| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Owl's Head, NH |
|
 | Trails: |
Lincoln Woods Trail, Black Pond Trail, bushwhack, Lincoln Brook Trail, bushwhack, Owl's Head Path |
|
 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, January 31, 2021 |
|
 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Nicely plowed out. I am IN LOVE with the parking lot bathroom. Yeah, maybe that sounds strange. But when it's -2 degrees out when you're getting geared up, and when you're cold and tired after a long hike, having that heated bathroom to change in is a dream come true. I laid my clean clothes on the heater for a couple minutes and had the most glorious set of warm clothes to put on for the drive home. Highly recommended. |
|
 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Ice - Breakable Crust, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow - Drifts |
|
 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction |
|
 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Using the Black Pond Bushwhack, we only had the one crossing to worry about. It was mainly frozen/bridged over, but be careful with the footing. My hiking buddy RJ did have one foot go through, but thankfully not very far. Also, there are still a couple of the smaller streams (the "step-over" ones) that are not frozen solid. I wasn't paying attention and stepped on one instead stepping over it, and ended up breaking through. The Oboz Bridgers did not let a single drop of moisture through. |
|
 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Not bad. My GPS map confirmed Black Pond is off the normal route, but it was fine. The usual couple of blow-downs and step-overs here and there, particularly on the summit ridge. |
|
 | Dog-Related Notes: |
None at all! No cats either. When do we get a cat-related notes field here? Floki deserves it! |
|
 | Bugs: |
All frozen. |
|
 | Lost and Found: |
There was what appeared to be a black beanie hanging from a tree on Lincoln Woods trail. We left it there on the way up and didn't think to grab it on the way down. |
|
|
|
|
 | Comments: |
What an amazing day for Owl's Head! It was pretty cold to start out, but quickly warmed up. With not a single cloud in the sky and no wind whatsoever, RJ and I pondered whether we should have done some other hike that surely would have had amazing views on a day like this. It seemed a bit of a waste to do Owl's Head on a crystal clear day with no wind. But we decided we were very grateful to have such a great day to cross this one off the list. Like someone else posted a week or so ago, this is about as easy as Owl's Head can get in the winter.
Black Pond Bushwhack is in good shape, although it will likely get covered up this week. The one water crossing we were left with was very safe, and easy enough to walk right across. After that crossing, at the intersection with Brutus Bushwhack, there were three choices that were packed out: 1) Hard left to stay on Lincoln Brook Trail; 2) Hard right (almost switchback like) to go up Brutus; 3) Some other option in the middle, that probably went toward the slide. We took Brutus. It was steep and slick enough that spikes alone were not doing the job (we had used only spikes up until this point). We threw on the snowshoes and between the added traction and the televators, found things MUCH easier going. I cannot over emphasize the usefulness of snowshoes and poles for this section. I'm glad I carried them. We ran into one other person near the summit, then two others ascending as were descending. The group of two had tried the slide route, but found it untracked and too difficult, so they turned back to go up Brutus instead. From what I could tell, nobody has been up the slide recently. We tracked out the summit ridge, all the way to the official summit (based on my GPS). It always seems further than I expect. We kept the snowshoes on all the way back to the parking lot. They were nice to have coming off the ridge, and didn't really slow us down much through the flats, so why not...
Five Guys in Tilton for our reward! |
|
 | Name: |
TT |
|
 | E-Mail: |
thomas.burt@hotmail.com |
|
| Date Submitted: |
2021-02-01 |
|
 | Link: |
 https:// |
|
|
Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense. |
|
