Great Pumpkin
Member
(Apologies to Emerson, Lake and Palmer). Anticipating that there would be a fair amount of trail to break by virtue of the recent snowfall, Creaky Knees had done his best to drum up some company for our 3-man assault on Owlshead by posting on Trips & Events, but there were no takers at 6:00 a.m. in the cold, dark Lincoln Woods parking lot. The Winter Tour of Redemption would have to proceed without any "roadies". The three of us (including Mad Dog Murray) crunched our way across the suspension bridge, and were pleased to find the Lincloln Woods trail nicely tracked out, mostly from the efforts of skinny-skiers, thank-you! Off we went, barebooting up the old logging rail grade, hitting the Osseo Trail intersection in just about half an hour, and arriving at the start of the Black Pond Trail another half hour or so after that.
There was evidence of a slight "trough" in the Black Pond trail, with a couple inches of untracked fresh snow on top, so it was time to go to the snowshoes. Sunrise had occurred, but there were still low-lying clouds obscuring any views of the Bonds as we trudged acroos Black Pond, and picking up the BP bushwhack just beyond the Pond. Creaky Knees (who had summited OH via the Brutus Bushwhack route last year) was doing yeoman's work in breaking the newly fallen snow on what continued to be a mostly well-defined and consolidated track, albeit one that definitely wandered around more to the east than the route we had followed last year. Interestingly enough, it still managed to emerge onto the Lincoln Brook trail at virtually the same spot we hit last year, right where the second crossing of Lincoln Brook is located. It was just before 8:30 a.m., and we thought we were making pretty good time, despite my first tumble of the day, a perfectly executed face plant, with a half twist, while descending a small PUD
Creaky Knees continued to lead the way at an excellent pace up the Lincoln Brook trail, with some early limited views of the Owlshead itself off to our right. The two upper stream crossings of the tributary and LB itself presented no problems; they must be at least 3' thick or more. There was no sign of any bushwhack route between the crossing of the LB and the base of the slide (marked by a nicely hacked arrow) which we reached at about 10:00a.m. Quick stop to snack and hydrate, with only a mile to go. Yeah, right!!
Once again it was Fredo in the lead, as we started up this less-defined "trough", eventually working our way more to the right, and climbing/bushwhacking along the northerly edge of the slide. This was extremely slow-going for me, as the snow was deeper and remained loose and unconsolidated despite CK's best efforts. About half-way up the slide segment, we switched from snowshoes to crampons, which seemed to help CK and Mad Dog more than it helped me; my forward progress was often followed by backsliding, and the thought occurred to me more than once that perhaps this was going to be another unsuccessful attempt on a summit that I had not visited since July 1997. Creaky Knees and Mad Dog exited the slide into the woods, and kindly waited as I huffed, puffed and dragged myself up to meet them.d The Winter Tour of Redemption would in fact continue.....
After we were in the woods, it still took awhile before the grade moderated somewhat, and we continued to trudge upwards, thinking that we were running out of real estate, and that the sky above us had to meet the ridgeline pretty soon. Once again , it was Fred doing virtually all of the hardest work breaking the trail, and occasionally losing it, but doing a fine job of following the blazes hacked intermittently in the trees. Mad Dog was also kind enough to wait, and was busy taking a lot of pictures, which he had plenty of time to do, given my glacial pace.
Finally, at about 1:00 p.m. (almost three hours after leaving LB trail), we were on the ridge, and at the "old" summit clearing. We turned left (North) and proceeded a few hundred yards until we found a spot with some sunshine, and ate some quick lunch. CK then swithced over to snowshoes, and continued along the ridge for perhaps .2 of a mile, locating the "new" OH summit, and reporting back the fruits of his reconnaissance. The three of us then went over to the new summit, taking some commemorative shots of this hard-earned moment, and all three of us convinced that it had to be more than a mile we had traveled to reach it. It was Winter No. 47/48 for me, another encore performance for CK, and Winter No. 10 for Mad Dog.
It was feeling much colder by now (almost 2:00 p.m.) and it was time to get out of Dodge. Packed up our stuff, kept the snowshoes on, and began the descent toward the area of the slide. We basically reprised our "up" route, and exercised caution at the uppermost reaches of the slide area, with some slides of our own, both voluntary and involuntary Met our first human of the day, "Spruce" from Rocks on Top, at about half way back down the slide, and a group of 6 to 8 just before reaching the base of the slide at a little before 3:00 p.m. They had set up a tidy little base camp, and were on their way up; hope they did a lot better time-wise than we did, because otherwise, they would've been picking their way down in almost full darkness.
After another snack/water break, we began "a long walk home", on what was now a beautifully consolidated snow-shoe track, ticking off the same waypoints we'd hit on the way up, and arriving back at the BP bushwhack route a little before 4:30 p.m. Encountered a trio there who had come all the way up the Lincoln Woods and Lincoln Brook trails, and who were going to camp a little further up, intending to get OH on Sunday. Wished them the best of luck, then continued to head for home via Black Pond, in what was now the gathering dusk. Stopped one last time for all necessary adjustments at the end of the Black Pond trail, spoke to a duo who had come from the Bonds, and then began verse #2 of the "trail that never ends", the 2.6 mile final hoof along Lincoln Woods.
We were overtaken by full dark, but didn't need to break out the headlamps, as we knew this superhighway was tracked out and flatter than Kansas. Nevertheless, this slog at the end of a long day seems to take 3 to 4times longer than it does going out in the morning; in reality, it was virtually the same time, but my mind kept telling me that it was longer. Finally, about 6:45 p.m., we hit the bridge, and were quickly across and back to the car, not quite 13 hours and 17 miles after we had started. What a day....
I am very grateful to Creaky Knees and Mad Dog for their company and efforts on this latest chapter of the Winter Tour of Redemption. Five (5) winter summits that have eluded me (Isolation, South Twin, Galehead, Washington, and Owlshead) are now "in the bank". Creaky Knees and I are hoping to finish our Winter 4Ks the weekend of March 7 on Bondcliff, accompanied by the unstoppable Spaderman, who will hopefully finish his all-season list. He busted trail to Passaconaway yesterday, making some new friends in the process. It's all downhill from here.....
There was evidence of a slight "trough" in the Black Pond trail, with a couple inches of untracked fresh snow on top, so it was time to go to the snowshoes. Sunrise had occurred, but there were still low-lying clouds obscuring any views of the Bonds as we trudged acroos Black Pond, and picking up the BP bushwhack just beyond the Pond. Creaky Knees (who had summited OH via the Brutus Bushwhack route last year) was doing yeoman's work in breaking the newly fallen snow on what continued to be a mostly well-defined and consolidated track, albeit one that definitely wandered around more to the east than the route we had followed last year. Interestingly enough, it still managed to emerge onto the Lincoln Brook trail at virtually the same spot we hit last year, right where the second crossing of Lincoln Brook is located. It was just before 8:30 a.m., and we thought we were making pretty good time, despite my first tumble of the day, a perfectly executed face plant, with a half twist, while descending a small PUD
Creaky Knees continued to lead the way at an excellent pace up the Lincoln Brook trail, with some early limited views of the Owlshead itself off to our right. The two upper stream crossings of the tributary and LB itself presented no problems; they must be at least 3' thick or more. There was no sign of any bushwhack route between the crossing of the LB and the base of the slide (marked by a nicely hacked arrow) which we reached at about 10:00a.m. Quick stop to snack and hydrate, with only a mile to go. Yeah, right!!
Once again it was Fredo in the lead, as we started up this less-defined "trough", eventually working our way more to the right, and climbing/bushwhacking along the northerly edge of the slide. This was extremely slow-going for me, as the snow was deeper and remained loose and unconsolidated despite CK's best efforts. About half-way up the slide segment, we switched from snowshoes to crampons, which seemed to help CK and Mad Dog more than it helped me; my forward progress was often followed by backsliding, and the thought occurred to me more than once that perhaps this was going to be another unsuccessful attempt on a summit that I had not visited since July 1997. Creaky Knees and Mad Dog exited the slide into the woods, and kindly waited as I huffed, puffed and dragged myself up to meet them.d The Winter Tour of Redemption would in fact continue.....
After we were in the woods, it still took awhile before the grade moderated somewhat, and we continued to trudge upwards, thinking that we were running out of real estate, and that the sky above us had to meet the ridgeline pretty soon. Once again , it was Fred doing virtually all of the hardest work breaking the trail, and occasionally losing it, but doing a fine job of following the blazes hacked intermittently in the trees. Mad Dog was also kind enough to wait, and was busy taking a lot of pictures, which he had plenty of time to do, given my glacial pace.
Finally, at about 1:00 p.m. (almost three hours after leaving LB trail), we were on the ridge, and at the "old" summit clearing. We turned left (North) and proceeded a few hundred yards until we found a spot with some sunshine, and ate some quick lunch. CK then swithced over to snowshoes, and continued along the ridge for perhaps .2 of a mile, locating the "new" OH summit, and reporting back the fruits of his reconnaissance. The three of us then went over to the new summit, taking some commemorative shots of this hard-earned moment, and all three of us convinced that it had to be more than a mile we had traveled to reach it. It was Winter No. 47/48 for me, another encore performance for CK, and Winter No. 10 for Mad Dog.
It was feeling much colder by now (almost 2:00 p.m.) and it was time to get out of Dodge. Packed up our stuff, kept the snowshoes on, and began the descent toward the area of the slide. We basically reprised our "up" route, and exercised caution at the uppermost reaches of the slide area, with some slides of our own, both voluntary and involuntary
Met our first human of the day, "Spruce" from Rocks on Top, at about half way back down the slide, and a group of 6 to 8 just before reaching the base of the slide at a little before 3:00 p.m. They had set up a tidy little base camp, and were on their way up; hope they did a lot better time-wise than we did, because otherwise, they would've been picking their way down in almost full darkness.After another snack/water break, we began "a long walk home", on what was now a beautifully consolidated snow-shoe track, ticking off the same waypoints we'd hit on the way up, and arriving back at the BP bushwhack route a little before 4:30 p.m. Encountered a trio there who had come all the way up the Lincoln Woods and Lincoln Brook trails, and who were going to camp a little further up, intending to get OH on Sunday. Wished them the best of luck, then continued to head for home via Black Pond, in what was now the gathering dusk. Stopped one last time for all necessary adjustments at the end of the Black Pond trail, spoke to a duo who had come from the Bonds, and then began verse #2 of the "trail that never ends", the 2.6 mile final hoof along Lincoln Woods.
We were overtaken by full dark, but didn't need to break out the headlamps, as we knew this superhighway was tracked out and flatter than Kansas. Nevertheless, this slog at the end of a long day seems to take 3 to 4times longer than it does going out in the morning; in reality, it was virtually the same time, but my mind kept telling me that it was longer. Finally, about 6:45 p.m., we hit the bridge, and were quickly across and back to the car, not quite 13 hours and 17 miles after we had started. What a day....
I am very grateful to Creaky Knees and Mad Dog for their company and efforts on this latest chapter of the Winter Tour of Redemption. Five (5) winter summits that have eluded me (Isolation, South Twin, Galehead, Washington, and Owlshead) are now "in the bank". Creaky Knees and I are hoping to finish our Winter 4Ks the weekend of March 7 on Bondcliff, accompanied by the unstoppable Spaderman, who will hopefully finish his all-season list. He busted trail to Passaconaway yesterday, making some new friends in the process. It's all downhill from here.....
