galehead, owls head 9/17/11

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bryan

New member
Joined
Mar 2, 2004
Messages
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Location
southeastern, nh
date: 9/17/11

trails: gale river trail, garfield ridge trail, frost trail, twin brook trail, lincoln brook trail, bushwack, owls head path

conditions: gale river in good shape. the relocation is nice, but currently pretty squishy. once on the ridge the trails dried out a bit up to galehead. twin brook trail generally has a nice footbed and is in good shape. lincoln brook trail from 13 falls to the height of land a mix of good walking with rough and wet sections some of which have beaten bypasses. from the height of land i bushwacked up the north ridge of owls head to the summit. the woods started nice and open and then tightened up with some thick spots up to the main summit ridge. the last 1/4 mile or so north of the summit was quite thick with a fair amount of blowdown making for slow going. owls head path was decent with some blowdown above the slide. the slide was in good shape and didn't seem to have been effected by the storm. from the base of the oh path to the height of land lincoln brook trail is somewhat obscure in places and real wet just south of the height of land. the one spot that got me for a minute was at the first crossing north of the slide path and there is blowdown and snags at the far side of the brook obscuring the trail. the trail is also a little tricky around the height of land although interestingly there are some blazes in that area (with some sporadic blazing continuing towards 13 falls). all water crossings were just fine.

equipment: nothing in particular, but i did throw my cold weather emergency bivy and some more warm layers in my pack given the cool weather.

comments: nice, long day. cold start this morning, but the cool temps made for great hiking. this was my first time on the twin brook trail and i found it real pleasant. the bushwack up the north ridge of owls head was interesting especially down low where i crossed a number of old tote roads. my original plan was to bushwack back down to the north, but i lost a fair amount of time dealing with the thick stuff coming up and opted for the trails heading back. great day out.

bryan

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