Owl's Head cairns and signs removed

[walker]

Marking a Herd Path???

OK...A "herd path" is a path, very well warn path into the mountain side, making it very easy to follow.
Why would you need to blaze a herd path. A herd path is easy to follow.
Am I missing something.

I climbed Owls Head last month (a very nice hike by the way ) and had no problem following the trail up the slide. Heck, the slide is the trail.

HikeSafe...Walker

 

[RoySwkr]

Evidence to the contrary:

Is this supposed to be the original marked tree S of the former summit?

 

[mtnpa]

Is this supposed to be the original marked tree S of the former summit?

Seemed like the location. Not able to verify markings. I figured if I got far enough up the tree I would reach the elevation of the alleged new summit.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

Why would you need to blaze a herd path. A herd path is easy to follow. Am I missing something.

Blazing can be useful in winter -

 

[Mike P.]

Since no compass at work or home & it won't help me at the moment (since I'm at work) & to save myself 6 pages + of reading...

Fom the 2004 summit, generally what direction is the new summit located. I expect the herdpath from the old (old = 2004 not Underhill unless they are one & the same) is generally away from Franconia Ridge & maybe a bit north/ towards Garfield & Galehead - assuming you could see them up there.

 

[NH_Mtn_Hiker]

Since no compass at work or home & it won't help me at the moment (since I'm at work) & to save myself 6 pages + of reading...

Fom the 2004 summit, generally what direction is the new summit located. I expect the herdpath from the old (old = 2004 not Underhill unless they are one & the same) is generally away from Franconia Ridge & maybe a bit north/ towards Garfield & Galehead - assuming you could see them up there.

1000' (.2mi.) North

Just follow the ridge.

 

[Paradox]

OK...A "herd path" is a path, very well warn path into the mountain side, making it very easy to follow.
Why would you need to blaze a herd path. A herd path is easy to follow.
Am I missing something.

I climbed Owls Head last month (a very nice hike by the way ) and had no problem following the trail up the slide. Heck, the slide is the trail.

HikeSafe...Walker

IMHO the only real issue is the start of the herd path that leads from the Lincoln Brook Trail to the Owl's Head Slide. One cannot see the slide from the LBT and there is a brook crossing only a few hundred feet South of the herd path. Hence, there is a fairly widely trampled area that can obscure the LBT in the area and make the herd path difficult to find.

People will discuss the under hill and over dale summits, until it is settled by the USGS. I really do not think consumer model GPS units can measure the difference accurately. I won't change my mind this issue until DougPaul makes his announcement to the contrary .

 

[NH_Mtn_Hiker]

People will discuss the under hill and over dale summits, until it is settled by the USGS. I really do not think consumer model GPS units can measure the difference accurately. I won't change my mind this issue until DougPaul makes his announcement to the contrary .

It has been settled by the USGS. The 4025' mark on the USGS maps is the new summit.

FWIW:
If you walk 25 yds north of the old summit it's obvious the sign was in the wrong spot.

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

1000' (.2mi.) North

Just follow the ridge.

You are correct, sir!

 

[DougPaul]

I really do not think consumer model GPS units can measure the difference accurately. I won't change my mind this issue until DougPaul makes his announcement to the contrary .

Huh? What are you trying to drag me into?

The 1-sigma horizontal error of a consumer GPS is 10.2m and the 1-sigma vertical error of a consumer GPS is 12.8m (ref http://www.edu-observatory.org/gps/gps_accuracy.html Table 2). The corresponding errors for the difference of two measurements 14.4m and 18.1m. (You have to use the distribution of the difference when making a comparison.) The topo suggests the difference in altitude (N location 4025ft, contour close to S location 3960ft) of the proposed summit locations is <=65ft (19.8m) so if you actually measure a difference of 65ft, then the probability is ~84% that the proposed N summit location is actually higher than the propsed S summit location.

As I have previously suggested, a barometric altimeter (or water-filled hose) is a better tool for this measurement.


Besides, as far as I can tell, the USGS was never confused about the summit of Owls Head, only the peak baggers were confused...

Furthermore, I did it from the north and have never visited the S location.

Doug

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

As I have previously suggested, a barometric altimeter (or water-filled hose) is a better tool for this measurement.

Besides, as far as I can tell, the USGS was never confused about the summit of Owls Head, only the peak baggers were confused...
Doug

We used a very expensive Paulin surveying altimeter to measure a 10 to 15 ft higher elevation about 0.2 mi north of the old summit two summers ago, in very stable atmosphere conditions (please search for old thread). In fall 2006, I revisited with the same altimeter in less stable atmospheric conditions and measured a 5 to 10 ft higher elevation at the new site, which was marked with cairn and a new sign, now apparently removed. I also tried to use a hand level, but there was too much brush obstructing the route.

I seriously doubt that the 4025 ft elevation on the USGS topo map, wherever it is located relative to the "old" or "new" summit, has any validity whatsoever, as I am sure that the ridge has never been surveyed.

Dr. D.

 

[NH_Mtn_Hiker]

I seriously doubt that the 4025 ft elevation on the USGS topo map, wherever it is located relative to the "old" or "new" summit, has any validity whatsoever, as I am sure that the ridge has never been surveyed.

Dr. D.

FWIW:
The 4025' mark on Topozone is about 10 yds. south of the new summit according to my consumer grade GPS.

 

[MichaelJ]

One of these days I'm going to go up there with a big shovel and flatten the entire area just to put it out of its misery...

 

[sapblatt]

One of these days I'm going to go up there with a big shovel and flatten the entire area just to put it out of its misery...

The A-10s that are always buzzing that area could achieve this rather easily...

 

[NewHampshire]

One of these days I'm going to go up there with a big shovel and flatten the entire area just to put it out of its misery...

Count me in for that one .

Brian

 

[Mike P.]

1000' feet North, interesting, back in May 2004, I did some whacking up top to see if any views around as the summit is a windstorm away from having views like Mt. Tom & the blowdown there. I was in that general area in 2004 looking for Garfield cliff views, maybe another 1,000 feet from the new summit....

 

[skiguy]

The One and Only

All skepticism aside IMO to really experience The "Summit" of Owl's head is to do the Traverse N-S or S-N. Who know's when part of the Mountain might break off an create a new summit that we all might be able to explore. Is it not awesome to have a peak of such discusion? One and only Owl's Head!

 

[RoySwkr]

All skepticism aside IMO to really experience The "Summit" of Owl's head is to do the Traverse N-S or S-N. Who know's when part of the Mountain might break off an create a new summit that we all might be able to explore. Is it not awesome to have a peak of such discusion? One and only Owl's Head!

The Underhill family actually did that in summer, as did one of the early winter groups. They both said they weren't sure where the summit was, just that they were there sometime

 

[Mike P.]

So on 10/20, I wandered off on an apparent herd path from the Owl's Head summit I called the top back in 2005. First the trail goes down a several feet, stays pretty flat & then started curved a bit & headed uphill a little. I stopped there because the path had numerous trees downed over it & after the stream crossings & staying too far right on the way up the slide & having to whack a little to get back on track, I'd reached my tolerance of this barely 4,000 footer.

Once back down the cascades that were pretending to be the OH slide, I thought about going around Owl's Head Vs. trying the crossings again. Shortly after heading north, I lost the trail. Does it go up teh hill on those mossy rocks? It seemed to end there. Does it go along the river? A couple of what appeared to be fairly new washouts made walking along the brook not an option.

So I bushwhacked back to Franconia Falls. Some of that appeared to be pretty easy, thought I might stumble across a herd "like" path for Black Pond but didn't find anything obvious.

 

[NH_Mtn_Hiker]

...Once back down the cascades that were pretending to be the OH slide, I thought about going around Owl's Head Vs. trying the crossings again. Shortly after heading north, I lost the trail. Does it go up teh hill on those mossy rocks? It seemed to end there. Does it go along the river? A couple of what appeared to be fairly new washouts made walking along the brook not an option...

A little ways north of the Owl's Head Path junction, the Lincoln Brook trail is washed out at a bend in the brook. A bit further north the trail turns right and angles uphill gaining 20-30 yds in elevation...then traverses the contour for about a half-mile before descending and crossing the brook about .7 miles north of the Owls head Path.

Between the Owl's Head Path and 13 Falls there are several places where the trail is very difficult to follow. Even experienced hikers have been benighted out there.