MarkL
Active member
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2003
- Messages
- 257
- Reaction score
- 31
It was Stag Day at Owls Head. There were 5 separate parties consisting of one guy each.
Lincoln Woods Trail was in good shape. Well packed and quite skiable. Barebootable too. This was only my 3rd time on skis this winter, and despite it being an upgrade on the way in, and me carrying snowshoes and boots on my pack, I averaged just over 3mph to the Black Pond Jct. I kept the skis on beyond that, but only the first ~200-300 yards were worth skiing in either direction. Stashed skis & ski boots. --Lots of recent traffic on this trail and the b/w. I thought the b/w was going to be the shortest possible distance to the Lincoln Brook Tr that would avoid crossings but the one near the base of OH. It was longer than that.
Bushwhack was well packed and I barebooted w/o postholing. Barebooted some of LincBkTr., then put on snowshoes after a stop, knowing they'd be needed soon. I should have put them on sooner because of a water crossing before crossing LB proper. The ice on that crossing did support my boots, but maybe not by much. Snowshoes needed for OH. One of the 4 other guys may have done it all with microspikes, but he broke through a number of times. Crampons not needed at all.
Some minor water crossings on the BP b/w were quite easy. Crossing Lincoln Brook was much easier than what someone reported from the previous weekend. Ice bridges seem to have recovered well from the thaw and rains. One person who took the trail all the way around reported that he really had to concentrate on the crossing. I think he was referring to the first crossing beyond the Black Pond jct. This made me glad I did the short cut.
The way up OH was well defined, either by the 4 guys ahead of me, or by them and the previous day's hikers, if there were any.
After reading about the NEW summit, when I got to where all tracks stopped, I wondered if this was the old or new summit. It was about 11 minutes beyond a previous high bump on the ridge, so it could have been. I continued beyond where all tracks had stopped for about 7 minutes until a vantage point showed that it was all downhill to the north. Yup, that had been the new summit.
Lincoln Woods Trail was in good shape. Well packed and quite skiable. Barebootable too. This was only my 3rd time on skis this winter, and despite it being an upgrade on the way in, and me carrying snowshoes and boots on my pack, I averaged just over 3mph to the Black Pond Jct. I kept the skis on beyond that, but only the first ~200-300 yards were worth skiing in either direction. Stashed skis & ski boots. --Lots of recent traffic on this trail and the b/w. I thought the b/w was going to be the shortest possible distance to the Lincoln Brook Tr that would avoid crossings but the one near the base of OH. It was longer than that.
Bushwhack was well packed and I barebooted w/o postholing. Barebooted some of LincBkTr., then put on snowshoes after a stop, knowing they'd be needed soon. I should have put them on sooner because of a water crossing before crossing LB proper. The ice on that crossing did support my boots, but maybe not by much. Snowshoes needed for OH. One of the 4 other guys may have done it all with microspikes, but he broke through a number of times. Crampons not needed at all.
Some minor water crossings on the BP b/w were quite easy. Crossing Lincoln Brook was much easier than what someone reported from the previous weekend. Ice bridges seem to have recovered well from the thaw and rains. One person who took the trail all the way around reported that he really had to concentrate on the crossing. I think he was referring to the first crossing beyond the Black Pond jct. This made me glad I did the short cut.
The way up OH was well defined, either by the 4 guys ahead of me, or by them and the previous day's hikers, if there were any.
After reading about the NEW summit, when I got to where all tracks stopped, I wondered if this was the old or new summit. It was about 11 minutes beyond a previous high bump on the ridge, so it could have been. I continued beyond where all tracks had stopped for about 7 minutes until a vantage point showed that it was all downhill to the north. Yup, that had been the new summit.
