Owl's Head : It's a Hoot in Winter

Date of Hike: 3/9/15

Lincoln Woods Trail: 2.6 miles  /  Black Pond Trail: 0.9 miles  /  Black Pond Bushwhack: 1.1 miles  Lincoln Brook Trail: 2.5 miles  /  Brutus Bushwhack: 0.7 miles  /  Owl's Head Path: 1.2  /  Brutus Bushwhack: 0.8 miles  /  Lincoln Brook Trail: 2.5 miles  /  Black Pond Bushwhack:  1.1 miles  /  Black Pond Trail: 0.9 miles  /  Lincoln Woods Trail: 2.6
Total Miles: 16.4 (3,150 feet elevation gained)

Trip Report:
- When there is significant snow on the ground the route to Owl's Head changes. The 'winter' route bypasses several water crossings of the Franconia and Lincoln Brook, as well as bypassing the slide.  Basically, it takes out my favorite parts of the hike since I love slides and old railroad grades with fun water crossings.  The slides and water crossings have been replaced by two bushwhacks; one from Black Pond, and another just south of the slide.
-  Having known that the trail had seen heavy usage over the weekend Whitney and I set out at 8 a.m. down the Lincoln Woods Trail.  All the trails and bushwhacks were a highway of packed down snow with a light dusting on top.  Whitney barebooted and I microspiked to the base of Owl's Head.
- The walk to the bottom of Owl's Head has a slight elevation gain over the six and-a-halfish miles.  However, from the start of the Brutus Bushwhack the elevation grade spikes to one that is excessively steep for almost a mile until gaining the ridge.
- Once on top of the ridge the trail meanders its way past the old summit where the super highway conditions stopped from the previous days path having been wind blown away.  We trudged through the small drifts and actually went a few hundred feet past the new summit just to make sure we hit it since we couldn't find the summit cairn which was hidden under snow.  After a few minutes on the summit we took off back across the ridge. It was windy enough on top that the tracks we and another hiker who was a few minutes behind us where almost drifted in between the new and old summit.
-  Once we started dropping back down the winds let up and we enjoyed the long walk back to the car.  I like Owl's Head, more so in the summer where you can explore the area but I'm hoping to one day take the trails and the slide up in the winter, there'd be a lot of trail breaking involved but it would be fun!

 Early morning at Lincoln Woods and the East Branch of the Pemigewasset River

 Hiking along the old railroad grade on the Lincoln Woods Trail

 Frozen over East Branch

 Heading to Black Pond

 After Black Pond we head through the woods and pop out on the Lincoln Brook Trail after one of the water crossings

 The Lincoln Brook

 Lincoln Brook Trail

 Heading up to Owl's Head and the no views summit

 Lincoln Woods Trail

 Owl's Head from Black Pond

 Signs seen along the way

 The walk back to the trailhead

Route for the day.  Blue X's is the Black Pond bushwhack.  Red X's is the Brutus Bushwhack

Click here for track info

Owl's Head

Date of Hike: 1/27/13

Lincoln Woods Trail: 2.6 miles	Black Pond Trail: 0.8 miles	Bushwhack: 1.6 miles
Lincoln Brook Trail: 2.2 miles	Brutus Bushwhack / Owl's Head Path: 2.6 miles	Lincoln Brook Trail: 2.2 miles
Bushwhack: 1.6 miles	Black Pond Trail: 0.8 miles	Lincoln Woods Trail: 2.6 miles
Total Mils:  Around 17.0 		3,250 feet elevation gain

Trip Report:

- Sunday was much warmer...as it was at least five degrees at the Lincoln Woods Trailhead whenI arrived at 9 a.m.! I was shocked to see only four cars at the trailhead, I thought with the frigid temperatures and high wind there would be lots of activity at Lincoln Woods with hikers heading to Owl's Head.
- Owl's Head has become one of my favorite mountains because it's the most remote 4,000 footer and is always an adventure.  I enjoy the summer approach more because I get to stay on the trails, which have a lot of history, gnarly water crossings, and a slide.  In the winter the most commonly used route wisely avoids the gnarly water crossings and the slide by bushwhacking from black pond and bushwhacking again well before reaching the slide.
- I hiked a fast clip on the Lincoln Woods and the Black Pond Trails to stay warm.  As I hiked all we heard was creaking of trees and fast wind gusts high above us.
- The bushwhack from Black Pond was well broken out and beaten down so the snowshoes stayed on our packs.  The 'Black Pond Bushwhack' is always broken out differently every time I hike it, this time it went uphill more than it has the previous three times I have been on it.  It's a nice hike through mostly open woods and only got thick as we descended a moderately steep hill to intersect the Lincoln Brook Trail.
- The two or so miles from the Black Pond Bushwhack to the Brutus Bushwhack was the coldest part of our day so I kept up a brisk hiking pace to not get too chilled. 
- Within minutes I went from chilled to sweating as I went strait up a steep embankment and hooked a right onto an old skidder road where the hiking became gradual through some Birch trees up a well broken out path and more importantly completely out of the wind.
- When I reached a gully I banged a left and over the next few tenths of a mile I ascended steeply angling diagonally to the left through pine trees kicking in steps and grabbing branches through a chute-like smooth path left from the previous day's glissaders.
- Eventually the bushwhack becomes much easier and hooks onto the Owl's Head Path above the slide where unfortunately it again becomes very steep until it gains the ridge.  I didn't hang around long on top, it was too cold and I was back in a spot where wind gusts were present so I booked it back down to lower elevations and temperatures above zero.
- I ran into the only two hikers I saw all day as I made my way down the Brutus Bushwhack.  It was nice to see I wasn't the only fool coo-coo enough to think hiking the most remote 4,000 footer on a zero degree day equals fun!
- The hike out went quickly, I stayed relatively warm and made sure to keep hydrating and eating snacks.  When I reached The Lincoln Woods Trail there was quite a few x-country skiers out and about.  I also saw the WMNF service driving snow mobiles and an ATV loaded with hey for horses who were spending the night before moving out the junk left behind from the Black Brook bridge when it was removed in 2009.
- I made it back to the car at 2:50 p.m. and quickly changed into comfortable clothes before heading south.  Eventhough it was cold, it was well worth the trip to see 'Owlie'!!

East Branch Suspension Bridge at Lincoln Woods

 Black Pond

 Owl's Head from Black Pond

 

Black Pond Bushwhack

 Birch Glades on Owl's Head

 Almost frozen over Lincoln Brook

 Lincoln Woods Trail

"Strength in Numbers" (Owl's Head #36)

Date of Hike: 1/22/11

Lincoln Woods Trail: 2.6 miles
Black Pond Trail / Bushwhack: 2.4 miles
Lincoln Brook Trail (backtrack/retrack!): 3.5 miles
Brutus Bushwhack / Owl's Head Path: 3.0 miles
Lincoln Brook Trail: 2.0 miles
Black Pond Trail / Bushwhack: 2.4 miles
Lincoln Woods Trail: 2.6 miles
Total miles: around 18.5 (3,310 elevation gain)

Trip Report:
- With frigid temps forecast for Saturday I thought I'd play it safe and stay below treeline and out of the wind and hike everyone's favorite mountain Owl's Head!
- I was excited to get back to Owl's Head, having only been there once before in the summer and this time I'd get to hike the Black Pond Bushwhack and Brutus "Brutie" Bushwhack (named after a newfie dog! (Click here for more about Brutus) to the summit of "Owlie."
- On Trail at 7:30am, ditched hike 11ish, unditched hike 11:30ish, summited no idea!  Finished 7:15pm. Temps in low single digits maybe even zero or below at 4,000 feet. No wind in the woods lots and lots of new snow.
- The first 2.6 miles along the Lincoln Woods Trail wasn't as smooth as I had hoped for, there was a XC ski track but no snowshoe track, so eventhough I really wanted to walk on the ski tracks I broke some minor snow of about 6 inches or snow in the middle of the trail until I had had enough and walked on the ski tracks for the last few hundred feet to the Black Pond Trail junction.
- Luckily the black Pond Trail and the bushwhack were easy to follow and it was broken out pretty good. The Black Pond Bushwhack was more annoying and went a little higher than I thought it would be but I was happy because it was broken out.
- When I reached the Lincoln Brook Trail things got interesting, within ten minutes the snowshoe tracks came to an abrupt end. Ahead of me lay an unbroken faint trail (except for the moose who post-holed for a half mile). It was very very slow going but I continued along the banks of the Lincoln Brook for a while and crossing it twice over snow-bridges that made for and amazing site hiking across a river six feet above it on snow!
- Once past the last crossing it was time to start the Brutus Bushwhack...this ended badly as wherever I went it was just to steep and the snow was brutal as I kept sliding back and falling up to my waist in drifts. I made it about twenty-five feet up and realized I had no idea where I was supposed to go and that this was a stupid idea.
- Next I went back to the Lincoln Brook Trail and tried to head to the Owl's head Path to try my luck up the slide (another brain-dead idea). I made it about one hundred feet before snow-depths increased to 3 feet and I decided I had to turn around and go home.
- I started hiking back out for a half hour or so and I kept looking up at the bright "Bluebird" skies and started cursing myself..."Look up at the blue sky, what the hell were you thinking? Who the hell hikes this stupid no-views mountain when you have a clear 100 miles of visibility, I don't care how cold it is you could have hiked up Garfield or Jackson in no time and got kick ass views BUT NO you're here freezing your ass off in the middle of nowhere...way to go IDIOT!"...I could also hear my dad saying "You're a sh!thead"
- So I was bummed out beaten up and pretty upset when out of nowhere a miracle in the form of eight strong hikers came heading my way to salvage the day!  Among them were Bob & Gerri who I had hiked with this past summer! So to the end of the line I went and joined in with them to knock off Owl's Head no matter how exhausted I was.
- With nine people packing down the trail to the Brutus Bushwhack it made things much smoother until it was time to head up the steep western slopes off Owl's Head. Eventhough there were nine of us it still was a slog to break trail up to the top and I was in rough shape from my earlier hiking but I was warm so I knew I could make it.
- Two other hikers caught up to us and we now had eleven breaking trail as we gained the ridge and made our way past the old summit and over to the new summit. We stoped to refuel and warm up for a couple of minutes, I put on some dry clothes but froze my fingers up worse than I ever had before.
- Luckily about twenty minutes into our descent I was in the clear and knew my fingers would be fine, but what a strange and unpleasant feeling especially in my pinky's, it felt as if they weren't there for ten minutes!
- The hike back down to the Lincoln Brook Trail was fast as we all slipped and slided our way back down taking some gnarly falls in the snow enjoying the quick descent.
- We ran into one of the friendliest dogs ever (Thor) who was running up and down the trail and jumping into snow drifts and having a blast!
- Once back on the Lincoln Brook Trail it was time to start the long hike out over pretty boring terrain, night was quickly falling upon us as we donned headlamps for the Black Pond Bushwhack and the Black Pond Trail, the mile along the Black Pond Trail was the worst stretch for me, I had just had it and was out of gas.
- Now came time for the 2.6 miles Lincoln WoodsTrail sufferfest. It was the same as it ever was but the good news is when you're with eight others sharing in the misery it makes it go a little better and faster!
- Back at the car I changed out of my frozen clothes and started the long drive back to RI finally warming up 100% when I hit Boston!
- It was such a wild day and I was thankful that I ran into everyone when I did, they saved the day for me and made this a hike I'll never forget, thanks everyone!

Pictures: Click here for all pictures

Lincoln Brook Snowbridge

 Brutus Bushwhack

 Breaking out the Brutus Bushwhack

 Black Pond Trail