Anybody have sort-of-old photos of Owls Head?

Here is Miriam Underhill's "view from the top" in the winter of 1970
http://s92966274.onlinehome.us/underhil/photo2.jpg

It obviously does not show a sign because according to her account the sign wasn't there yet
http://s92966274.onlinehome.us/underhil/underhil.htm

David Metsky said:

The likelyhood is that people used to go to the true summit. When the thin, vertical sign was put up (in the late 1990's) it was placed in the wrong spot, possiblly due to blowdowns obscuring the herd path continuing north.

Click to expand...

That agrees with Gene Daniell's speculation, and those of another 4K committee member who belongs to this group so I'll let him speak for himself.

That was also my hypothesis, because I have 3 times bushwhacked E off the summit and come down the ridge shown as Route C on this map.
http://hikenh.netfirms.com/XOwlsHTr.htm
Had I gone off the present summit I presumably would have wound up in the stream gully as happened to PB a couple summers ago.

I have also bushwhacked up Route C, but with a large group in winter and I was hanging out at the rear with this gorgeous blonde and did not do any routefinding at all. When we got to the ridge, we had to go L quite aways to get to the marked summit and it seemed at the time I was going down more than up over bumps. The most unique thing is that opposite where we hit the ridge was a gorgeous open viewpoint of the Franconia Range, so people hunting for the high bump might look for this as well.

However I have hiked with "dms" and tend to trust what he says, and he has been there since this controversy arose while I have not, which is why I am still collecting photos

David Metsky said:

Based on the dates I climbed it I bet I did one trip to each spot, and I didn't notice the difference.

Click to expand...

What, no photos Dave?

RoySwkr said:

What, no photos Dave?

Click to expand...

I have photos from the 2001 trip, but not from my 1990 trip (pre-White Mountain Server). My memories of a spot in the woods just aren't that good.

-dave-

The Old Herd Path

One thing I'm sure of is that the portion of the herd path just above the slide is in a very different place than it was in 1989. Back then, you turned left at the top of the slide and passed by a wonderful spring (which is still mentioned in the guidebook despite being invisible, at least to me, from the present route), and then slabbed up the ridge for a while. Whether the new route, which goes straight up a brook bed (not the most environmentally sensitive choice IMO), eventually finds the old route higher up I can't say but the final approach to the summit in 1989 was very different than in 2002/2005.
Is it possible that at certain times, when there was no marking at the 'false' summit that some of us kept going and found the 'new' summit but then the northward extension would fade when the sign was replaced? (In 1989, the only marking we found was a stars & stripes handkerchief with "Owl's Head written in permanent marker along the edge - anyone else remember that?)
Although I have been contradicted by one person whose judgement I respect, I still think that the description in the White Mountain Guide matches my 1989 ascent, not the more recent ones.

Here are the photos collected so far:

Underhill 1970 view E from summit
http://s92966274.onlinehome.us/underhil/photo2.jpg

RobertH
http://s92966274.onlinehome.us/underhil/owlshd98.jpg

ArmandT 5/2000 many signs
http://s92966274.onlinehome.us/underhil/owlshd00.jpg

Jim Lombard 2002
http://www.seekingthepeakforkenya.com/owlshead.jpg

TenPeaks sign 7/2002
http://www.wanderingfools.com/images/mountains/oh summit-sign.jpg

Kevin Rooney sign 1/7/04
http://community.webshots.com/photo/500570423/500584148wjWFHw#

Kevin Rooney area 1/7/04
http://community.webshots.com/photo/500570423/500594998OHQEtT#

Michael J 7/04
http://hiking.saletnik.org/gallery/owls-head-2004/img_2585

CaptCaper summit 8/04
http://community.webshots.com/photo/173400861/173404534BRXrHA

Ed M photos of what he considers the highest point
http://www.vftt.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=962
http://www.vftt.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=961

I notice that nearly 3 decades of trips are not represented, but I am one
of the guilty parties. When I went through my old photos, I had the slide
and 13 Falls from multiple trips but nothing from the summit - I guess I
didn't think it was photogenic.

Gene Daniell says the view in Miriam's photo was present in the early
'70s but had grown up by 1980, and he is now inclined to think the sign
was on Miriam's summit hence he didn't go to the true high point either.

One last avenue of investigation - the map in the AMC White Mountain
Guide shows the trail going all the way to 4025. Somebody who knows Larry
Garland could ask him if the track log actually goes there or if the line
was extended on the map.

In the early 80's, the herd path went uphill off the trail toward the slide.
There used to be a small, jewelled, owl with imitation ruby eyes, attached to a tree up above your head right at this junction.
Does anyone remember it, or have a photo of it?

John Lacroix has climbed Owls Head 3 times this year and says Miriams photo is from the false peak

Gene Daniell is getting better and off bagging county high points in Fla

Sign

I climbed Owl's Head in July, 2000. I descended the slide then took the Lincoln Brook trail to 13 Falls. On my way there, I passed two FS personnel who asked if I'd been up Owl's Head and if there was a summit sign there. I said there was, and they infomed me that it was an unauthorized and unofficial sign and they were going to take it down. According to them, they took signs down from up there pretty regularly (and hikers obviously kept putting them back up).

Looking at the pictures, I'm not sure if the sign in the 2002 photo is the same one I found or not. I remember it being in much worse shape. Point being, I wonder how many times that sign has been put up there, and if it's always been in the same place?

RoySwkr said:

Here are the photos collected so far:

Underhill 1970 view E from summit
http://s92966274.onlinehome.us/underhil/photo2.jpg

RobertH
http://s92966274.onlinehome.us/underhil/owlshd98.jpg

ArmandT 5/2000 many signs
http://s92966274.onlinehome.us/underhil/owlshd00.jpg

Jim Lombard 2002
http://www.seekingthepeakforkenya.com/owlshead.jpg

TenPeaks sign 7/2002
http://www.wanderingfools.com/images/mountains/oh summit-sign.jpg

Kevin Rooney sign 1/7/04
http://community.webshots.com/photo/500570423/500584148wjWFHw#

Kevin Rooney area 1/7/04
http://community.webshots.com/photo/500570423/500594998OHQEtT#

Michael J 7/04
http://hiking.saletnik.org/gallery/owls-head-2004/img_2585

CaptCaper summit 8/04
http://community.webshots.com/photo/173400861/173404534BRXrHA

Ed M photos of what he considers the highest point
http://www.vftt.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=962
http://www.vftt.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=961

I notice that nearly 3 decades of trips are not represented, but I am one
of the guilty parties. When I went through my old photos, I had the slide
and 13 Falls from multiple trips but nothing from the summit - I guess I
didn't think it was photogenic.

Gene Daniell says the view in Miriam's photo was present in the early
'70s but had grown up by 1980, and he is now inclined to think the sign
was on Miriam's summit hence he didn't go to the true high point either.

One last avenue of investigation - the map in the AMC White Mountain
Guide shows the trail going all the way to 4025. Somebody who knows Larry
Garland could ask him if the track log actually goes there or if the line
was extended on the map.

Click to expand...

Heres one more if it helps anybody.

Pic of Owlshead sign from 08 of 2004