West Scar from North Loon

Date of Hike: 10/20/13

Brookway Ski Trail  /  Lower Walking Boss Ski Trail  /  Upper Walking Boss Ski Trail, Herd Path  /  Bushwhack:  7.0 miles (3,000 feet elevation gained) very rough estimate

Trip Report:
- Saturday night while pounding back a bunch of Pumpkin Beers at CBS Sports Scene in Foxboro, with Greg and Gina I received a message on the Facebook from Bob & Geri asking is I wanted to join in on a hike Sunday morning.  They were hiking up to West Scar and I had never been up there so I traded beer in for water, sobered up, got a few hours of sleep, and headed up to the White Mountains with a little bit of a hangover!
- This was a meet up hike created by Fred and Linda.  Bob and Geri were the only ones interested in going so they invited Steve and me to join in.  I'll be honest, I had no idea where we were going.  I had read a few reports years ago about the Scar Ridge and have always heard hikers saying how difficult it was and you're going to bleed, and yada yada yada!
- The hike up the ski slopes was the highlight for me, there were really great views over to the Franconia Ridge, Kinsman Ridge, and the Bonds. 
- At the top of North Loon peak we headed off on a well defined herd path for about twenty minutes until it took a sharp left turn.  Here, we headed right and into the woods.  The Bushwhack was not too bad, there were some nice herd paths along the way.  Somehow I was in charge of leading us up the mountain, hungover!  It was fine but I really wanted to turn my brain off and not think, luckily Fred had a map and compass and Bob had a GPS so they would steer me in the right direction. "You want to go right about twenty feet, keep going strait, left ten feet or so, etc."  I was very happy they were there.
- Bob and Fred were funny, Bob chooses the path of least resistance, while Fred stays on the track...into the thick stuff!
- The summit was in the middle of the woods but had a nice little canister and cool looking sign. 
- The descent was actually a little more thick than the ascent but it wasn't too bad and we hit the herd path back to North Loon within forty-five minutes.
- Once back on the ski slopes we ran a little.  Bob, Steve, and myself checked out the tower and caught some killer views while Fred, Linda, and Geri headed down to camp 3.  Steve ran a ridiculous ski slope race on Loon this past summer so he took us through so ski slopes and glades and we ran back to camp three to meet the others.
- We took a nice relaxing break on the deck of the closed waffle hut / cafeteria before heading back to the cars.
- It was a pretty gnarly hike and it was fun to meet new people on the trails!
 
 Parking lot at Loon Mountain Ski Resort
 Entering the WMNF along an access road
 Hiking along the access road
 Looking down the ski slope
 The gang, lead by Dusty making there way up the slopes
 Dusty leading the way!
 Looking up the ski slope
 Bonds
 Mount Liberty and Flume sticking up like cones
 Cannon Balls along the Kinsman Ridge
 Hellgate Ravine AKA the Gates of Hell
 Drawing a blank on what this is??
 Herd Path from North Loon
 Bob and Dusty in the Bushwhack
 On the whack (Bob & Geri's picture)
 Geri and Dusty on West Scar Peak
 West Scar
West Scar Peak (Bob & Geri's picture)
 Franconia Ridge
 Mount Liberty, Lincoln, and Lafayette
 Looking out towards the Bonds
Top of Loon Mountain
 Group pic!
 Running down the slopes
 Bob and Dusty running
 Mount Washington off in the distance 
 Goofing around
 nap time!
 Nice place to take a break!

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