bryan
New member
date: 1/18/13
trails: lincoln woods trail, black pond trail, bushwack, lincoln brook trail, bushwack, owls head path
conditions: lincoln woods is packed, but not hard. black pond trail now has our snowshoe tracks over the top of ski tracks to the pond. the previously used bushwack route from the pond was evident though pretty blown in. we followed it until it went unnecessarily up hill then struck out on our own on the nice firm snow pack eventually hitting the end of the fishermans route right before lincoln brook trail. on the return we took the old road out of the clearing following that until in petered out then continued along eventually joining our route from the morning. we made one more detour to explore a little bog then beelined back to black pond. lincoln brook trail was packed out nicely with numerous open seeps and streamlets. the start of the bw route up owls head was not clear due to blown snow so we just went up the way we usually do and hit the more used route on the road into the birch drainage. we were generally able to stay on the old track up to the owls head path though it was often far from obvious. on the descent instead of going back into the drainage we dropped straight down hill to another higher road that brought us back down to rejoin the track just above lincoln brook trail. owls head path had some fresh powder over a packed track to the ridge. the path wasn't always clear along the ridge with some drifting and wind scoured sections. cairn on "new" summit is visible above the snow. both liberty and lincoln brooks both had good snow bridges though the smaller tributary crossed lower down was open and required stepping onto slightly submerged stepping stones. some had previously used a log upstream which is another option.
equipment: we wore snowshoes the whole hike.
comments: a cold, but beautiful day in the woods. not too bad when the winds didn't make their way down into the valley though they were quite intimidating at times moving through the tree tops. we were dressed for wind up on the summit ridge. snow conditions were fantastic off trail and we could walk just about anywhere. thanks to cynthia for a great hike.
bryan
[email protected]
trails: lincoln woods trail, black pond trail, bushwack, lincoln brook trail, bushwack, owls head path
conditions: lincoln woods is packed, but not hard. black pond trail now has our snowshoe tracks over the top of ski tracks to the pond. the previously used bushwack route from the pond was evident though pretty blown in. we followed it until it went unnecessarily up hill then struck out on our own on the nice firm snow pack eventually hitting the end of the fishermans route right before lincoln brook trail. on the return we took the old road out of the clearing following that until in petered out then continued along eventually joining our route from the morning. we made one more detour to explore a little bog then beelined back to black pond. lincoln brook trail was packed out nicely with numerous open seeps and streamlets. the start of the bw route up owls head was not clear due to blown snow so we just went up the way we usually do and hit the more used route on the road into the birch drainage. we were generally able to stay on the old track up to the owls head path though it was often far from obvious. on the descent instead of going back into the drainage we dropped straight down hill to another higher road that brought us back down to rejoin the track just above lincoln brook trail. owls head path had some fresh powder over a packed track to the ridge. the path wasn't always clear along the ridge with some drifting and wind scoured sections. cairn on "new" summit is visible above the snow. both liberty and lincoln brooks both had good snow bridges though the smaller tributary crossed lower down was open and required stepping onto slightly submerged stepping stones. some had previously used a log upstream which is another option.
equipment: we wore snowshoes the whole hike.
comments: a cold, but beautiful day in the woods. not too bad when the winds didn't make their way down into the valley though they were quite intimidating at times moving through the tree tops. we were dressed for wind up on the summit ridge. snow conditions were fantastic off trail and we could walk just about anywhere. thanks to cynthia for a great hike.
bryan
[email protected]
