Trails Used

Access Road, Cut path, Herd path, bushwhack, East Pond Trail

Trail Conditions

Notes

Today started and ended with lovely grades of simple basic trails. In between were multiple visits to spruce hell and miles of drunken meandering moose trails. All in all better than expected and yet absolutely no desires for a repeat experience. Access road up to south peak to north peak lift --> cutesy V2 boulder scramble up to the summit of North Loon (no canister boo) --> cut trail over to 2900' (goes to Black Mountain) --> start of bushwhack (easyish to follow pink and occasional blue ribbons) --> keep wandering high and left off trail (bearing anchor was stay left/north on all summit knobs) and angling back up onto trail --> icky yicky blowdown patch at 3500' (go right and angle back up left) --> get absolutely turned around to find Gbax and the cannister on West Scar Very slow descent off West towards Middle (massive blowdown patch folled by contour drop into spruce hell) --> S hook back north over false east knob of west peak --> deep drop into col --> short and sweet climb up to Middle --> sit on rock and canister is staring me in the face lol lol Middle to boring angle slog between the 3 false knobs over to East contouring thru the draw around all 3 (Gbax lost his phone somewhere in here) --> short simple climb up to 3600' and 100 yards from the canister --> more spruce hell --> hoodie on and disgusting double S move SW - SE - NE - S - curl right into East Scar summit canister (this felt really satisfying) Curl back out from East canister into clearing --> view ledge of SE peak --> into blowdown and epic pirouette downward spiral flop dismount onto the ground move --> spruce hell again --> climb up to SE Peak (no canister wowsies) --> hard hook east and drop down the spine (really easy mossy chimney NE of cliffband to sidewind around) --> drop into col, short open woods to trail --> hoodie off and down to car Overall I felt pretty confident in my navigational skills and wasn't ever concerned about my location even with doing much zigzagging and circles in places on the ridge. Pretty easy to follow the ridge and decent glimpses thru the trees of the various summits and knobs on the ridge. Saw 2 other people who thought today was a perfect day to go do this ridge, I hope they're also alright in the head

Parking

Mostly full @8am, mostly empty @7pm

Water Crossings

All rock hops

Wildlife

N/A

Also on this trip

Trails Used

Ski Trails, herd path, bushwhack

Trail Conditions

Notes

Gridiots gone rogue. Back in July, Steve and I started toying with the idea of another insane project. Neither of us is fully committed yet but we decided to start playing around with it so today was hike #1. We took Brookway to Lower Walking Boss to Upper Walking Boss. Upper Walking Boss is a black diamond trail and we felt every bit of it. The slopes had been mowed so at least there was no high grass to contend with but the sun was hot and we were all thankful to get into the woods. The herd path is clearly defined and we were running several tracks so we all were in agreement as to where to turn off to start the bushwhack. The whack was not as bad as we had thought it would be. We followed the ridge as best as we could which helped. Right before we reached the actual summit with the canister, it got pretty tight. We all took a few trees to the face along the way. We signed the canister which was easy to open and the log book still has plenty of room for others to sign. We had a really fun day and celebrated our finish with ice cream in Lincoln. Don't tell Steve but this project may not actually be his worst idea.

Parking

Steve drove and we parked at Loon Mountain ski resort. There was plenty of parking when we arrived and still open spots when we finished.

Water Crossings

N/A

Wildlife

There were biting flies on the ski trails and some from time to time in the woods.

Trails Used

East Pond Trail, Bushwhack, Little East Pond Trail

Trail Conditions

Notes

Thought this was going to be an easier day then it turned out to be. I hiked up east pond to the high point and made a b-line to east scar from there. I was hoping to find a herd trail but that was a no go and was just the woods. Once on the ridge there was still no visible trail which showed me this area is barely touched. Onto the middle and west the area was full of smaller pines only inches from each other and I have the scratches on up and down my arms to prove it. Once on top of east it was easier to follow to the top by following game trails. The way I took down was down to a stream I saw on a map and when I reached it I just walked it town towards the little east trail and booked it back to my car because that was the toughest bushwacking I have done so far.

Parking

Dusty road to east pond but early on it was empty but at the end was three quarters full.

Water Crossings

Half of them had bridges but none a problem

Wildlife

Only ran into some black flies on the way down on little east trail

Also on this trip

Trails Used

Ski Trails, Bushwhack

Trail Conditions

Notes

From the main Governor's parking lot I took Brookway -> Walking Boss up to North Peak, hiking up the ski trails is quite strenuous. Since all the snow hasn't completely melted the tall vegetation hadn't grown back in yet which would make this hike a lot less pleasant. The real bushwhack from the col on the herd path can be pretty brutal, you definitely want long pants at a minimum. This is probably one of the best times to bag this peak and get it out of the way since the bugs aren't out, the grass hasn't grown back in, and it's not super hot.

Wildlife

No bugs quite yet