Owl's Head - Lincoln Woods Trail, Black Pond Trail, herd path, Lincoln Brook Trail, herd path, Owls Head Path - 6-19-2022

Hiking Trail Conditions Report
	Peaks	Owl's Head, NH

	Trails:	Lincoln Woods Trail, Black Pond Trail, herd path, Lincoln Brook Trail, herd path, Owls Head Path

	Date of Hike:	Sunday, June 19, 2022

	Parking/Access Road Notes:	Plenty of space in the Lincoln Woods parking lot at 8:15am.

	Surface Conditions:	Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable

	Recommended Equipment:

	Water Crossing Notes:	The main unbridged crossings were the crossings of Liberty Brook and Lincoln Brook near the base of Owl's Head Path. Both could be done by rock hopping, though some of the hops for Lincoln Brook had to be rather large. The small bridge on Lincoln Woods Trail 1.8 miles north of the parking lot is out, apparently being repaired, but it is very easy to hop across the rocks on the side of the bridge.

	Trail Maintenance Notes:	In the first mile or so of the Lincoln Woods Trail, where it goes along a small cliff high above the river, there is one place where a landslide has occurred, leaving a gap that someone could fall through if not paying attention.

	Dog-Related Notes:	I'd think that the slide (bottom half of Owl's Head Path) would be difficult for dogs because of the occasional scrambling required. It might also be difficult for a dog to cross the brooks without going in the water.

	Bugs:	Some mosquitos along Black Pond Trail, especially in the late afternoon, but only a problem when we stopped moving. We did not notice any black flies or ticks, but we did see some black mice and chipmunks.

	Lost and Found:


	Comments:	We opted to do a true bushwhack from Black Pond to the Lincoln Brook Trail at a bearing of about 325 degrees, close to northwest, instead of the mostly north Black Pond Bushwhack shown on caltopo. Although it perhaps saved some distance (arguable since it was hard to go straight), we discovered on the way back that the Black Pond Bushwhack is a very well established trail and would have been much faster than us trying to make our own trail. On the way back we were originally hoping to take the path east along the Lincoln Brook (after the official Lincoln Brook Trail crosses Lincoln Brook to the north) and then south to Franconia Falls, but that path looked dauntingly overgrown compared to the Black Pond bushwhack heading south, so we opted for the latter. We went up the now-mostly-dry slide on the Owl's Head Path, but on the way down, we turned left onto the Brutus Bushwhack, which begins halfway down Owl's Head Path at a boulder, in the hope of avoiding the worst of the slide on the way down, but going down Brutus Bushwhack was difficult too because of all the steep loose soil. We did not even notice the "old summit" but we continued to the "new summit" of Owl's Head Mountain, which is marked by a small cairn.

	Name:	mathbp

	E-Mail:

	Date Submitted:	2022-06-19

	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.