Owl's Head cairns and signs removed

[albee]

I was out at Owl's Head with my friend Dave today and I wanted to report that we came upon a USFS ranger on the summit as he was taking down all cairns, signs, and markers from the area. I had noticed that someone had removed all the rocks and reduced the 2 cairns at the base of the slide to just small rock circles on the ground as I got there. When we got to the summit ridge we actually met him as he was taking out his leatherman to remove one of the blue "OWSHEAD" arrows that had recently been nailed up there. As we sat at the true summit, the ranger came along and dispersed the cairn on the true summit, took down another one of the blue markers, and was just about to take the wooden sign down from the tree as we were leaving.

I chatted with him as he went about doing this. He seemed like a nice enough guy. I noted his name (and Dave took pictures) but I'm not going to reveal it in these forums - and no, it wasn't "Dick". He mentioned that he hadn't been up to this summit in about 2 years and that he was "disappointed that he had to clean up after people". He confirmed that all of the cairns and (obviously) the signs did not belong in a Wilderness area. He said there were lots of other better things that he could be doing with his time, but his route for the day was the Lincoln Brook Trail, and he had heard enough "chatter" about what was up there on the summit, so he decided to make the side trip and clean the area up.

I didn't have a problem with the whole situation - like I said, he seemed like a nice guy and he was only doing his job. I managed to get the last good picture of the old sign just before he took it down. On the other hand, it will be a bit more difficult for new people to find the true summit since they won't know how far to follow the herd paths along the ridge. Perhaps there should be a cannister, but those aren't allowed in Wilderness areas, either. Is there any way a hiking group such as the FTFC could petition to allow a sign on the true summit of OH just for safety's sake? Oh, and I also didn't notice a single blaze on my entire trip.

So be warned - if you're heading up there, the summit is going to seem pretty inconspicuous and unceremonious. The best I can tell you is that the large rock from the base of the cairn on the true summit is still there, so if you get to a bump that seems to be the highest and see an 18" x 9" x 9" rock there, that's probably it.

 

[McRat]

While I disagree with elements of the Wilderness legislation; understand that I am grateful and respectful of the rangers... and I know that they are simply doing thier job... But still...

Nothing says "Wilderness Experience" quite like a uniformed representative of the law dismantling cairns, eh?

 

[Paradox]

Did you happen to get GPS coordinates for the Owl's Head Slide junction with the Lincoln Brook Trail or the summit?

 

[DougPaul]

Methinks more "weeds" will grow spontaneously. The "gardners" need only check the hiking websites to know when some weeding is required... and

Doug

 

[bigmoose]

Al -
You seem to encounter officialdom on unofficial paths with alarming regularity.
Are you as lucky on the roads, attracting Crown Vics with blue lights??!

 

[Frodo]

So summit signs and trail cairnes on OH are not allowed? What about all of the other trail signs in the Pemi? There are signs everywhere... (Bondcliff Trail, Lincoln Brook Trail, Wilderness Trail, Franconia Brook Trail, 13 Falls kiosk, Twin Brook, Franconia Falls, Black Pond, Shoal Pond, Thoreau Falls, Stillwater Junction, Cedar Brook, etc.) Are they picking OH or what?

What about that 20 foot long piece of rusted steel rail near the beginning of the Bondcliff Trail? Shouldn't they haul that out also? How about all those "no camping signs" that are all over the Pemi???? Or the orange flagging that the FS put up on the upper section of the Lincoln Brook trail? What about the monument on the old Thoreau Falls Trail dedicated to the two brave doctors who perished back in the late 1950's????

If they are truely trying to make the Pemi Wilderness a "wilderness", why are they just focused on OH????

 

[albee]

Well, Dave did attract the unwanted attention of a man with a pointy hat on our trip up there this morning. ($150 for going 78 in a 65???)

I need to stick to the bushwhacks, I think the rangers have me bugged.

Paradox - Sorry, I didn't get the GPS coordinates - I never bring one with me. Check out Bob and Geri's website for some good Topo images of the area:
http://www.rbhayes.net/latest/Owls-Head-02-11-06/index.htm

Maybe you could guesstimate from the elevation.

 

[albee]

So summit signs and trail cairnes on OH are not allowed? What about all of the other trail signs in the Pemi? There are signs everywhere... (Bondcliff Trail, Lincoln Brook Trail, Wilderness Trail, Franconia Brook Trail, 13 Falls kiosk, Twin Brook, Franconia Falls, Black Pond, Shoal Pond, Thoreau Falls, Stillwater Junction, Cedar Brook, etc.) Are they picking OH or what?

What about that 20 foot long piece of rusted steel rail near the beginning of the Bondcliff Trail? Shouldn't they haul that out also?

All I can say is, that's a WHOLE 'nother argument...

Signs are supposed to mark "official" trail junctions where someone would need some directional assistance. OH is an unofficial trail.

Lincoln Woods Trail, Franconia Falls, and Black Pond trail are not in the wilderness area AFAIK. The steel rails and old logging equipment you see there are actually protected and need to stay, as "historical artifacts". We found an interesting steel "log picker"-looking thing very close to the start of the Lincoln Brook trail. It would be very easy to whack your shin on it or trip over it and hurt yourself, it is so close to the trail. Finally, the ranger said he hadn't been up there in 2 years - it really didn't sound like they were repeatedly "singling out" OH, at least not lately.

 

[psmart]

Signs are supposed to mark "official" trail junctions where someone would need some directional assistance. OH is an unofficial trail. The ranger said he hadn't been up there in 2 years - it really didn't sound like they were repeatedly "singling out" OH, at least not lately.

There is an ongoing issue of "unauthorized" trails throughout the WMNF. Some, like Owl's Head, are well know, others are not. In any case, the signage, blazing, etc. tends to get removed on a rotating basis.

BTW, for anyone who would like to see the OH trail marked and signed there is a recognized solution: Ask the FS to make this an official trail. I'm not saying that would be quick, easy, or even assured of success, but it would be better to have a direct discusion of the issue rather than the current back-and-forth of unofficial marking and sign placement, followed by FS removal, etc, etc.

Just an idea.

 

[DougPaul]

Finally, the ranger said he hadn't been up there in 2 years - it really didn't sound like they were repeatedly "singling out" OH, at least not lately.

However, it appears that others have been up there in the recent past (eg last winter).

Doug

 

[dr_wu002]

Ask the FS to make this an official trail.

This has been discussed before and the consensus is that it probably won't happen. They're not going to christen a rough trail going up a fairly steep slide 'official' and they're not going to cut a new trail in a wilderness area without going through a lot of red tape first.

It seems like it's a game of cat and mouse -- who can put up the sign and who can take it down. I don't care for the signs being there but for every sign taken down 2 more will go up. FWIW, Some Jerk has told hikers that I know that he's been putting up the Owl's Head sign every time it's taken down and I'm sure he'll put another one up within a week or two.

It would be fun to put up a sign that says "Waumbek" instead of "Owl's Head" and then hide in the woods and film people as they nervously fumble for their maps to try and figure out where the hell they are!

-Dr. Wu

 

[dr_wu002]

So be warned - if you're heading up there, the summit is going to seem pretty inconspicuous and unceremonious. The best I can tell you is that the large rock from the base of the cairn on the true summit is still there, so if you get to a bump that seems to be the highest and see an 18" x 9" x 9" rock there, that's probably it.

The "summit" of Owl's Head is like the summit of Table or Plateau in the Catskills. It's just a big, never ending area where no point seems at all higher than the next. I say, if you're there you're there... go home and don't lose sleep over it. It's not like if you snap a picture of the area and show it to someone they're going to be like, "that's not the real summit!" because it's looks like just a random spot in the woods just like everything else on that ridge!

If the rangers really want to keep people from making signs and building cairns they should just tell the world that Owl's Head has been resurveyed and it's now only 3990'. That way it'll just return to being another uninteresting bump in the wilderness. Actually, the slide is cool and the area around Owl's Head is cool and the actual 'Owl's Head' is cool but the summit area is rather nondescript. If I hadn't actually gone to the summit already I'm not sure I'd go to begin with.

If they are truely trying to make the Pemi Wilderness a "wilderness", why are they just focused on OH????

It is kind of ironic that they have those signs warning against trail maintenance but they take the summit signs down. I think that if there was just one sign and they left it alone people wouldn't be going crazy and building all kinds of weird stuff up there. Pretty soon there's going to be a McDonald's up there an the rangers are going to have their work cut out for them removing that awful place. Or Giggy's going to bring his stove up there and start his own Bar and Grill

-Dr. Wu

 

[bobandgeri]

Did you happen to get GPS coordinates for the Owl's Head Slide junction with the Lincoln Brook Trail or the summit?

Paradox - just emailed it to you - from the hike that Albee posted the link to our webpage.

 

[forestgnome]

I hope everyone has enough respect to leave the area alone and refrain from marking the area with blazes and signs and cairns. What would our forest look like if anyone could mark their favorite spots with blazes and signs? Every single peak and ledge and pond has been visited in the past. Imagine if it was legal and common to just blaze away whenever someone wanted to mark a path to a spot in the forest.

I favor judicious blazing on official trails, even in Wilderness. We can discuss wether or not OH should be an official trail, but it is not at this time. We can't all have our way because we don't all want the same things. We make rules and live by them. Rule of law is the glue of civil society. Whatever benefit some see in marking up the area is not worth breaking the laws that protect the forest. There are plenty of rules with which I disagree, such as treating the trash from the logging era as historical artifacts and disallowing their removal. But if we all cherrypick which laws to respect, there would be no wilderness possible.

I've never been to the summit of OH, but I did hike to the top of the slide one time for lunch. Nice views to Franconia Ridge. Let's allow the mountain to be as natural as possible.

Happy Trails

 

[Dugan]

I hope everyone has enough respect to leave the area alone and refrain from marking the area with blazes and signs and cairns. What would our forest look like if anyone could mark their favorite spots with blazes and signs? Every single peak and ledge and pond has been visited in the past. Imagine if it was legal and common to just blaze away whenever someone wanted to mark a path to a spot in the forest.

I favor judicious blazing on official trails, even in Wilderness. We can discuss wether or not OH should be an official trail, but it is not at this time. We can't all have our way because we don't all want the same things. We make rules and live by them. Rule of law is the glue of civil society. Whatever benefit some see in marking up the area is not worth breaking the laws that protect the forest. There are plenty of rules with which I disagree, such as treating the trash from the logging era as historical artifacts and disallowing their removal. But if we all cherrypick which laws to respect, there would be no wilderness possible.

Agreed. I could not have said this half as well.

 

[NewHampshire]

Indeed this is a tough situation for all. I can see both sides of the issue: Hikers wishing to know for sure if they are on the summit, USFS rangers forced to follow the rules that their job entails them to enforce. I think back to something Roy Schweiker said in that it seems those in charge of that ranger district cycle in and out every few years and that the current people in charge are hardcore for enforcement, and that hopefully the new incomers will be much less so. For now I would hope that people would just refrain from rebuilding the cairns over and over, as well as putting sign after sign up, until things settle down out there. The things are going to come down eventuall no matter what.....the Rangers have no choice but to do it. If they are not forced to fullfill this obligation all the time, then they can hopefully move along to more important things (other than blaze removal ).

Brian

 

[David Metsky]

There was a case just last week of two idiots who cut a 60' wide, 3/4 mile long clear cut on Big Jay for skiing. It's visible from everywhere, will cause erosion, was cut in an avalanche zone, and destroyed the character of a wonderful skiing area. They have been charged and the potential penalties are pretty severe. Recovery is going to be long and difficult.

There was also the case of the Double Trouble Nubble (?) trail, that someone cut to the Peak above the Nubble which caused erosion and unsightly damage. Hopefully it has managed to grow back in somewhat over the past few years.

We all know of several "secretly" maintained trails and I wonder if this latest fiasco is going to lead to a period of increased policing. The rangers have a difficult balancing act between "good" illegal maintenance and "bad" illegal maintenance. For now, I think the peakbagging community would do a good thing if we stopped rebuilding cairns and placing signs on OH for a while and instead work with the powers that be on formulating a policy that keeps the majority of people happy. Antagonizing the rangers after this most recent incident in Vermont may have unintended consequences.

-dave-

 

[Kevin Rooney]

Here's a link to a story about the incident Dave mentions from the Barre Times Argus.

This is the second incident on Big Jay. Several years ago the ski area cut a swath between the two peaks in order to enhance backcountry skiing. The GMC let them off after they promised not to do it again. Looks like the GMC was instrumental in getting this latest incident investigated.

 

[Andrew]

Only hiked up Owl's Head once many years ago. Read the AMC Guide prior of course, and looked forward to the "lightly marked" quality as an added bonus and a unique experience afforded by the land management designation. Must have lucked out since it was a period when there was no signs and I only remember 2 or 3 cairns.

Maps and compass and was not really sure which was the true summit, we re-read the guide and kept at the map and decided to climb the multiple high points to be sure. Tried to reference back to land features to determine the summit- I liked this.

We were prepared for this, sought this, researched this prior. What's the rub?

 

[psmart]

This has been discussed before and the consensus is that it probably won't happen. They're not going to christen a rough trail going up a fairly steep slide 'official' and they're not going to cut a new trail in a wilderness area without going through a lot of red tape first.

I still think this would benefit from a broader dialog with the FS. Although the options may seem limited, a formal review (including an environmental analysis and public scoping) would still be useful. There's a new Forest Plan and new employees, so I wouldn't be put-off by past experiences.

Regardless of the outcome, it would give all sides a chance to be heard, and hopefuly some incentive to support the outcome. There may even be some type of compromise solution that everyone could live with. Anything would seem an improvement over the current tug-of-war.