alspal
New member
I met up with Albee at the Derry Park & Ride as he had plans to visit Warner hill after our morning run/hike. We lost a little time when Officer Curran decided that my speed slightly exceeded the posted limit. I can’t complain as I generally travel beyond the speed limit. I thought about telling him that the anticipation of the four-thousand footer coupled with the Rancid tunes on the stereo were mitigating factors, then thought the better of it. $150 later we were off.
We planned on traveling light and left the parking lot at Lincoln woods carrying little. Albee went with a 60 ounce camelback and a pop-tart. I went with a two holster fanny pack but only carried 16 ounces of water, choosing to holster my camera. I also crammed in four Hammer ™ Gels a compass, map, whistle, and bug net into the pouch. Our plan was to run the 8 miles to the slide trail, hike up/down, and then run back. Albee used his regular Nike running shoes and I went with a newer pair of Montrail running shoes with a great tread.
At 8:30 AM we took off down the rail trail at a reasonable clip and only encountered a couple of hikers and one fast moving runner. I mentioned that it would be a whole different world when we came back this way in the early afternoon. We reached the bridge at 3 miles in 25:29, there were a few people milling around the intersection deciding which way to go. We trotted on enjoying the much cooler weather and taking turns leading. We were both “in the zone” and it wasn’t until about 45 seconds past the junction with the Lincoln Brook trail that I realized we needed to turn. Albee has been out here much more than me in recent years, but he was engrossed in some story and didn’t see the turn. I was glad I said something as we might have kept going until we hit the Bondcliff trail
We encountered our first group of hikers at the big water crossing on the Lincoln brook. They had picked a nice spot in the sun amongst the boulders to take a break. We bounced from rock to rock and just gave a “good morning” as we quickly crossed. We arrived at the base of the slide in 1:29:45. I drank a bit and had my first gel as we took a five minute break. Albee used the time to pull out a tent that he had noticed off the trail. It (along with a sleeping mat) had been rotting in the woods for at least two years. We took it apart and rolled it up and placed it more conspicuously near the trail, we didn’t have big enough packs to bring anything out with us.
We made our way up the slide pretty quickly, only stopping briefly to check out one of the views of the Franconia ridge with the moon rising over it. We passed a solo hiker about ½ way up and she noted that there was another hiker ahead of her. We hit the old summit and met up with the “hiker”. It was Ranger Steve making a rare trip up Owl’s Head. He had knocked down the cairn at the base of the slide trail and when we met up with him he was about to remove the blue arrow with “OWLHEAD” printed on it that pointed to the herd path and the true summit. We exchange pleasantries and headed off down the path. I had a couple of chuckles about this being a “trail-less summit” as we had no trouble making our way over. There was only one narrow part and none of it could be called a bushwhack.
We hit the summit in 2:21:41 or 46:55 from the base of the slide. We met up with a lone hiker who was taking a break at the top. Biff (spelled differently) told us this was her 45th of the 48. We chatted until Ranger Steve showed up and knocked down the cairn. I got a couple of pictures of the summit sign before he tore them down. After 10 minutes on the top we headed back down with Biff joining us. She told us some cool stories about through hiking the AT and some other hikes she’d done. We bumped into the other lone lady hiker as she was heading down the herd path. As we headed down the top of the slide we encountered “Bondcliff” (dog) and his owners as they powered on to the summit. We got some neat pictures on the open part of the slide and spent about 5 minutes chatting with the big group (six) who we had seen back at the big LB crossing. They called us “ultra-light” and I liked the sound of that, although my almost empty 16 oz. bottle had me thinking 32 oz. would have been better.
We reached the base of the slide in 3:23:32 or 53:29 since the summit. I was happy with that as I’m a lousy descender and as I tried to explain to Biff “I’m not afraid of heights, I’m not even afraid of falling…it’s the landing that scares me”. We parted company at the bottom after another gel and the last of my water we were off on the run in.
The 59 minutes from the base to the Lincoln woods trail went by quickly. Again we each took turns leading and had no trouble hopping from rock to rock on the stream crossings. We reached the LW trail at 4:23:19 into the run/hike and picked up the tempo for the final three miles. It was like running down a parade route as hikers, families, and bikers were all making there way out to Franconia Falls. We didn’t set any land speed records, but the 21:58 felt quick after being out for over four hours. The final tally was 4:45:17 for my 18th 4K’ of the Whites. Another fine day in the woods with Albee!
Pictures - http://s153.photobucket.com/albums/s209/davedunham/OH Hike/
We planned on traveling light and left the parking lot at Lincoln woods carrying little. Albee went with a 60 ounce camelback and a pop-tart. I went with a two holster fanny pack but only carried 16 ounces of water, choosing to holster my camera. I also crammed in four Hammer ™ Gels a compass, map, whistle, and bug net into the pouch. Our plan was to run the 8 miles to the slide trail, hike up/down, and then run back. Albee used his regular Nike running shoes and I went with a newer pair of Montrail running shoes with a great tread.
At 8:30 AM we took off down the rail trail at a reasonable clip and only encountered a couple of hikers and one fast moving runner. I mentioned that it would be a whole different world when we came back this way in the early afternoon. We reached the bridge at 3 miles in 25:29, there were a few people milling around the intersection deciding which way to go. We trotted on enjoying the much cooler weather and taking turns leading. We were both “in the zone” and it wasn’t until about 45 seconds past the junction with the Lincoln Brook trail that I realized we needed to turn. Albee has been out here much more than me in recent years, but he was engrossed in some story and didn’t see the turn. I was glad I said something as we might have kept going until we hit the Bondcliff trail
We encountered our first group of hikers at the big water crossing on the Lincoln brook. They had picked a nice spot in the sun amongst the boulders to take a break. We bounced from rock to rock and just gave a “good morning” as we quickly crossed. We arrived at the base of the slide in 1:29:45. I drank a bit and had my first gel as we took a five minute break. Albee used the time to pull out a tent that he had noticed off the trail. It (along with a sleeping mat) had been rotting in the woods for at least two years. We took it apart and rolled it up and placed it more conspicuously near the trail, we didn’t have big enough packs to bring anything out with us.
We made our way up the slide pretty quickly, only stopping briefly to check out one of the views of the Franconia ridge with the moon rising over it. We passed a solo hiker about ½ way up and she noted that there was another hiker ahead of her. We hit the old summit and met up with the “hiker”. It was Ranger Steve making a rare trip up Owl’s Head. He had knocked down the cairn at the base of the slide trail and when we met up with him he was about to remove the blue arrow with “OWLHEAD” printed on it that pointed to the herd path and the true summit. We exchange pleasantries and headed off down the path. I had a couple of chuckles about this being a “trail-less summit” as we had no trouble making our way over. There was only one narrow part and none of it could be called a bushwhack.
We hit the summit in 2:21:41 or 46:55 from the base of the slide. We met up with a lone hiker who was taking a break at the top. Biff (spelled differently) told us this was her 45th of the 48. We chatted until Ranger Steve showed up and knocked down the cairn. I got a couple of pictures of the summit sign before he tore them down. After 10 minutes on the top we headed back down with Biff joining us. She told us some cool stories about through hiking the AT and some other hikes she’d done. We bumped into the other lone lady hiker as she was heading down the herd path. As we headed down the top of the slide we encountered “Bondcliff” (dog) and his owners as they powered on to the summit. We got some neat pictures on the open part of the slide and spent about 5 minutes chatting with the big group (six) who we had seen back at the big LB crossing. They called us “ultra-light” and I liked the sound of that, although my almost empty 16 oz. bottle had me thinking 32 oz. would have been better.
We reached the base of the slide in 3:23:32 or 53:29 since the summit. I was happy with that as I’m a lousy descender and as I tried to explain to Biff “I’m not afraid of heights, I’m not even afraid of falling…it’s the landing that scares me”. We parted company at the bottom after another gel and the last of my water we were off on the run in.
The 59 minutes from the base to the Lincoln woods trail went by quickly. Again we each took turns leading and had no trouble hopping from rock to rock on the stream crossings. We reached the LW trail at 4:23:19 into the run/hike and picked up the tempo for the final three miles. It was like running down a parade route as hikers, families, and bikers were all making there way out to Franconia Falls. We didn’t set any land speed records, but the 21:58 felt quick after being out for over four hours. The final tally was 4:45:17 for my 18th 4K’ of the Whites. Another fine day in the woods with Albee!
Pictures - http://s153.photobucket.com/albums/s209/davedunham/OH Hike/
I was huffy and puffing going up Flume Slide on Sunday; reading your times makes me feel like I must have been going backwards occasionally. 
