Jason Berard
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2006
- Messages
- 1,321
- Reaction score
- 213
This was originally going to be a two day hike with an overnight somewhere along the Lincoln Brook, but we opted to attempt it in one day instead. Greg and I met Damian In Lincoln for breakfast. we spotted a car at Lincoln Woods, and were at the Greenleaf trailhead at 8am, and on the trail at 8:20. It was cloudy, cool and windy in the notch. We'd see more of the same for the rest of the morning.
As we climbed Greenleaf Trail, we had some good views across the notch, and to the south. Soon we were at Eagle Pass which is a really cool place where the trail winds through a cleft in the side of the mountain.
We saw some bunchberry and tons of Mountain Avens. We passed several groups of people headed down who all said it was cold and windy at the hut.
We made it to the hut at 11:30 and had lunch and a cup of coffee, and hit the trail for the summit. Along the way we saw tons of Labrador Tea and Mountain Cranberry. That was about all we saw due to the poor visibility, except Greg, who had a hunter's orange vest on.
There was no way we could miss him! As we neared the summit the wind got stronger, and people coming off the summit were saying the winds were 70mph. I We reached the summit, and took shelter in the Profile House foundation for a minute before Heading over to North Lincoln to find the slide. The winds on the ridge were brisk, but at least while we were up there they were more like 35-40 sustained, with one gust that nearly knocked us all over. With the visibility so low, we couldn't scout out where to head into the krumholz, so we just had to dive in and hope we picked a good spot. After one false start, we went for it in the col between North Lincoln and Lincoln. The stuff was thick, but we were through it soon, and onto the slide. This is a very cool slide. Loose scree all the way down, and fun to descend. From here down the wind stopped, and we began to see breaks in the clouds. Owl's Head looked pretty far away from here.
We got to the bottom of the slide, where the brook emerges from the rocks, and had to decide where to leave it and head into the woods. We picked a spot where forward progress was hard on the brook and headed into the woods to the north of the brook. When we got through the thick stuff, we sat and ate lunch before heading east to Lincoln Brook. We never found a good route through the woods, and were slowed down by tons of blowdowns, and the swamp we hit near the bottom, It took us 3 1/2 hours to get to Lincoln Brook from the top of the slide. At the bottom, it took us a little bit to find the Lincoln Brook trail, as there was some question as to which side it should be on at this point. We had two different maps that showed the trail in slightly different spots, but we found it soon enough, and were headed to Owl's Head slide. This section of trail is definitely less well trodden than most trails, and was really soft underfoot as a result. We passed pink and white Lady Slippers every few feet all the way to the bottom of the slide, which couldn't be more clearly marked. At the bottom, there are two cairns, and a blowdown dotted with rocks, and a sleeping bag draped over the blowdown. I'm not sure how long all this will stay, but that's how it looks now.
As we headed up the slide, we got our first view of where we'd come from
and it looked pretty far away. The slide was really steep, climbing 2,000 feet in about 3/4 of a mile. We met a bunch of people headed down, and then three guys camped at the top. We hit the summit, and were on our way down, reaching the bottom at 8pm, and had 8 more miles to go, but at least they were flat!!
As the light was fading, we were serenaded with wood thrushes for nearly an hour. Their flute-like songs were great with the brook babbling as accompaniment. The brook crossings were tough with no light but our headlamps, but we got across them and continued on. At around 10pm, the coyotes started calling to each other from all sides of us, and as we reached the Lincoln Woods Trail, they were replaced with Barred Owls with their " who cooks for you" calls. We got to the Lincoln Woods parking lot at midnight after climbing 5,000 feet,and hiking 17 miles, so exhausted we couldn't even enjoy the post hike beer I had stashed in Damain's car, but we made it, and we were all pretty proud of that. It was a hard, long day in the woods, but it was a GREAT day, and one I won't ever forget.
There was a thread about defining wilderness a while back, and although we were on an old logging railroad grade for part of the day, and this was all logged off in the last 50-100 years, I'd say starting the day seeing a plant that only grows one other place in the whole world, then descending a rock slide, and ending the day being serenaded by wood thrushes, coyotes, and barred owls, it sure seemed like wilderness to me. Thanks to Greg and Damian for sharing it with me. To have such good friends to share it with made the day especially memorable.
slideshow here
As we climbed Greenleaf Trail, we had some good views across the notch, and to the south. Soon we were at Eagle Pass which is a really cool place where the trail winds through a cleft in the side of the mountain.
We saw some bunchberry and tons of Mountain Avens. We passed several groups of people headed down who all said it was cold and windy at the hut.
We made it to the hut at 11:30 and had lunch and a cup of coffee, and hit the trail for the summit. Along the way we saw tons of Labrador Tea and Mountain Cranberry. That was about all we saw due to the poor visibility, except Greg, who had a hunter's orange vest on.
There was no way we could miss him! As we neared the summit the wind got stronger, and people coming off the summit were saying the winds were 70mph. I We reached the summit, and took shelter in the Profile House foundation for a minute before Heading over to North Lincoln to find the slide. The winds on the ridge were brisk, but at least while we were up there they were more like 35-40 sustained, with one gust that nearly knocked us all over. With the visibility so low, we couldn't scout out where to head into the krumholz, so we just had to dive in and hope we picked a good spot. After one false start, we went for it in the col between North Lincoln and Lincoln. The stuff was thick, but we were through it soon, and onto the slide. This is a very cool slide. Loose scree all the way down, and fun to descend. From here down the wind stopped, and we began to see breaks in the clouds. Owl's Head looked pretty far away from here. We got to the bottom of the slide, where the brook emerges from the rocks, and had to decide where to leave it and head into the woods. We picked a spot where forward progress was hard on the brook and headed into the woods to the north of the brook. When we got through the thick stuff, we sat and ate lunch before heading east to Lincoln Brook. We never found a good route through the woods, and were slowed down by tons of blowdowns, and the swamp we hit near the bottom, It took us 3 1/2 hours to get to Lincoln Brook from the top of the slide. At the bottom, it took us a little bit to find the Lincoln Brook trail, as there was some question as to which side it should be on at this point. We had two different maps that showed the trail in slightly different spots, but we found it soon enough, and were headed to Owl's Head slide. This section of trail is definitely less well trodden than most trails, and was really soft underfoot as a result. We passed pink and white Lady Slippers every few feet all the way to the bottom of the slide, which couldn't be more clearly marked. At the bottom, there are two cairns, and a blowdown dotted with rocks, and a sleeping bag draped over the blowdown. I'm not sure how long all this will stay, but that's how it looks now.
As we headed up the slide, we got our first view of where we'd come from
and it looked pretty far away. The slide was really steep, climbing 2,000 feet in about 3/4 of a mile. We met a bunch of people headed down, and then three guys camped at the top. We hit the summit, and were on our way down, reaching the bottom at 8pm, and had 8 more miles to go, but at least they were flat!!
As the light was fading, we were serenaded with wood thrushes for nearly an hour. Their flute-like songs were great with the brook babbling as accompaniment. The brook crossings were tough with no light but our headlamps, but we got across them and continued on. At around 10pm, the coyotes started calling to each other from all sides of us, and as we reached the Lincoln Woods Trail, they were replaced with Barred Owls with their " who cooks for you" calls. We got to the Lincoln Woods parking lot at midnight after climbing 5,000 feet,and hiking 17 miles, so exhausted we couldn't even enjoy the post hike beer I had stashed in Damain's car, but we made it, and we were all pretty proud of that. It was a hard, long day in the woods, but it was a GREAT day, and one I won't ever forget.
There was a thread about defining wilderness a while back, and although we were on an old logging railroad grade for part of the day, and this was all logged off in the last 50-100 years, I'd say starting the day seeing a plant that only grows one other place in the whole world, then descending a rock slide, and ending the day being serenaded by wood thrushes, coyotes, and barred owls, it sure seemed like wilderness to me. Thanks to Greg and Damian for sharing it with me. To have such good friends to share it with made the day especially memorable.
slideshow here
