buckyball1
New member
It was a superb day to hike these two. I was off from Orrington about 300AM and at the "trailhead" ready to go a bit before 7-clear, breezy and a bit nippy-43.
I'm not a big fan of people wandering around unmarked, ever changing logging roads worrying about tearing pieces off their car's undercarriage, so forgive me for this detailed info on current conditions. Turn off Rt 16 onto the
Morton Cutoff, go 3.1 miles to a "T", turn right onto Long Pond Road. These two roads have been graded and are in good shape. At 10.4 miles in from Rt16, turn left onto the "new" Wiggle Brook Road (you can see a yellow sign)-which runs mostly N/S. (the only "signed" road you'll see from now on is "Sol Brook Rd" which you don't want)-At 13.3 miles , turn right onto an unmarked road; at 13.8 miles, turn right again onto another unmarked road (these are probably both segments of the Bear Brook Rd). Follow another 0.5 miles and a somewhat rougher road (unmarked Bear Brook Rd) turns left -follow it (if you continued straight a short piece, you run into the rocks blocking the road to the now defunct bridge over the K river)---after your left turn, the road is a bit rougher, but easily passable in any vehicle to 1.5 miles in. I went 1.5 miles up this last road and parked in a large clearing. There is only one small dip/washout before this which is easily negotiable with care. After the field i parked in, there are two medium size washouts (0.1 miles), a few exposed culvert pipes and finally a very large "impassable" ditch/brook/ruined culvert about 0.7 miles in from where i parked. You could reach this point in a high clearance vehicle with care and there is room to park.
Your road/trail up to the h.o.l/col between WC and NKD is well described B&G's and PB's sites and in a trip report by Poison Ivy. It's just a nice uphill walk with few things to worry about. At the only questionable fork (about 45 minutes in from where i parked), go right (the more beaten left goes only to a log landing). This solitary stroll was a joy today even with the wet conditions.
I have little to add to the "right way" up either of these peaks
. A trail (left)mentioned as a possible way up KD is at 3200' and is obvious(i didn't use it). The large stick festooned with ribbons at the trail junction around 3450' has only a few straggly, faded ribbons left.
White Cap-At the "Maypole"(stick with ribbons, 3450'), i followed the right fork of the road up toward White Cap. About 15 minutes up, the road peters out in the field of small balsams mentioned by others. Look closely and on the left side, you'll see a small cairn at your feet. I turned left into the woods here. There are faint herd path segments all over, but for me this was a day of take a bearing on the peak and push through whatever. Going solo you really miss the multiple pairs of eyes/feet when searching for intermittent herd paths. I just went generally NW, tried to stay on the small ridge and followed a path now and then. The top has quite a few blowndowns and you may need to search around for the canister. As per usual, I have more problems getting down on bushwacks than up. I had to push through a lot of thick stuff, but came out on the trail about 20' from the cairn in the little balsam field.
Back down at the flagged stick, I tried to decide how to do NKD and finally just took an unadjusted compass shot (around 210) and plunged into the woods. I was on a herd path now and then, but it was basically just push up on a 210 heading (mag unadjusted). I reached the top in about 40 minutes. Of course going down was another adventure and i slipped way too far toward the E and down off the ridge-much thick stuff again. I won't even try to describe how I made my way down (just mostly NE and E off the summit), crossed and followed another pretty good logging road that parallels the main road in/out, but is up further on the KD itself, then headed E as it disappeared) and finally hit the main logging road/trail around 2750', well toward the trailhead from where i took off for KD.I have lots of battle scars from this (shorts, short sleeve T ). Then an easy trip back to the car.
About 5 1/2 hours total--little stopping except when lost and for many many compass shots
I had a moose pace me for about 1.7 miles driving out the Bear Brook Rd until she headed off to bushwack Snow. She just stayed about 30 yards in front of the car at a good gallop.
No local color as I didn't see/talk with a soul all day.
How have I left myself to finish this madness solo on Scar??
jim
I'm not a big fan of people wandering around unmarked, ever changing logging roads worrying about tearing pieces off their car's undercarriage, so forgive me for this detailed info on current conditions. Turn off Rt 16 onto the
Morton Cutoff, go 3.1 miles to a "T", turn right onto Long Pond Road. These two roads have been graded and are in good shape. At 10.4 miles in from Rt16, turn left onto the "new" Wiggle Brook Road (you can see a yellow sign)-which runs mostly N/S. (the only "signed" road you'll see from now on is "Sol Brook Rd" which you don't want)-At 13.3 miles , turn right onto an unmarked road; at 13.8 miles, turn right again onto another unmarked road (these are probably both segments of the Bear Brook Rd). Follow another 0.5 miles and a somewhat rougher road (unmarked Bear Brook Rd) turns left -follow it (if you continued straight a short piece, you run into the rocks blocking the road to the now defunct bridge over the K river)---after your left turn, the road is a bit rougher, but easily passable in any vehicle to 1.5 miles in. I went 1.5 miles up this last road and parked in a large clearing. There is only one small dip/washout before this which is easily negotiable with care. After the field i parked in, there are two medium size washouts (0.1 miles), a few exposed culvert pipes and finally a very large "impassable" ditch/brook/ruined culvert about 0.7 miles in from where i parked. You could reach this point in a high clearance vehicle with care and there is room to park.
Your road/trail up to the h.o.l/col between WC and NKD is well described B&G's and PB's sites and in a trip report by Poison Ivy. It's just a nice uphill walk with few things to worry about. At the only questionable fork (about 45 minutes in from where i parked), go right (the more beaten left goes only to a log landing). This solitary stroll was a joy today even with the wet conditions.
I have little to add to the "right way" up either of these peaks
. A trail (left)mentioned as a possible way up KD is at 3200' and is obvious(i didn't use it). The large stick festooned with ribbons at the trail junction around 3450' has only a few straggly, faded ribbons left. White Cap-At the "Maypole"(stick with ribbons, 3450'), i followed the right fork of the road up toward White Cap. About 15 minutes up, the road peters out in the field of small balsams mentioned by others. Look closely and on the left side, you'll see a small cairn at your feet. I turned left into the woods here. There are faint herd path segments all over, but for me this was a day of take a bearing on the peak and push through whatever. Going solo you really miss the multiple pairs of eyes/feet when searching for intermittent herd paths. I just went generally NW, tried to stay on the small ridge and followed a path now and then. The top has quite a few blowndowns and you may need to search around for the canister. As per usual, I have more problems getting down on bushwacks than up. I had to push through a lot of thick stuff, but came out on the trail about 20' from the cairn in the little balsam field.
Back down at the flagged stick, I tried to decide how to do NKD and finally just took an unadjusted compass shot (around 210) and plunged into the woods. I was on a herd path now and then, but it was basically just push up on a 210 heading (mag unadjusted). I reached the top in about 40 minutes. Of course going down was another adventure and i slipped way too far toward the E and down off the ridge-much thick stuff again. I won't even try to describe how I made my way down (just mostly NE and E off the summit), crossed and followed another pretty good logging road that parallels the main road in/out, but is up further on the KD itself, then headed E as it disappeared) and finally hit the main logging road/trail around 2750', well toward the trailhead from where i took off for KD.I have lots of battle scars from this (shorts, short sleeve T
). Then an easy trip back to the car.About 5 1/2 hours total--little stopping except when lost and for many many compass shots
I had a moose pace me for about 1.7 miles driving out the Bear Brook Rd until she headed off to bushwack Snow. She just stayed about 30 yards in front of the car at a good gallop.
No local color as I didn't see/talk with a soul all day.
How have I left myself to finish this madness solo on Scar??
jim
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