NorthShore
Member
Six of us “mountain sisters and brothers” hiked Owl’s Head from Lincoln Woods last Sunday.
We used some semblance of the Black Pond bushwhack route that I have read so much about. We took only about an hour to get to Black Pond from Lincoln Woods, and hardly noticed the time pass as we chatted along the trail. It seemed to have sprinkled or rained lightly during that first part of the hike, but not enough for any rain to make it through the canopy. It soon became a very nice day.
We decided to set a general compass direction of about 334 (10 degrees left of true north) to hit the Lincoln Brook trail a little west of the crossing. We thought we saw a faint herdpath at times, but there wasn’t much of anything to follow so we relied on the compass to keep us on track. Rather than “open woods”, we encountered a fair amount of undergrowth but also had a chance to rest up at a smurf townhouse.
We emerged down a steep slope onto the trail about a half mile west of the crossing. From there it was a straight forward hike to the base of the slide. The herdpath to the slide was easy to find as the trail was blocked at that point by a fallen birch and a decent sized cairn marked the start of the herdpath.
The slide is reached very close to the trail and quickly begins a steep ascent. What great fun! On this day at least it was like a giant playground. We experimented with different routes; some went left, some went right, at times we were able to go up the middle. It was a nearly continuous scramble and much of the footing is a bit crumbly, but there were almost always good solid handholds on rocks, trees or roots when needed and the views back to the Franconia range are outstanding.
The slide part of the climb seemed to fly by, but it only accounts for roughly half of the ascent of Owl’s Head from the trail. There is quite a bit of climbing left to go at that point. Still it didn’t seem like too long before we emerged into the “old” summit clearing where we took a lunch break.
After lunch we followed an obvious herdpath that snaked north for about a quarter of a mile toward the new summit. Shortly before finding the new summit which is currently marked by a rock cairn, we saw a sock that someone had left in a tree near a bend in the herdpath.
At the summit someone had unfortunately carved “OH TOP” into a tree. Nearby there are glimpses though the woods of the views that would be to the west and to the east. We wondered if there might not be some decent views from the summit in winter with deep enough snow cover.
On the way back we passed other hikers looking around for the new summit and had fun advising them to keep going and “make a right at the sock”.
The hike down went faster than we expected given the steepness and we rested for a few moments upon reaching the trail. One of our slower hikers generally holds a nice steady pace and he took the lead for most of the long hike out. We found the spot where we had ended the morning bushwhack and considered possibly returning via the trail, but MtnSister3 wisely pointed almost all of the people we had spoken with had gotten wet at the crossings. Still we agreed to hike to the Lincoln Brook crossing and check it out.
At the crossing there was a clear herdpath heading almost due south and we all agreed to whack back to Black Pond rather than make the crossings. We picked up and lost the herdpath frequently through boggy areas, but following the compass did lead us back to a herdpath a few times.
Back at Black Pond we paused to enjoy the views towards the Bonds then enjoyed a nice brisk walk back to Lincoln Woods. We took a little under 11 hours from start to finish.
I’ve read some disparaging comments about Owl’s Head but I don’t agree with them. I found it to be a great hike with a little of everything…fast and flat, map and compass whack, beautiful brook side trail, awesome slide climbing, great views and a lovely treed summit. No one segment of the hike seemed too long or to drag. Top that off with dinner and a pint of Old Man Oatmeal Stout at Woodstock Inn and it was a great day with great friends.
Longer version of the trip report and more photos here:
http://www.herdpath.com/TripReports/20140720OwlsHead.html
Some video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JA90kboMeM
We used some semblance of the Black Pond bushwhack route that I have read so much about. We took only about an hour to get to Black Pond from Lincoln Woods, and hardly noticed the time pass as we chatted along the trail. It seemed to have sprinkled or rained lightly during that first part of the hike, but not enough for any rain to make it through the canopy. It soon became a very nice day.
We decided to set a general compass direction of about 334 (10 degrees left of true north) to hit the Lincoln Brook trail a little west of the crossing. We thought we saw a faint herdpath at times, but there wasn’t much of anything to follow so we relied on the compass to keep us on track. Rather than “open woods”, we encountered a fair amount of undergrowth but also had a chance to rest up at a smurf townhouse.
We emerged down a steep slope onto the trail about a half mile west of the crossing. From there it was a straight forward hike to the base of the slide. The herdpath to the slide was easy to find as the trail was blocked at that point by a fallen birch and a decent sized cairn marked the start of the herdpath.
The slide is reached very close to the trail and quickly begins a steep ascent. What great fun! On this day at least it was like a giant playground. We experimented with different routes; some went left, some went right, at times we were able to go up the middle. It was a nearly continuous scramble and much of the footing is a bit crumbly, but there were almost always good solid handholds on rocks, trees or roots when needed and the views back to the Franconia range are outstanding.
The slide part of the climb seemed to fly by, but it only accounts for roughly half of the ascent of Owl’s Head from the trail. There is quite a bit of climbing left to go at that point. Still it didn’t seem like too long before we emerged into the “old” summit clearing where we took a lunch break.
After lunch we followed an obvious herdpath that snaked north for about a quarter of a mile toward the new summit. Shortly before finding the new summit which is currently marked by a rock cairn, we saw a sock that someone had left in a tree near a bend in the herdpath.
At the summit someone had unfortunately carved “OH TOP” into a tree. Nearby there are glimpses though the woods of the views that would be to the west and to the east. We wondered if there might not be some decent views from the summit in winter with deep enough snow cover.
On the way back we passed other hikers looking around for the new summit and had fun advising them to keep going and “make a right at the sock”.
The hike down went faster than we expected given the steepness and we rested for a few moments upon reaching the trail. One of our slower hikers generally holds a nice steady pace and he took the lead for most of the long hike out. We found the spot where we had ended the morning bushwhack and considered possibly returning via the trail, but MtnSister3 wisely pointed almost all of the people we had spoken with had gotten wet at the crossings. Still we agreed to hike to the Lincoln Brook crossing and check it out.
At the crossing there was a clear herdpath heading almost due south and we all agreed to whack back to Black Pond rather than make the crossings. We picked up and lost the herdpath frequently through boggy areas, but following the compass did lead us back to a herdpath a few times.
Back at Black Pond we paused to enjoy the views towards the Bonds then enjoyed a nice brisk walk back to Lincoln Woods. We took a little under 11 hours from start to finish.
I’ve read some disparaging comments about Owl’s Head but I don’t agree with them. I found it to be a great hike with a little of everything…fast and flat, map and compass whack, beautiful brook side trail, awesome slide climbing, great views and a lovely treed summit. No one segment of the hike seemed too long or to drag. Top that off with dinner and a pint of Old Man Oatmeal Stout at Woodstock Inn and it was a great day with great friends.
Longer version of the trip report and more photos here:
http://www.herdpath.com/TripReports/20140720OwlsHead.html
Some video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JA90kboMeM
