Tom Rankin
Well-known member
3/6/12 - What to hike? Washington, or Owl's Head? The day before, we debated going above tree line and finally passed on the Big Boy and decided to go with Owl's Head. We knew it was going to be cold and windy, so we chose to take the wind out of the equation.
We started a little after 7:00 at Lincoln Woods. There was no one else heading to OH today, but it looked like others had gone the last day or two. The first 2 miles went quickly, on the hard packed ski trail. We passed on the Black Pond bushwhack, because we didn't know if it was broken out, even though it looked like a good track started towards the pond. We kept going along the trail and eventually it split. We chose the left path. This turned out to be a walk thru a meadow/bog. When the trail split again, the left trail went over some broken ice, so we turned right. This brought us back to the normal trail. Oh well...
On we went to the Lincoln Brook trail. Surprisingly, the stronger trail kept going North! We were sort of breaking trail until we crossed over the Lincoln Brook. Then we could see the Black Pond BW come in from the left. This helped us determine how we would get back. Continuing on, we eventually re-crossed the Lincoln Brook and shortly thereafter, we saw the herd path for the start of the Brutus BW. It looked to be fairly well broken out, so off we went. It was steep, but manageable. We went slowly, but made good progress. After about an hour and a half, we were on the flat area. We passed the first false summit, and then passed the '1/4 mile' sign and continued on for another 1/4 mile. We gained about 20-30' more elevation and found the top! Finally! We turned around and found a sunny spot for lunch.
Dropping down, we were back at the normal trail in about 40 minutes! We took the Black Pond BW, and found a few things we didn't like. First we started gaining elevation!
This was not a good time to find out that we had to gain 100-150'. We were not happy campers. Then the trail came to a junction. The trail took a sharp right and continued UP HILL! We said NO! And continued straight. This turned out to be the correct choice, but I have no idea where the other trail went! At the pond, we rejoiced that we were now back on real trails! The walk out from here was without incident, and we were back at the car around 5:20.
Dinner and beers at the Woodstock Station were great!
We started a little after 7:00 at Lincoln Woods. There was no one else heading to OH today, but it looked like others had gone the last day or two. The first 2 miles went quickly, on the hard packed ski trail. We passed on the Black Pond bushwhack, because we didn't know if it was broken out, even though it looked like a good track started towards the pond. We kept going along the trail and eventually it split. We chose the left path. This turned out to be a walk thru a meadow/bog. When the trail split again, the left trail went over some broken ice, so we turned right. This brought us back to the normal trail. Oh well...
On we went to the Lincoln Brook trail. Surprisingly, the stronger trail kept going North! We were sort of breaking trail until we crossed over the Lincoln Brook. Then we could see the Black Pond BW come in from the left. This helped us determine how we would get back. Continuing on, we eventually re-crossed the Lincoln Brook and shortly thereafter, we saw the herd path for the start of the Brutus BW. It looked to be fairly well broken out, so off we went. It was steep, but manageable. We went slowly, but made good progress. After about an hour and a half, we were on the flat area. We passed the first false summit, and then passed the '1/4 mile' sign and continued on for another 1/4 mile. We gained about 20-30' more elevation and found the top! Finally! We turned around and found a sunny spot for lunch.
Dropping down, we were back at the normal trail in about 40 minutes! We took the Black Pond BW, and found a few things we didn't like. First we started gaining elevation!
This was not a good time to find out that we had to gain 100-150'. We were not happy campers. Then the trail came to a junction. The trail took a sharp right and continued UP HILL! We said NO! And continued straight. This turned out to be the correct choice, but I have no idea where the other trail went! At the pond, we rejoiced that we were now back on real trails! The walk out from here was without incident, and we were back at the car around 5:20. Dinner and beers at the Woodstock Station were great!
