slope constantly tended to bring me off course. Came out on Hancock branch of Pemigewasset river to within 200 yrds of my entry point. Yea! Water level now low, making for easy rock hopping.
Was back to my car by 12h30. Ate lunch & then decided to do PatN as planned since day was still very young and I felt real strong. Parked on Haystack road at the 3 boulders & followed route suggested on Bob & Geri’s web site. Reached open clearing very easily & then headed uphill into nice open woods all the way to false false pk,as labelled by Papa Bear. On true false pk found herd path blazed with red tape bringing you right to canister on PatN summit. BTW tree on which canister is fixed is now half blown down, tilting 45°. Will likely be totally on ground by next spring.
Upon signing register saw that another group had summited at 10h30 that morning & had not lingered due to big grey clouds on the horizon. Well those grey clouds were by now right above my head and real low. I was not too concerned being under tree cover but nonetheless rushed off. It had taken me 1h50 to reach summit canister.
When I returned to the true false pk I headed downhill aiming for clearing, but being in too much of a hurry I didn’t pay sufficient attention to my compass bearing & deviated off ridge line slightly to east & soon encountered cliff edges after cliff edges, ranging from 10’ to 30’. And then the lights went off. The sky became very dark and so fast that my vision did not have time to adjust. I started tripping all over. No time to correct my course, so down I went.
Then the storm struck quite violently with thunder & lightning. I was by then halfway downhill. The downpour was so intense by moment that I had the impression of being in my shower (a cold one at that). Slipped off a 15’ edge at one point, but luckily was hanging on to tree before my feet gave way. The jerk on my right shoulder was rough but no harm done & no bruises. 45 min. later reached the lower flatter section. By then the rain had eased off and I made it to the logging road & to my car safe & sound 1h40 after leaving canister.
Only one more peak to go, namely Nancy, for my NE100. Plan to do Nancy this coming Sat. in afternoon, after doing in morning N.W. Tecumsey (3766’) & unnamed 3156’ pk, a short bwk off Tecumsey trail.
Pierre
Left Montréal Fri. PM, after bowling session with friends. My average score after 3 games was only 125, so I decided to stop there before things got really humiliating for me. After a 4 hrs drive, slept in my car at the Discovery trail parking lot, planning to do West Scar Ridge the following morning & PatN in PM.
This was my 2nd attempt at West S.R. Last Dec. I had followed the snowshoe tracks of Bob & Geri’s group right up to the East Pk canister. By then it was near 16h00 with barely 30 min. of daylight left (I had done Moosilauke earlier on in the day). I tried to reach West Pk but after laboriously pushing through thick spruce, falling a few times, and darkness now almost there, I decided to put my headlamp on & turn back.
What should have been an easy albeit long downhill hike all the way back to my car, following the group’s tracks, actually turned out to be a not so enjoyable experience, since I had to spend the night in the woods, about ½ m. from Kanc highway & with minus 10C° temps & only an emergency bivy bag to sleep in, when one of the batteries of my headlamp exploded destroying my bulb. Though I had a spare headlamp, its light beam was too anemic to allow safe bushwhacking.
Lessons learned here :
1. When changing batteries, always replace them all to avoid reverse charging & risk of explosion. That evening, a battery was stuck likely due to ice formed from condensation inside casing & I was too impatient to take the time to fix problem.
2. Always bring not only extra batteries, but also extra bulb.
So, was I apprehensive on this one. Not at all. On the contrary with all the bwk I have been doing in the last few months, mostly in Maine, I considered this one as just another routine bwk.
My round trip to bag East & West Scar Ridge and return to my car took 6h15, including a 15 min. of roaming around on flat summit of West S.R. The northern approach from Big Rock campground is relatively easy, except for a few short sections of thick spruce. Furthermore, for the last ½ m. of the ridge walk, there are intermittent herd paths bringing you right to the canister, making for rapid travel.
However the section of ridge walk from East Pk to West Pk is quite thick for about 200 yards, thereafter it opens up but you encounter blowdowns here & there until the plateau which is totally open.
Upon returning to the canister on East S.R., I signed the register. Noticed that the last 2 parties had come from Little East Pond and had encountered very thick spruce & tough going. On the way down, had to swing east & west intermittently to stay on the ridge line, as the slope constantly tended to bring me off course. Came out on Hancock branch of Pemigewasset river to within 200 yrds of my entry point. Yea! Water level now low, making for easy rock hopping.
Was back to my car by 12h30. Ate lunch & then decided to do PatN as planned since day was still very young and I felt real strong. Parked on Haystack road at the 3 boulders & followed route suggested on Bob & Geri’s web site. Reached open clearing very easily & then headed uphill into nice open woods all the way to false false pk,as labelled by Papa Bear. On true false pk found herd path blazed with red tape bringing you right to canister on PatN summit. BTW tree on which canister is fixed is now half blown down, tilting 45°. Will likely be totally on ground by next spring.
Upon signing register saw that another group had summited at 10h30 that morning & had not lingered due to big grey clouds on the horizon. Well those grey clouds were by now right above my head and real low. I was not too concerned being under tree cover but nonetheless rushed off. It had taken me 1h50 to reach summit canister.
When I returned to the true false pk I headed downhill aiming for clearing, but being in too much of a hurry I didn’t pay sufficient attention to my compass bearing & deviated off ridge line slightly to east & soon encountered cliff edges after cliff edges, ranging from 10’ to 30’. And then the lights went off. The sky became very dark and so fast that my vision did not have time to adjust. I started tripping all over. No time to correct my course, so down I went.
Then the storm struck quite violently with thunder & lightning. I was by then halfway downhill. The downpour was so intense by moment that I had the impression of being in my shower (a cold one at that). Slipped off a 15’ edge at one point, but luckily was hanging on to tree before my feet gave way. The jerk on my right shoulder was rough but no harm done & no bruises. 45 min. later reached the lower flatter section. By then the rain had eased off and I made it to the logging road & to my car safe & sound 1h40 after leaving canister.
Only one more peak to go, namely Nancy, for my NE100. Plan to do Nancy this coming Sat. in afternoon, after doing in morning N.W. Tecumsey (3766’) & unnamed 3156’ pk, a short bwk off Tecumsey trail.
Pierre
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