Owl's Head 3/8/14

Owl's Head is one of the most remote 4,000 foot mountains in the Whites and is about a 16-17 mile round trip hike to complete.  Because of river crossings and bushwhacks involved in this hike, I always felt that a hike out to Owls Head would be easiest in the winter because the trails are all broken out and the river crossings are all frozen.  According to all the trip reports posted on various sites, the conditions to get to Owl's Head were perfect.  So Kyle and I made plans to meet at the Berlin Park and Ride for 5:00 to knock out another 4K peak.  We rode up in style in Kyle’s brand new Dodge Charger.

By 7:00 we were at the White Mountain Bagel Company to get our Bacon Egg and Cheese sandwich which has become something of a tradition.  When we reached the Lincoln Woods parking lot, I couldn’t get my pack and clothes right and after several  adjustments we made our way to the ranger station to put on the Microspikes.   Just after 8:00 we started on the Lincoln Woods Trail.  The trail was hard and fast and these conditions made it so much easier to walk because we didn’t have to step over the old railroad ties on the trail.  We cruised along for 3.4 miles on the wide open trail and reached Black Pond Trail in less than an hour.

View from Lincoln Woods parking lot

Suspension Bridge

Frozen East Branch of Pemigewasset River

First view of Owl's Head

Black Pond Trail was a single track and if you stepped off the trail you were sinking in knee deep.  Our first river crossing was frozen over and we got our first view of a southern peak on Owls Head.  The hike on Black Pond trail was so peaceful and quiet.  When we reached Black Pond we had some great views of the Bonds and we took a break to enjoy them.  The trail actually ends at Black Pond, but continues on to intercept the Lincoln BrookTrail by the way of a bushwhack.  On this portion of the trail we saw some evidence of an animal (probably red squirrel) that had been going to town on some pine cones. 

Red Squirrel feeding area

When we reached the junction of the Lincoln Brook trail, the trail followed the base of Owls Head along the Lincoln Brook.  We got some brief glimpses of the Franconia Ridge along the trail through the trees and just before another river crossing were passed by a trail runner and a little poodle which ended up being Bob and Dusty.  I recognized them from someone else’s trip report/ photo blog and we ended up catching up with them and two others at the base of Brutus Bushwhack and confirmed that they were indeed Bob, Dusty and Geri too.  There was a fourth hiker with them and I think his name was Pudgy.

The Brutus Bushwhack was steep and tight.  I ended up putting on my snowshoes a quarter of the way up to make use the televators and they worked great.  But this was a real bush whack and I never hiked on a trail like this before.  Because the trail was a single track you had to stay on it or risk sinking in knee deep.  And because you had to stay on the trail you were at the mercy of the person/ people who initially broke out this trail.  To follow the trail you had to squeeze through trees and climb some steep inclines.  I worked up a good sweat on the climb and it made for some pretty chilly conditions up when we reached the peak of Owls Head.  There were some views of a snow covered Mt. Lincoln from the trail and we could actually see people at the top.  There wasn’t much to the mountain summit except a buried cairn and tree with a carved out “OH TOP”.  We stopped for a break, but the cold made it a short one.  We picked up our speed heading down the mountain.  Kyle butt slid for some of the way down and I slipped and ended up gracefully butt sliding for a little while too.  The snow was getting soft from the sun and we were both happy to get to the bottom.

Brutus Bushwack

Franconia Ridge from Brutus Bushwack

Top of Owl's Head

View from Black Pond

We took a break at the Lincoln Brook Trail junction and started making our way back to the car.  Kyle was getting some hot spots on his ankles from his boots and because of the softer trail conditions decided to take off his Microspikes and I followed suit.  We bare booted for some time and Kyle continued to suffer from his boots and decided to add a new definition to bare booting by walking with his boots off on the icy trail.  That ankle must have hurt!  All in all the hike was a good test from a winter layoff of over 4 months.

Stats:
Lincoln Woods Trail: 2.6 miles
Black Pond Trail and bushwhack: ~2.2 miles
Lincoln Brook Trail: ~2.2 miles
Brutus Bushwhack: ~1.2 miles
and back the same way: ~8.2 miles
Total Miles: 16.4
Approximate Time: 7:45

Total Elevation Gain: 2,600 feet