Lincoln Brook Trail from 13 Falls Info Needed

Planning a Pemi trip in 2 weeks. Wondering how evident the treadway is on the Lincold Brook Trail from 13 Falls to Owls Head. I've read/heard it can be a tuff one to follow and with things as wet as they have been i thought i'd see what the collective knowledge might be.

Thanks in advance.

KenC

Spring time 2 years ago... the trail was tuff to follow. Lost the trail for awhile in a wet area and had to back track to pick up the trail. It was doable, just had to pay more attention to the trail then you would on the begining part of Lincoln brook. Side note about that section.... I have never seen so much moose poop as I did there. No moose just lots of poop. Watch your step.

The trail is easier to follow heading the other way but when I made a circumnavigation of Owl's Head last spring after a series of heavy rains I did not have any problems following the trail going from 13 Falls to Owl's Head. I had to change out of my boots into sandals 9 times during the day so that gives you an idea how much water was in the streams. There are only a few spots along that section of the trail where it gets really wet so you should not have a problem. Just pay a bit more attention than you would on a normal trail.
Good luck.

JohnL

JohnL said:

I had to change out of my boots into sandals 9 times during the day so that gives you an idea how much water was in the streams. There are only a few spots along that section of the trail where it gets really wet so you should not have a problem. Good luck.

JohnL

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My son and I did his trail a few days ago and had no problems with the trail.
The water crossings, on the other hand, were numerous and some were rather exciting

Unless things have changed, that section of the Lincoln Brook Trail is remote and does not get much use. It also does not get much maintenance. So, I'd expect it to be wet underfoot, probably needs clipping and maintenance, and could very well be hard to follow in places.

Only went that way twice, once in the winter and once in the fall. Discount the winter trip since we were breaking trail on skis. The fall trip was overgrown, but we didn't have any problems following it. It was actually quite pleasant. There is a beautiful, huge birch grove as you swing around parallel to the Franconia Ridge.

Lincoln trail in winter

Dug,
Were the birches you refer to open enough to permit some glade skiing? Sorry for the tangential post.

yardsale said:

Dug,
Were the birches you refer to open enough to permit some glade skiing? Sorry for the tangential post.

Click to expand...

I have skiied almost to the height of land (we turned up onto the NNW ridge and skied to Owl's Head summit). I recall one fairly small glade where we turned for the ridge. (This was 25yrs ago, so I may have the size wrong, but I remember skiing in this glade. Conditions were 2-3in of soft snow over a crust... There might have been some growth since then, too.)

We probably lost the trail as we approached the height-of-land.

Doug, with a "u".

As of June 27

First time on the trail. It was hard to follow in some areas due to the shear amount of water from the rain the night before. Some areas it wasnt possible to get around and had to minimize water contact but in the end we were still soaked. Not sure if its always like this. When continuing down to owls head path / slide there were two small cairns about a foot tall and an arrow with surveryers tape pointing to the slide. Slide was interesting as it was my first time on it. Again with the water from the night before the slide was soaked and not the smartest hiking choice but still doable. In all it was a great hike. We day tripped via gale river head to lincoln brook. Lincoln brook has some yellow blazes here and there but mostly not marked.

Enjoy the hike!!!

yardsale said:

Dug,
Were the birches you refer to open enough to permit some glade skiing? Sorry for the tangential post.

Click to expand...

We didn't, but yes you could. Pretty flat, though.

I was there this past weekend. The path to Owls Head was very evident and easy to follow. Between 13 Falls and the path it was pretty wet and a little overgrown but not difficult to follow just difficult to stay dry.

Thanks all for your help. Sounds unanimous, wet and muddy, which i expected. The ranger at LW agrees! I'm glad to hear that with some attention it should be no problem.

Happy hiking to all..