Fumbling Around In The Woods: Scar Ridge (3,774 ft) 8-12-18

Distance: 10.05 mi.
Elevation: 2,759 ft (overall) 3,358 ft (total)
Time: 2:12 (Loon) 4:20 (Scar Ridge) 6:01 (Loon) 7:10 (Total)
Trails: Brookway Ski Trail, Lower Walking Boss Ski Trail, Haulback Ski Trail, Sunset Ski Trail, Bushwhack

Scar Ridge is one of the most popular peaks to end the New England Hundred Highest (NEHH) on because of the difficulty of the bushwhack, the lack of views, and the reputation for notorious patches of blow downs. Knowing this, I didn't want to finish on a peak like that so I had to get it done soon.
Today's weather was supposed to be cloudy with a chance of rain in the afternoon/evening, so it was a good time to hike through to trees to a view less peak. Of course mother nature decided the rain should come early and it rained for about half of my drive, ending just as I neared Lincoln.
I started my hike from the parking lot for Loon Mountain Ski Area. The lot had lots of room when I started. It was much fuller when I was done.
I took the path in front of the resort buildings and followed it past the bottom of ski trail until over on the Brookway Trail which has a dirt access road up the length of it.
At Camp III Lodge, I made the usual turn onto the Lower Walking Boss ski trail. It was lightly raining at this point and the tall grass was all wet as well. So I put on my summer gaiters hoping my feet might stay drier (they didn't).
Since I haven't been able to hike much this year, the Lower Walking Boss Trail got steep and was starting to tire me out some.
When I got to the Haulback Trail, I decided that while it would be further and probably take longer I was going to skip the Upper Walking Boss Trail and use the Haulback and Sunset ski trails instead. These provided a more gradual incline except for one short climb just before the top of the Sunset trail.
At the top of the ski lift I took a break on the wooden walkway where it was flat and protected from any light rain that might have come. From here you can see the start of the bushwhack just a short distance away.
The bushwhack is easy to find next to the out of bounds signs. At the start there is some brush that has been laid down in the path, but you can still get around it.
This part of the bushwhack is pretty easy with a cut path to follow and good footing without much elevation change.
There isn't much that really marks where to turn off the path to start the real bushwhack. The GPS tracks that I used for some reference all turned off near a blow down that has been cleaned up some. I didn't find anything that looked like a herd path here, so I just started into the woods where the trees looked thinner.
I tried to pick a route that went the direction that I needed but avoided the thicker sections of trees. I came across a couple spots where I thought I found a path, but each time I followed it it seemed to quickly come to a steep drop off that I couldn't easily go down.
After taking a path that seemed to wander around some trying to find an easy route, I did finally start to come onto some faint sections of a herd path. Eventually this became easier to follow until it would get to a blow down or something difficult to get through/around. While easier to follow, it is far from well defined though. You need to pay attention while following it.
Every time the herd path would lead me into a blow down, I would look around to see which direction would be easier. After going far enough that I thought I was around the obstacles, I would angle back towards the direction the herd path was going. Eventually I would come back across it as long as I was paying attention.
Nearing the summit the herd path headed into what seems to be a new large blow down patch. There didn't appear to be a good way through or around it, so I started going left (north) to avoid it. It was still kind of thick and and I dropped more elevation than I would have liked going. You would probably have found the same thing going around it the other way though.
After the big blow down patch, the woods got thicker and it was more pushing through trees than going around and between them. I did make my way back to the herd path, but it was narrower and also required pushing through more branches.
Just before the summit the herd path again goes through some blow downs. Luckily these ones are easier to climb over and under so I could stay on the path and head more directly to the high point.
There are blow downs all around the summit as well, so I was still negotiating those until at the summit. It wasn't until I was about 20 feet from it that I was able to see the summit canister. I wouldn't bet on trying to look for that in the distance to help you find the summit if you aren't on the herd path (even though it is bright orange).
Returning back from the summit, I took the same route back as much as I could. The herd path seemed a little easier to follow in this direction and I feel that I stayed on it more on the way back.
As I got closer to the cut path, the herd path led me around the steep spots I kept finding on the way up and around a small boggy area. Near the boggy area is where I lost the herd path and just went mostly straight to the cut path as it was pretty close by.
From the cut path back to the truck I took the same route as I did on the way up. The grass on the ski trails wasn't as wet at this point and I got to see a small flock of turkeys on my way down the Lower Walking Boss.