SherpaTom
Member
Date of Hike: November 9, 2013
Trail Conditions: Lots of leaves on the trail with light trace of snow or ice the entire route with ice-glazed rocks in places, especially on river crossings. Fairly wet and muddy, but what do you expect, its Fall and the trail to Owl's Head is usually nothing but. The walk on Lincoln Woods as always, fantastic to start & finish. We decided to bushwack so we could miss the two initial river crossings. Black Pond to the Pond was fine and then we took the advice of a compass point of 340 and hit the Franconia Brook Trail without any issues. The two smaller river crossings were easy enough but care with icy rocks. The crossings were all simple and doable and would have been very easy if the rocks weren't icy. No blowdowns to speak of. The hike up the slide was icy and although we did not use spikes on way up, we were thankful (at least the 5 old men) that we used them on the way down and actually kept them on to cross the two smaller rivers before taking them off. On way out, we decided to attempt the bushwack but we lost our bearings a bit and had to follow a river to at which point we met some campers (Oh what sight), who directed us back to Black Pond Trail. We hit some muddy areas in this bushwack, covered by leaves. One hiker was up to his kness at one point. It was funny afterwards.
Special Equipment Used: We carried poles and they were helpful for the crossings. The spike were good as noted above.
Comments: We celebrated Dan's 48th (after Bob found his shirt) and Dave's 43rd. We saluted Owl's Head as we always do. Also in attendance, SherpaTom, Kyle, Ed, Derek and Tucker.
ps: At the cairn below, there is a glove on top which points the way...lol
Trail Conditions: Lots of leaves on the trail with light trace of snow or ice the entire route with ice-glazed rocks in places, especially on river crossings. Fairly wet and muddy, but what do you expect, its Fall and the trail to Owl's Head is usually nothing but. The walk on Lincoln Woods as always, fantastic to start & finish. We decided to bushwack so we could miss the two initial river crossings. Black Pond to the Pond was fine and then we took the advice of a compass point of 340 and hit the Franconia Brook Trail without any issues. The two smaller river crossings were easy enough but care with icy rocks. The crossings were all simple and doable and would have been very easy if the rocks weren't icy. No blowdowns to speak of. The hike up the slide was icy and although we did not use spikes on way up, we were thankful (at least the 5 old men) that we used them on the way down and actually kept them on to cross the two smaller rivers before taking them off. On way out, we decided to attempt the bushwack but we lost our bearings a bit and had to follow a river to at which point we met some campers (Oh what sight), who directed us back to Black Pond Trail. We hit some muddy areas in this bushwack, covered by leaves. One hiker was up to his kness at one point. It was funny afterwards.
Special Equipment Used: We carried poles and they were helpful for the crossings. The spike were good as noted above.
Comments: We celebrated Dan's 48th (after Bob found his shirt) and Dave's 43rd. We saluted Owl's Head as we always do. Also in attendance, SherpaTom, Kyle, Ed, Derek and Tucker.
ps: At the cairn below, there is a glove on top which points the way...lol
