March 15, 2009
Saying that I like to hike is a bit of an understatement. I'm always thrilled with the opportunity to climb to the top of a mountain, any mountain. But of all the mountains I climb, another trip to Owl's Head thrills me the least. In fact, there's only one thing that thrills me less than another trip to Owl's Head, another trip to Owl's Head solo. That's almost what I had to do today, but not quite.
Ed Hawkins hiked to Owl's Head yesterday. I had wanted to join him, but had other commitments for the day. I did however want to take advantage of the fact that I knew since he hiked it yesterday, there was no doubt that it would be broken out (if it hadn't been already). Fortunately for me, the dynamic duo father and daughter team, Ron and Catherine had similar circumstances. They too had wanted to hike with Ed but couldn't because of other commitments. So the three of us planned to hike Owl's Head together. This was much, much, much better than having to hike this long hike solo.
We hit the trail a few minutes after 7:00 a.m. We met four hikers along the Lincoln Woods Trail that were skiing the flat section. They were on their way to Owl's Head as well. They had a different route planned until we told them about the Black Pond Bushwhack and the Brutie Bushwhack. They quickly adjusted their plans and followed in our footsteps.
I generally don't take a lot of pictures on this hike. There just aren't enough views, but here's a nice view from Black Pond.
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Off we went on the Black Pond Bushwhack. We were passed by two hikers who we would later learn were Phil and Justin. After the bushwhack we followed the the Lincoln Brook Trail. Finally, after 6.5 miles of hiking, we were at the base of the mountain. It was time to start the Brutie Bushwhack. In winter, this is much easier than heading up the steep and potentially dangerous Owl's Head slide. The trail was broken so we had tracks to follow. Up, up, up we climbed. The bushwhack finally cuts to the west and runs into the Owl's Head trail above the slide. We took this to the traditional summit. We found a mushroom/fungi thing that Drew and MEB had scratched their names on when they were here 11 days earlier.
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We took off our packs and prepared to make the short quarter mile trip over to the true summit when we heard hikers coming. It was Phil and Justin who had passed us earlier. They were faster than us, but the Brutie Bushwhack saved us some time. With a look of disbelief Phil said, "What did you do? Find the Super Mario warp tunnel." What a riot! We all had a good laugh. We told them about the Brutie Bushwhack which they decided to take on the way down. It was Phil and Justin's first time here so I let them know about the two summits. They followed us over to the true summit. I actually overshot the true summit by about 100 feet but found that with the drifted snow to stand on, we had a fine view of Franconia Ridge. Who says there's no view from Owl's Head?
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Ron and Cathy near the true summit
This was winter #42 for them. It was a big one too. Last year they made a valiant but unsuccessful attempt of Owl's Head as they hiked through two feet of unbroken snow all the way to the slide. They tried to push there way up the slide but the snow was chest deep in places. There was no way they could even get to the summit before dark so they turned back, but they got it this time!! I congratulated Ron and Cathy on Owl's Head. "It's that much better, when you've had a failed attempt first," said Cathy. What a great attitude!
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Eric near the true summit
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After finding the "marker" for the true summit, we headed back to the traditional summit. We then headed back down the trail a little to a sunny spot where we ate our lunch. We were joined by Phil and Justin.
Phil plans to finish his winter 4s on the Carters on the last day of winter. I thought he was finishing them for any winter but Ron and Cathy informed he was doing them all this winter. Phil, if you don't already now about it, be sure to check out the 48in1winter website.
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We headed back down the Brutie Bushwhack. Once back on the Lincoln Brook trail, we found another "note" left by Drew and MEB.
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Next the Black Pond Bushwhack and then the long Lincoln Woods Trail which is always twice as long on the way out. Finally we reached the bridge. Here's a picture of the river. Ron jumped up and down on the bridge and joked "How's your picture coming out?"
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Ron and Cathy on the bridge.
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We got back to Lincoln Woods a few minutes before 5:00 p.m.
Ron and Cathy, thanks so much for joining me today!
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