Owl's Head in One Day??

Wife and I are debating whether to try and do Owl's Head in one day. I know that it's been done by others but we are not the fastest hikers. I'm trying to evaluate how strenuous the hike actually is as opposed to just being long. I'm also concerned about trail markings ie, is everything marked so there is no confusion. I've read a few trip reports saying that they were wandering around trying to find the trail that they lost on different sections. Also how easy to find is the trail up to the summit and finding the summit. Since we are slower hikers I don't want to be wasting time looking around for trails ect and not make it out.
I also understand there is a bushwack that cuts out a few miles is it worth it and is it easy find.



Any thoughts, words of wisdom, and info would be much appreciated

The trails are totally flat until the owl's head slide. It's easy to keep up a fast pace, as long as you are prepared for a long hike. The only difficulty is the stream crossings, but in August that's not a problem unless there's been a big storm within the last couple of days.

In summer the bushwhack will usually not save any time.

The slide itself is rather steep and exposed, but not all that long.

All the trails are very easy to follow. The path to the slide is unofficial so there wont' be an official trail sign, but it's quite obvious. On the slide itself there aren't a lot of markings, but just keep going up and keep your eyes open for an exit to the left.

Not sure how the summit is marked these days, but the trail up to the summit should be quite obvious. If the trail peters out and if you find yourself going downhill, you've passed the summit.

You should always be equipped to spend the night, so even getting totally lost in the deepest part of the Pemi Wilderness shouldn't hold any terrors. You won't freeze, you won't run out of water, you won't starve. Can't imagine how you'd "not make it out" unless you ran into a rabid Yeti.

A bit more route detail here: http://www.summitpost.org/owl-s-head-path-west-slide/165816

The Black Pond bushwhack in the summer doesn't save that much time if any for a first timer. It does save stream crossings but unless there has been heavy rain within the last 24 hours they aren't an issue. Even with slow to moderate hikers its a 10 to 12 hour day as the majority of the hike is on old logging railroads.

Yes, what others wrote here. My Dad and I hiked it in summer when he was in his 70s and kept up a steady 3 MPH pace till the base of the slide, then did the same on the way back out. Allowed 12 hours, did it in 8. Only caveat as others state is if it's rained a lot the stream crossings can be tricky. Bushwhack in summer isn't worth it. I wore old running shoes and carried boots for the slide- in retrospect I didn't really even need the boots. Long, yes. Hard, no.

nartreb said:

The trails are totally flat until the owl's head slide.

Click to expand...

The section after the river crossings on Lincoln Brook Trail has some grade and footing is not terrific in places. It is not hard but it isn't exactly flat either. Lincoln Woods Parking area is at 1160' and the Owl's Head Path junction is 2560'. You'll gain a lot of that from second water crossing to Owl's Head path junction, roughly 2.5 miles. I found this area to be the most attractive part of the walk so that helps pass the time.

Bring water shoes, flip flops or something similar for the two "problem" water crossings and they are a non-issue at this time of year. You can walk right through probably no more than knee deep in safe currents. The two problem crossings are only about 0.4 miles apart so just leave the water shoes on through second crossing and just switch back to regular shoes. You probably will be able to just hop the crossings at this time of year but having water shoes eliminates any "danger factor" of chancing a rock hop. I'm not the most agile rock hopper so I always carry water shoes just in case.

It is an 18 mile or so hike round trip so even on easy grades you have to ask yourself if that is a long distance for what you typically do. It is 8 miles to the spur trail, 1 mile up, 1 mile down and then the same 8 miles out. I am an average hiker (maybe even below average relative to the audience on this forum) and I was able to easily complete as a day hike following the standard route/trails. For me the worst part was the actual slide/ledges as you climb up to summit. It has a lot of loose rock and is very steep in many places. You can get on the edges and use the trees for hanging onto to lessen the danger factor, especially coming down. You don't want to rush in this area.

There are a lot of threads on VFTT for this hike with photos, etc. of the unofficial turn to the slide, etc. The only place I found the navigating to be slightly confusing was the last half mile or so before unofficial side trail. There were some wet spots as the trail crossed back and forth over small brooks where it was not obvious where the path was at first. With a little extra care in this area you will be fine.

I had some of the same concerns as you do. I hiked Owls Head last Sunday with a friend and we had no probs. following the trail. the streams were a little high, so I used water shoes on the two larger crossings. I kept them on until I crossed both as suggested to me by someone else on this site. It was good advice.

If you know how you compare to 'book time' (2mph, and add .5 hours per 1,000' of elevation gain), then you should be able to compute how long this hike will take you.

Standard book time would be about 10-11 hours, 12 with breaks.

Then again, given the straightforward nature of much of the hike, that might be the high side of the estimate.

Thanks all I feel better about attempting this hike with the wife. Not that anybody cares about Owl's Head but if I have time I do a trip report.

And for the techno geeky side of things anybody have a GPS location for the "real" summit?

Getting up early is always a plus, doing the first three miles with a headlamp is pretty easy. Rock hopping across the river is probably best done with some sunlight unless you and your wife are experienced river crossers in the dark.

Well we did this last week and I have to say it's a beautiful walk in the woods for the most part. Some muddy areas but other than that very enjoyable hike. The slide was a lot easier than anticipated my wife was a bit nervous about it and she was quite comfortable. After coming off the slide we hung at the river at the bottom of the slide had lunch took a partial swim. Was a great way to get ready for the long truck back. Took us about 12 hrs including a long lunch and lots of stops to enjoy the beauty. Wife ended up with some nasty blisters, that was the only down side. Waded thru both of the larger river crossings, they were not flowing to strongly and if we wanted to spend some time probably could have found a rock hop across. Definitely a change of socks or 2 on hot days if your feet sweat a lot to avoid blistering.