| 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 |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Friday, January 21, 2022 |
|
 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Only a handful of cars at Lincoln woods |
|
 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow - Drifts |
|
 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction |
|
 | Water Crossing Notes: |
All 3 crossings solidly bridged |
|
 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
N/A |
|
 | Dog-Related Notes: |
N/A |
|
 | Bugs: |
N/A |
|
 | Lost and Found: |
N/A |
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|
 | Comments: |
Welp this was about the roughest shape I've seen the trek out to Owls Head in several winters. Apparently the guys before us had some trouble with both navigation and remembering that snowshoes are more fun than waist deep postholing. Pretty much a sidewalk out to Black Pond and then it gets very interesting from there as the current broken out version of the whack started as angling too far uphill and then ended up badly cutting it too low with some nasty unnecessary puds and circuitous meanderings. We didn't have the time or energy to tackle breaking out the correct line but there is still a solid trail trough under the snow from Monday so it should be decently easy to break. Lincoln brook trail was pretty tolerable in the morning and a slippery slidy mess on the return that reminded me of suncups on snowfields, aka one of the nastiest things for efficient foot placements. The only guy up before us was postholio which mighta been worse than having a completely unbroken trail, this is highly debatable. Put on the snowshoes from the bottom of Brutus to the summit and back and this is required snowshoes territory to avoid misery until it gets a lot of travel firming and consolidating the trail. Would highly recommending not attempting sliding/glissading without an ice axe as its hard to control the speed with how fluffy the powder is off trail. The form of freestyle skiing involving snowshoes and clutching all the trees seemed to be fairly effective at descending without dying. Be careful of low hanging trees on both whacks as I walked right into a couple pretty painful ones. Due to a personal like of living so I can hike more, and lacking proper gear and traction we didn't consider the slide which is not broken out |
|
 | Name: |
Heat Lightning |
|
 | E-Mail: |
ecs@mountainlgoworks.com |
|
| Date Submitted: |
2022-01-21 |
|
 | Link: |
 https:// |
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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. |
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