Owl's Head 5/20

[Dan J]

We started at Lincoln Woods parking area and hiked Lincoln Woods Trail then up Black Pond Trail. Both Trails were flat and easy going. The Black Pond Bushwhack was fairly easy and we ended up exactly where Lincoln Brook Trail crosses Lincoln Brook. At times there was evidence of a herd path, but it was difficult to follow. We just used a compass and stayed going north. The Lincoln Brook Trail climbs slowly and is muddy in spot, but overall a nice trail. The 3 "minor" stream crossings were done quickly without a lot of thought (the gauge at Lincoln was around 700cfs). Just before the herd path up Owl's Head the trail was a bit difficult to follow, but we quickly found it again and soon found the two cairns marking the herd path up Owl's Head. The slide was very loose, but fun and offered great views on the way up. The trail continued steep above the slide to the summit ridge with a monorail in places, but could be straddled. We had traction, but did not use it. Once on the summit ridge we did not notice a sign at the old summit as seen in other pictures. The trail to the true summit was fairly easy to follow, but had several blow downs that needed to be bypassed. There was still snow in spots, but not much on the trail. We contemplated bushwhacking down Brutus, but ended up going back down the slide. Headed south on the Black Pond bushwhack we followed the herd path almost half of the way before losing it. Using a compass, we just missed Black Pond and ended up hitting Birch Island Brook at a beautiful waterfall. We walked down the brook a couple hundred yards, then saw the Black Pond Trail just above us, so hopped back on that and headed out. Round trip took just over 8 hours. It was a really nice and interesting hike to round out our 4000 footers.

Also, I'd like to mention we met some really nice people on this hike. It seemed like everyone wanted to take 10 minutes to chat. It was really nice to hear everyone story. Great Hike!