BIGEarl
Well-known member
February 19, 2011: Owl’s Head
Trails: Wilderness Trail, Black Pond Trail, Black Pond Bushwhack, Lincoln Brook Trail, Brutus Bushwhack, Owl’s Head Herd Path
Summits: Owl’s Head
Hikers: Bryan, Larry Donoghue, Karen, Dave, Jeb, Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
The forecast for the day included very strong wind from the west-northwest everywhere. The ideal peak to climb on a windy day is Owl’s Head. The mountain is protected by higher ridges to the west, north, and east. Franconia Ridge does a great job of blocking a WNW wind from Owl’s Head. We all gathered at Lincoln Woods for our day of hiking Owl’s Head and hiding from the wind.
We crossed the Lincoln Woods suspension footbridge and started into the first trail of the day. Usually, the pace at the start of the day is a little fast with everybody excited to dig into the hike but it settles down after a while. Right from the start we were hiking a terrific pace. I think we made the trip from Lincoln Woods to the Black Pond Trail junction non-stop. Everybody seemed to make the right choices with layering at the trailhead and few adjustments were made. We paused for a quick refreshment and to take care of a couple other important matters and were soon hiking the Black Pond Trail.
A couple hikers from Quebec (I think) set off a few minutes ahead of us and it looked like they were on the same plan for the day. We had a couple sets of tracks ahead of us on the trail. Still on a steady pace we made our way to Black Pond, again non-stop. We weren’t on a fast pace – just a comfortable pace that everybody seemed happy to stay with. It’s a short one mile trip from the Wilderness Trail to Black Pond. There, we made a brief stop at the pond to get a couple early pictures of Owl’s Head and Bondcliff over Black Pond. Soon, we were starting into the Black Pond Bushwhack.
In the past we have hiked a bushwhack route that was broken out low, staying closer to the north end of Black Pond and Franconia Brook. At the end of the Black Pond Trail the track splits and there seemed to be two bushwhack routes, a low route to the right and a high route to the left. After a brief moment of indecision we were hiking the high road to Lincoln Brook Trail.
This is a terrific bushwhack route. It starts off by climbing a little higher than we normally would go, and then makes a turn and heads for the ridge above Lincoln Brook Trail. From there it heads northwest off the ridge and drops down to the Lincoln Brook Trail quite a bit further along than I had done in the past. The route down to the trail from the ridge is generally open. I’ve been through this bushwhack quite a few times and this route is the best one yet.
Back on an actual trail we made the turn and headed for Owl’s Head; climb the slide or Brutus Bushwhack or some other choice hadn’t really been decided yet. As we hiked along the wind noise was quite loud at times but that was well overhead and we were enjoying a pleasant walk along Lincoln Brook. I don’t know if subconsciously everybody knew we were going to pay some dues when we finally made it to the climb of Owl’s Head but we generally hiked non-stop to the final crossing of Lincoln Brook and once there started working on our big decision for the day.
After crossing Lincoln Brook for the last time we soon came to a faint track headed east from the trail. This could be the remains of a previous bushwhacking route. Soon, we came to another faint track and this one was in the general area of past Brutus Bushwhack routes. The tracks we were following on the way in continued toward the Owl’s Head slide but we decided to bushwhack from this location.
Jeb took the lead and started into breaking out the Brutus Bushwhack – bottom up (this is doing it the hard way). Within fifty yards the track we were on was gone. We knew the general route and worked our way up. Eventually, Jeb had burned up a lot of energy and the lead point went to either Sue or Bryan – I’m not sure which but they traded places a couple times on the remainder of the bushwhack to the ridge. High on Owl’s Head we were working our way north toward the Owl’s Head Herd Path when we came to the route of the others that were ahead of us. Evidently, they continued closer to the Owl’s Head slide and bushwhacked up from there. We made the turn and followed their bushwhack route, which soon was on the Owl’s Head Herd Path. In a short distance the herd path was drifted in, lost, and the bushwhack route continued straight up to the ridge. This is a terrific route if you enjoy spruce traps. They were hiding everywhere but it seemed all were only knee-deep, maybe a little more. I think everybody took a turn in at least a couple.
Finally, we hit the ridge and managed to land on the herd path that first led to the traditional summit and then on to the “new” summit. The wind was still a non-issue – thank you Franconia Ridge (we could hear the wind but that was it). According to Karen’s thermometer, the temperature was ~5 degrees. At that temperature, standing around without adding layers is limited. After getting our summit pictures we were soon on our way back out the way we came in.
The reverse hike went well. Descending from the summit to Lincoln Brook Trail went fairly fast. It had to go fairly fast – it’s really steep! We hit the trail and wandered back to the final crossing of Lincoln Brook where we made a quick stop for refreshment and to prepare for the long walk out. It was mid-afternoon, we were done with Owl’s Head, and everybody seemed to be in great shape. Soon, our line of seven hikers was headed for the exit.
The hike back out went well but that’s exactly what we expected. Along the way we met a group hiking in to camp for the night. There were a couple guys in the group Sue and I had previously hiked with; OG Rob and Jerry Hegarty. We stopped for a brief visit but were soon on our way. I was pretty sure we would be turning on the headlights before traveling far on the Black Pond bushwhack. In fact, we reverse-hiked the bushwhack and Black Pond Trail without needing headlights and took off for Lincoln Woods on the Wilderness Trail. Within a mile of Lincoln Woods the headlights finally came on.
It seems we were running ahead of plan all day. Early in the hike, we were a solid half-hour ahead of plan when we reached the Black Pond Trail junction on Wilderness Trail. We managed to stay with that margin all day, even through the Brutus Bushwhack. We returned to Lincoln Woods at the end of our hike over an hour ahead of plan. The day went well.
Thanks to everybody for a terrific hike to Owl’s Head. I really enjoyed meeting and hiking with Karen and Dave and hope we get together again soon. It was good to see Bryan, Larry, and Jeb again. The last time we hiked with Jeb was on a windy winter day and we hiked Owl’s Head. The last time Bryan hiked Owl’s Head was with Sue and Me when we bushwhacked down from Franconia Ridge – another memorable Owl’s Head hike. It was a fun day with good memories.
Owl’s Head as a day-hike in winter sure is a full day.
Thanks Sue, we had another good day in the mountains.
I’ve posted some pictures from the day.
BIGEarl's Pictures
Straight to the slideshow
Trails: Wilderness Trail, Black Pond Trail, Black Pond Bushwhack, Lincoln Brook Trail, Brutus Bushwhack, Owl’s Head Herd Path
Summits: Owl’s Head
Hikers: Bryan, Larry Donoghue, Karen, Dave, Jeb, Trail Trotter (Sue) and me
The forecast for the day included very strong wind from the west-northwest everywhere. The ideal peak to climb on a windy day is Owl’s Head. The mountain is protected by higher ridges to the west, north, and east. Franconia Ridge does a great job of blocking a WNW wind from Owl’s Head. We all gathered at Lincoln Woods for our day of hiking Owl’s Head and hiding from the wind.
We crossed the Lincoln Woods suspension footbridge and started into the first trail of the day. Usually, the pace at the start of the day is a little fast with everybody excited to dig into the hike but it settles down after a while. Right from the start we were hiking a terrific pace. I think we made the trip from Lincoln Woods to the Black Pond Trail junction non-stop. Everybody seemed to make the right choices with layering at the trailhead and few adjustments were made. We paused for a quick refreshment and to take care of a couple other important matters and were soon hiking the Black Pond Trail.
A couple hikers from Quebec (I think) set off a few minutes ahead of us and it looked like they were on the same plan for the day. We had a couple sets of tracks ahead of us on the trail. Still on a steady pace we made our way to Black Pond, again non-stop. We weren’t on a fast pace – just a comfortable pace that everybody seemed happy to stay with. It’s a short one mile trip from the Wilderness Trail to Black Pond. There, we made a brief stop at the pond to get a couple early pictures of Owl’s Head and Bondcliff over Black Pond. Soon, we were starting into the Black Pond Bushwhack.
In the past we have hiked a bushwhack route that was broken out low, staying closer to the north end of Black Pond and Franconia Brook. At the end of the Black Pond Trail the track splits and there seemed to be two bushwhack routes, a low route to the right and a high route to the left. After a brief moment of indecision we were hiking the high road to Lincoln Brook Trail.
This is a terrific bushwhack route. It starts off by climbing a little higher than we normally would go, and then makes a turn and heads for the ridge above Lincoln Brook Trail. From there it heads northwest off the ridge and drops down to the Lincoln Brook Trail quite a bit further along than I had done in the past. The route down to the trail from the ridge is generally open. I’ve been through this bushwhack quite a few times and this route is the best one yet.
Back on an actual trail we made the turn and headed for Owl’s Head; climb the slide or Brutus Bushwhack or some other choice hadn’t really been decided yet. As we hiked along the wind noise was quite loud at times but that was well overhead and we were enjoying a pleasant walk along Lincoln Brook. I don’t know if subconsciously everybody knew we were going to pay some dues when we finally made it to the climb of Owl’s Head but we generally hiked non-stop to the final crossing of Lincoln Brook and once there started working on our big decision for the day.
After crossing Lincoln Brook for the last time we soon came to a faint track headed east from the trail. This could be the remains of a previous bushwhacking route. Soon, we came to another faint track and this one was in the general area of past Brutus Bushwhack routes. The tracks we were following on the way in continued toward the Owl’s Head slide but we decided to bushwhack from this location.
Jeb took the lead and started into breaking out the Brutus Bushwhack – bottom up (this is doing it the hard way). Within fifty yards the track we were on was gone. We knew the general route and worked our way up. Eventually, Jeb had burned up a lot of energy and the lead point went to either Sue or Bryan – I’m not sure which but they traded places a couple times on the remainder of the bushwhack to the ridge. High on Owl’s Head we were working our way north toward the Owl’s Head Herd Path when we came to the route of the others that were ahead of us. Evidently, they continued closer to the Owl’s Head slide and bushwhacked up from there. We made the turn and followed their bushwhack route, which soon was on the Owl’s Head Herd Path. In a short distance the herd path was drifted in, lost, and the bushwhack route continued straight up to the ridge. This is a terrific route if you enjoy spruce traps. They were hiding everywhere but it seemed all were only knee-deep, maybe a little more. I think everybody took a turn in at least a couple.
Finally, we hit the ridge and managed to land on the herd path that first led to the traditional summit and then on to the “new” summit. The wind was still a non-issue – thank you Franconia Ridge (we could hear the wind but that was it). According to Karen’s thermometer, the temperature was ~5 degrees. At that temperature, standing around without adding layers is limited. After getting our summit pictures we were soon on our way back out the way we came in.
The reverse hike went well. Descending from the summit to Lincoln Brook Trail went fairly fast. It had to go fairly fast – it’s really steep! We hit the trail and wandered back to the final crossing of Lincoln Brook where we made a quick stop for refreshment and to prepare for the long walk out. It was mid-afternoon, we were done with Owl’s Head, and everybody seemed to be in great shape. Soon, our line of seven hikers was headed for the exit.
The hike back out went well but that’s exactly what we expected. Along the way we met a group hiking in to camp for the night. There were a couple guys in the group Sue and I had previously hiked with; OG Rob and Jerry Hegarty. We stopped for a brief visit but were soon on our way. I was pretty sure we would be turning on the headlights before traveling far on the Black Pond bushwhack. In fact, we reverse-hiked the bushwhack and Black Pond Trail without needing headlights and took off for Lincoln Woods on the Wilderness Trail. Within a mile of Lincoln Woods the headlights finally came on.
It seems we were running ahead of plan all day. Early in the hike, we were a solid half-hour ahead of plan when we reached the Black Pond Trail junction on Wilderness Trail. We managed to stay with that margin all day, even through the Brutus Bushwhack. We returned to Lincoln Woods at the end of our hike over an hour ahead of plan. The day went well.
Thanks to everybody for a terrific hike to Owl’s Head. I really enjoyed meeting and hiking with Karen and Dave and hope we get together again soon. It was good to see Bryan, Larry, and Jeb again. The last time we hiked with Jeb was on a windy winter day and we hiked Owl’s Head. The last time Bryan hiked Owl’s Head was with Sue and Me when we bushwhacked down from Franconia Ridge – another memorable Owl’s Head hike. It was a fun day with good memories.
Owl’s Head as a day-hike in winter sure is a full day.
Thanks Sue, we had another good day in the mountains.
I’ve posted some pictures from the day.
BIGEarl's Pictures
Straight to the slideshow
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