Owl's Head from the North?

[jmegillon149]

Here's an Owl's head question, I have heard the trek in through the Pemi is kinda dull, and I believe it, given that was the case going up Bondcliff, I had a thought:

Why not do a two night trip staying at Garfield, with Owl's Head being a day trip in the middle(I really like doing 2-3 days with a pack, 1-2 without trips), that way I can get some above treeline stuff in with Garfield Ridge, and maybe hit Galehead, possibly even the Twins on the out day.

Has anyone ever do anything along these lines? What do you think?

 

[Daniel Eagan]

We spotted a car at The Lincoln Woods campground, used the Shuttle Connection up to the Garfield Trail, did Garfield and over to the Galehead Hut, then the next day when down the Franconia Brook Trail to Thirteen Falls, south on the Lincoln Brook Trail to the Owl's Head Spur, then out Lincoln Brook/Franconia Brook/Lincoln Woods trails. Thirteen Falls is a beautiful spot, and the Lincoln Brook Trail was impressive, if wet, up to the spur. It's a great and remote way to go, one that I would do again.

I would be reluctant to return to the Galehead hut after Owl's Head; it's almost 1300 feet up from Thirteen Falls campsite to the hut. And the Lincoln Brook Trail is more demanding than Franconia Brook, which is basically a road most of the way.

 

[DougPaul]

You can also do Owl's head via the NNW ridge rather than the more common slide route. Start near the height-of-land on the Lincoln Brook Tr. I have done this in winter on skis and there is a recent report (Dr. Dasypodidae?, within the last month?) on VFTT of it being done under summer conditions.

Doug

 

[dms]

From the north

I just did the ridge from the north on the FO48 day, it is not open woods, some fairly thick areas, i would not recommend it, especially with a large pack.

 

[Papa Bear]

Iv'e done Owls Head via the Lincoln Slide which was the traditional route before they cut the Lincoln Brook Trail. Go up over Lafayette (I stayed at Greenleaf Hut) then down the slide with a bushwack at the bottom to the trail. Going down the slide is easy and lots of fun. Then Up/down Owlshead and out to the south. Need a car spot. I actually slept that night at the campground by the Falls and the next day did the Bonds and out via Hale (not a short cut ).

 

[post'r boy]

depending on your ability, sounds reasonable to me. providing you dayhike to owls head and back. for an example. myself and some others hiked from lincoln woods to the summit of owlshead, bushwhacked down the north side to 13 falls hiked up to garfield then across the ridge to lincoln woods in 12 hours.

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Like Post'boy, this past July Weedhopper and I made a one-day traverse from Lincoln Woods up the OH slide and DOWN the north ridge to 13 Falls, and out over Galehead to the Gale River Trail parking lot (we got to measure a 30 ft. higher point on Owls Head about 0.2 mile north of the formerly signed OH summit tree). I think that climbing up the north ridge from the Height of Land on the Lincoln Brook Trail might be a bit more difficult during the summer than in winter, as done on skis by DougPaul. Kevin Rooney certainly summarizes well the state of the Lincoln Brook Trail, which is essentially a bushwhack north of the OH slide to the Height of Land.

 

[DougPaul]

Kevin Rooney certainly summarizes well the state of the Lincoln Brook Trail, which is essentially a bushwhack north of the OH slide to the Height of Land.

The LBT wasn't too hard to follow from the base of the slide almost to the height of land when we skied it. (There was one spot where the trail seemed to go off a cliff--it actually turned straight uphill for 100 ft or so and then resumed the traverse.) IIRC, we lost the trail just about where we wanted to turn up onto the ridge. The ridge was mostly fairly open woods with some patches of spruce. However, there was snow on the ground and it was 25 years ago, so some of the details might have changed...

Doug

 

[Karl Hungus]

I stayed at 13 Falls in early Sept and the caretaker told us there is an old logging road or path of some kind up the North side of OH. We were sitting by the falls and he was pointing out some zig zag lines that he said was some old road. He encouraged us to hike it and said it was an easy bushwhack. He also said not many people know about it. We didn't have time to stick in OH as we had other plans so I can't verify what he said. Does anyone else know of this route?

 

[dms]

Karl, a USFS ranger told me the same story of the "secret" road going down the north ridge of OH. I asked him if he had done it himself, and he said no, that he had only heard about it. Well, there is no way any road on that ridge is going to remain discernable for any extent of time with the spruce growth that is prevalent there. We looked for it and found nothing but completely overgrown skidder paths.

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

When we bushwhacked down the north ridge of Owls Head to 13 Falls in late July (see post above), we did not see any evidence of an old road; the bushwhacking was fairly intense, and I am really glad that we were not fighting gravity by trying to go uphill.

 

[Sadie]

To make the Owlshead trip more interesting than the usual route, I did Owlshead as a 3 day trip. We went up Gale River over Galehead and down Twin Brook Trail to 13 falls, set up camp and the following day did Owlshead as a day trip and then spent another night at 13 Falls before hiking back out via Gale River. There were nice views from the stunning outlook heading up Galehead & also going up the Owlshead slide, but no real panoramic views on this trip. LBT between 13 Falls and Owlshead slide is definitely lightly traveled, a little hard to follow in spots and very muddy. Overall, it was a great trip, so nice to visit 13 Falls (such a beautiful spot!) and was very enjoyable! I recommend this route, but you won't get the views like Garfield! Hope to see your trip report!