Wilderness Trail, Black Pond Trail, Black Pond Bushwhack, Lincoln
Brook Trail, up via "Brutus Bushwhack"/Winter Route,
retracing our steps, 16.4 miles, 3800', 9:45
09-Jan-2010
OldMan Ed and I met Jeremy at Lincoln Woods for 7AM, and were underway by 7:15. It was single-digit cold, and predicted to get colder and windier by the end of the day. I saw a high of about 8 degrees on the keychain thermometer which was relatively close to my body for the whole trip. The Wilderness Trail was flat, packed, and fast - 45 minutes to Black Pond. The usual assortment of bad jokes was augmented by an intense discussion of the Red Sox off-season personnel descisions. As Hiker Ed had a group ahead of us, Black Pond Trail and the Black Pond bushwhack were broken out. We traded places with another group of three, and passed a third group of four, before catching Hiker Ed's AMC trip, and taking the point until the final crossing (which was solidly bridged.)
Pre-hike tomfoolery, Hiker Ed testing the snowbridge while telling a story
At this point we headed straight up the hillside, pushing through some fairly thick spruce and deep snow. A little way up the hillside it opens up and we were able to make some switchbacks in order to ease the grade. A short while later, the old skidder road appeared and we followed the road, which follows a contour around to the right where it intersects a gully. The route then ascends parallel to the gully until a small birch "bowl" where it enters the spruce and ascends for a while before slabbing left (north) and coming out at the big rock just above the slide. The snow here was a good 2 feet with deeper drifts. Some places it was above the knee to mid thigh. On the right lines, the route is very open, with amazingly few snow dumps. On the ascent, we were a bit low, and hit a very steep / mini cliff section (on the return, we started higher and descended at an angle to pick up our old track. If you follow the snowshoe track, bear right on the way up.)
A glimpse towards Franconia Ridge, The Owl's Head itself
At the big rock, we were delighted to see that the herd path was broken out, probably by Jason, Ryan ) and Mats in preparation for their winter-48 record attempt beginning on MLK weekend. Despite a few blowdowns and some steeper going, it was pretty smooth sailing and easy to follow. The snowshoe track ended at the old summit, and without so much as a glance, Jeremy struck out for the new summit, finding some waist deep drifts and/or spruce traps in the process. There is a small cairn at the new summit. We made it in 6 hours. As there were other groups behind us, we turned around and went back as soon as they arrived, attempting to keep to the letter of the Wilderness Rules as best we could. A quick regroup at the birch bowl to make sure all hands were accounted for and comfortable and we split again into separate groups for the trip out. Jeremy, Ed, myself, and Trevor (who we inherited while divvying up the groups) made it back to Lincoln Woods in 3:45 and avoided the need to use our headlamps.
Bondcliff over Black Pond, Bondcliff zoomed
All Photos
Tim
Brook Trail, up via "Brutus Bushwhack"/Winter Route,
retracing our steps, 16.4 miles, 3800', 9:45
09-Jan-2010
OldMan Ed and I met Jeremy at Lincoln Woods for 7AM, and were underway by 7:15. It was single-digit cold, and predicted to get colder and windier by the end of the day. I saw a high of about 8 degrees on the keychain thermometer which was relatively close to my body for the whole trip. The Wilderness Trail was flat, packed, and fast - 45 minutes to Black Pond. The usual assortment of bad jokes was augmented by an intense discussion of the Red Sox off-season personnel descisions. As Hiker Ed had a group ahead of us, Black Pond Trail and the Black Pond bushwhack were broken out. We traded places with another group of three, and passed a third group of four, before catching Hiker Ed's AMC trip, and taking the point until the final crossing (which was solidly bridged.)
Pre-hike tomfoolery, Hiker Ed testing the snowbridge while telling a story
At this point we headed straight up the hillside, pushing through some fairly thick spruce and deep snow. A little way up the hillside it opens up and we were able to make some switchbacks in order to ease the grade. A short while later, the old skidder road appeared and we followed the road, which follows a contour around to the right where it intersects a gully. The route then ascends parallel to the gully until a small birch "bowl" where it enters the spruce and ascends for a while before slabbing left (north) and coming out at the big rock just above the slide. The snow here was a good 2 feet with deeper drifts. Some places it was above the knee to mid thigh. On the right lines, the route is very open, with amazingly few snow dumps. On the ascent, we were a bit low, and hit a very steep / mini cliff section (on the return, we started higher and descended at an angle to pick up our old track. If you follow the snowshoe track, bear right on the way up.)
A glimpse towards Franconia Ridge, The Owl's Head itself
At the big rock, we were delighted to see that the herd path was broken out, probably by Jason, Ryan ) and Mats in preparation for their winter-48 record attempt beginning on MLK weekend. Despite a few blowdowns and some steeper going, it was pretty smooth sailing and easy to follow. The snowshoe track ended at the old summit, and without so much as a glance, Jeremy struck out for the new summit, finding some waist deep drifts and/or spruce traps in the process. There is a small cairn at the new summit. We made it in 6 hours. As there were other groups behind us, we turned around and went back as soon as they arrived, attempting to keep to the letter of the Wilderness Rules as best we could. A quick regroup at the birch bowl to make sure all hands were accounted for and comfortable and we split again into separate groups for the trip out. Jeremy, Ed, myself, and Trevor (who we inherited while divvying up the groups) made it back to Lincoln Woods in 3:45 and avoided the need to use our headlamps.
Bondcliff over Black Pond, Bondcliff zoomed
All Photos
Tim
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