Bombadil
Active member
11.29.14
This post might not be all that relevant given the recent warmup but on Saturday night I ventured up to finally tackle Owl's Head at night. Lincoln Woods was packed out pretty well. Black Pond had been traveled by a few hikers so it was packed a little but still rather loose powder. The bushwhack was a bit more tedious than at other times of the year given the powder on frozen soil/vegetation--it made for a lot of slipping and sliding even with microspikes. Once back on the trail it was smooth sailing to the slide. The crossings were fine but the last crossing did require care to not slip off the level ice ledges on a pair of rocks for a hop--nothing to worry about but also not a place you'd want to slip given the time of year. The shallow parts of the crossings with slow moving water were beginning to firm up and hold weight. The slide itself was far easier than I thought it would be given the time of the year--it's no cakewalk but there was far less ice and drifted snow than I expected. The only ice I hit was by the small stream above the slide once back in the woods and it was a non-issue.
I wore microspikes for the whole hike and beat them up a little but I think snowshoes would have been too clunky with all the rocks and roots still showing up here and there and barebooting would have involved lots of slipping in the powder snow I encountered. A couple of warm days could change things down low.
Pat
pcushing21 at yahoo dot com
This post might not be all that relevant given the recent warmup but on Saturday night I ventured up to finally tackle Owl's Head at night. Lincoln Woods was packed out pretty well. Black Pond had been traveled by a few hikers so it was packed a little but still rather loose powder. The bushwhack was a bit more tedious than at other times of the year given the powder on frozen soil/vegetation--it made for a lot of slipping and sliding even with microspikes. Once back on the trail it was smooth sailing to the slide. The crossings were fine but the last crossing did require care to not slip off the level ice ledges on a pair of rocks for a hop--nothing to worry about but also not a place you'd want to slip given the time of year. The shallow parts of the crossings with slow moving water were beginning to firm up and hold weight. The slide itself was far easier than I thought it would be given the time of the year--it's no cakewalk but there was far less ice and drifted snow than I expected. The only ice I hit was by the small stream above the slide once back in the woods and it was a non-issue.
I wore microspikes for the whole hike and beat them up a little but I think snowshoes would have been too clunky with all the rocks and roots still showing up here and there and barebooting would have involved lots of slipping in the powder snow I encountered. A couple of warm days could change things down low.
Pat
pcushing21 at yahoo dot com
