| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Owl's Head, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Lincoln Woods Trail, Black Pond Trail, bushwhack, Lincoln Brook Trail, bushwhack, Owl's Head Path |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, February 12, 2017 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Ice - Breakable Crust, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow - Drifts |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
All three crossings of size were snow bridged. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
The old saying is that if you have nothing good to say, then say nothing. I have a whole lot of nothing to say about Owl's Head.
Onto the conditions. Lincoln Woods Trail was packed powder. The Black Pond Trail had initially only been skied and postholed...the postholer soon gave up, whilst the skiers went to the marsh. Beyond there, the trail hadn't been touched since the Tuesday storm. A few inches of Thursday powder on top of the breakable Tuesday crust.
With the old bushwhack footbed fairly obscured, I set my own route, occasionally crossing over the other one. I gradually ascended to 1800 feet, then held the contour to the old logging road, dropping to the traditional spot at the Lincoln Brook Trail water crossing.
The Lincoln Brook Trail had been broken out to a point about halfway between the traditional Brutus bushwhack entrance and the Owl's Head Path. The only tracks at this point were from an overnighter who did not go up the peak. Admittingly, I missed the start of Brutus because the growth or lack thereof has changed since I last did this half a decade ago. Since there was no established footbed for it anyway, I kept going and decided to try a new bushwhack route closer to the slide.
I stayed a few hundred feet south of the slide and found reasonably open woods, but the snow conditions were extremely difficult. There were two sets of breakable crust (the crust that set up at the end of the Tuesday storm and the previous crust) and areas of very deep powder drifts. With the steep grades, I often found myself up to my armpit in snow. The underlying crust became more stable around 3,500 feet. Interestingly, even the traversed Brutus footbed was generally unrecognizable; I ended up slabbing and hopping onto the Owl's Head Path a little bit above the normal place.
The Owl's Head Path ascent thereafter had a few inches of powder on top of a breakable crust. The ridge had some drifting in places and could be hard to follow down to the snow-caked trees. I often followed the old footbed, but it didn't seem nearly as prominent between the old and new summits.
For the descent, I took my route for awhile, then did my own variation of the Brutus, dropping in differently (due to the steeps and the tricky crust/powder conditions), then traversing over to the other side of the drainage for a bit. I attempted to descend via the logging road, but the crusted side slope was very awkward, so I descended through the glades and popped out on the Lincoln Brook Trail a little bit below the water crossing.
The snow had started whilst I was on the ridge and was picking up throughout the afternoon. A couple of inches by 5, but coming down strong. |
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 | Name: |
rocket21 |
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 | E-Mail: |
rocket21@franklinwebpublishing.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2017-02-12 |
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 | Link: |
 https://www.franklinsites.com/hikephotos |
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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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