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

I ran into Gene Daniell in the grocery store yesterday and he wanted to talk about Owls Head. He believes that the sign/cairn used to be on the true summit but somehow somebody put new ones up in the wrong place (perhaps from blowdown blocking the path beyond). He has climbed this peak 20 times and believes he would recognize the former summit, unfortunately he hasn't been there in a number of years and can't go back now to check it out. (He has foot ulcers to the extent that part of his foot was removed, and is presently walking with a cast.)

Anyway it occurs to me that collectively we have a lot of photos of the Owls Head summit, both the sign and the general area, and if someone assembled them chronologically it might be possible to determine when this move might have taken place. Probably 5 to 15 years old is the right time frame although I wouldn't discourage anything.

I'm sure Darren doesn't want a slew of photos posted here so please just post links and be sure to list an approximate date. If you have a digital photo but nowhere to post it, send it to me (royswkr AT hotmail.com) and I'll find it a home. If you only have "real" photos but they seem to fit the puzzle, there's probably somebody here with a scanner who lives near you.

Here's a photo of the Owl's Head summit sign I took in July 2002.

I hope Mr. Daniell's foot heals as well as can be.

Best I can do is July, 2004. Unfortunately, I have nothing older.

Best I would have was July 1997 & that would be a regular photo but I could mail it.

I pulled out my box of photos; may have something from 1993. But I discovered I have LOTS of paper prints and it may take awhile.

About 10 years ago we did a traverse of most of the Owls head ridge. At a distinct high spot there was a fairly open area of mostly birch with an older birch tree near the high spot. There was obvious makrs as though there had been a sign on the tree for a long time. There was actually some good views right from this point. I believe that this location was south of the current summit.

I have one from 1998, I think. I'll scan it and e-mail it to you when I get home tonight.

2002 is the best I can do.

peakbagger said:

About 10 years ago we did a traverse of most of the Owls head ridge. At a distinct high spot there was a fairly open area of mostly birch with an older birch tree near the high spot. There was obvious makrs as though there had been a sign on the tree for a long time. There was actually some good views right from this point. I believe that this location was south of the current summit.

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Sounds like the Owl's Head itself, eh?

It wasnt Owls head, we did the approach up the valley opposite hellgate brook and slabbed a couple of bumps north of the actual Owls Head. This location may have been the old summit that was recognizes prior to the Underhills traverse that established the "real" summit.

peakbagger said:

It wasnt Owls head, we did the approach up the valley opposite hellgate brook and slabbed a couple of bumps north of the actual Owls Head. This location may have been the old summit that was recognizes prior to the Underhills traverse that established the "real" summit.

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Now I'm confused too. In your previous message you said the birch tree was S of the marked summit, now you say it's N. The "new" summit found by the Underhills was presumably N of the marked summit.

If you could find the date of your trip, that would help establish when the sign might have moved even if you & your buddies didn't take pictures.

Too bad Miriam can't hike up and see if history has repeated itself

Roy, I first did Owl's Head with Gene, in May, 1984, I don't have any photos of the summit, but I do know we went to the location that until this summer was thought of as the summit. In August of this year, I went north along the ridge to the higher bump, and I know that was the first time I had ever been there.

Sorry for the confusion. The "owls head" is a distinct feature on the south end of the mountain (it is in no way the high point of the mountain). The currently recognized "summit" accessed by the slide path is located well north of the "owls head" feature. The old birch with the limited views I refered to is located between the "owls head" and the current summit, therefore it is north of the "owls head" and south of the summit. This lines up with the history that prior to Miriam Underhill locating a higher point on the ridge that the recognized summit was south or the current location.

I dont know when the Underhills were active (1960's ?) but I suspect that the currently recognized summit was moved long before we found the old birch in either 1994 or 1995. This would probably even predate Genes career.

BTW we did the hike in late winter, so the the nice open area with partial views may have been a blow down patch covered with snow!

Sound like the VFTT group needs to lug a high spec GPS unit up the mountain and restablish what is the true summit. Would have been a lot easier after the Owls head fire

I am a little confused here....Is the summit that currently has the sign (where all these pictures were taken) not the true summit? Did the Underhills establish this as the summit, incorrectly? Or did the Underhills find another place that is the true summit, but which is not the place with the sign?

Maybe someone could direct me to a previous thread.

It's pretty well settled that the true summit is to the north of where the sign and cairn are (or were this summer - apparently much of the trail was intentionally obscured around the end of August, and I don't know for sure that the cairn and sign are still there).
example measurement

I don't know whether the summit marked on maps is the same as the false summit with the sign. It's entirely possible that earlier expeditions found the true summit but the sign was put in the wrong spot relatively recently. (Search in old threads and you can find photos proving that the summit once had a good view, so it should have been easier then to find the right spot.)

The true summit is north of the sign; the sign is well north of the "owl's head" feature on the south end of the mountain, and if I read the earlier posts in this thread correctly, the sign is also north of the big birch which is north of the OH feature (there's no big birch at the sign).

Edit: here's a photo showing the OH feature and the clearly-higher long, nearly-horizontal ridge heading northward. The sign is on that ridge, but not at the right spot.

As nartreb said, the place with the thin, vertical sign (which was removed earlier this summer) was clearly not the highest point on the ridge. There is at least one spot to the north that is higher.

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. As soon as the sign went up, nearly all traffic stopped there and the continuation of the herd path to the true summit shut down due to disuse.

As a result, since sometime in the late 1990's people have been stopping short of the true summit, but not by a whole lot. The difference in elevations is only 20-30 feet IIRC. Should you turn in your 4000'er patch? Go back to bag the "real" summit? That's up to you. Based on the dates I climbed it I bet I did one trip to each spot, and I didn't notice the difference.

For people climbing now, I think it makes sense to push on to the "true" summit.

-dave-

I was on an AMC trip led by Gene Daniell in May, 1984, and we did not go to the higher northern bump, we went to the place where the sign was located until this summer. There was no herd path beyond that point. Without doubt some hikers who traversed the entire ridge went over the true high point in their travels, but as far back as 1984, AMC trips went to the spot where the sign was placed.

dms said:

I was on an AMC trip led by Gene Daniell in May, 1984, and we did not go to the higher northern bump, we went to the place where the sign was located until this summer. There was no herd path beyond that point. Without doubt some hikers who traversed the entire ridge went over the true high point in their travels, but as far back as 1984, AMC trips went to the spot where the sign was placed.

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at least someone knows what they're talkin' about. how refreshin' not to get a generic(mcdonalds type) answer
p.s. i've been to both summits!

Here is a pic of the sign and area in Aug of 04

Owlshead False Summit Sign