Owlshead is that little mountain every peakbagger must climb to finish their list. I'd been to the top back in June of 2001 and remembered a long walk, mostly flat, plenty of stream crossings and a steep slide climb.
The only reason I was back here is because Anne needed it for her list and I promised her that I would wait until she caught up so we could do Mt Isolation together.
Lincoln Woods was our destination, it's always easy to find parking in the huge lot. I'd been here many times...the Semi Pemi traverse, the Bonds, etc. The Wilderness trail was the beginning of what I knew would be a long day. We headed off early, our last hike together had been to Mt Cabot, we were headed to Africa in about a week. So I'd done an extra training hike in the Presidentials and felt pretty strong. We "power walked" the easy flat stretches along the Pemi River to the Franconia Brook trail.....oh boy, remember what I told you about brook trails. This one is not bad though, still relatively flat. There are some exposed railroad ties along this path the same as Wilderness trail. Part of the trail had been re-located due to some beaver activity.
We took the left onto Lincoln Brook trail, yep this is the bad one. Pretty quickly we had a major stream crossing. I took the boots off, put on my water walkers and just plunged across. Anne tried to rock-hop, in the end she too took the boots off. I kept my aqua shoes on as the next crossing was right there. It's ugly too but not as bad. I really shouldn't say ugly, that would not describe the area at all......I just don't much like water crossings.
Putting the boots back on with dry socks was nice. We then followed the Lincoln Brook for quite away, again fairly flat. We reached the big pile of rocks that designate the Owls Head slide trail, there was an easy crossing just before that.
OK, wow that was a long warm-up so now we begin to go up. The AMC guidebook says to stay on the right side while climbing and the left side when descending. So we headed up the very steep and rocky path (unofficial) past a group that were moving slowly. Anne was doing better than I at this point. Time to eat something on the run to bring my blood sugar back up.
The trail near the top of the slide was better than I'd remembered it the last time. Somebody has done allot of trail maintenence (thank you!) We stopped several times to catch our breath before continuing right on up. Above the slide the trail is only moderate.
Another group was leaving the summit clearing just as we arrived so we got to spend a few minutes alone, snapped the usual picture with the vertical sign, ate lunch and packed up for the long hike out. On our way back to the slide we were visited by a troop of Boreal Chickadees, they were wonderful company.
Ah, descending the slide, it just isn't much fun although the views are pretty good. You can see Franconia Ridge from a unique perspective and the everlasting wilderness. Plunge stepping through loose scree reminded me somewhat of the South Tripyramid slide.........that one is much more fun.
I think I sweated more on the descent than the ascent but soon enough we were back at the little stream. Three years ago I'd stopped here for a good long while and ate lunch with good company. Today we pretty much kept moving, the bugs were bad in places.
We stopped occasionally but not for long, we were both tired. It was humid and warm so the cool waters of Lincoln Brook felt good as I waded across. Soon we were back on Franconia Brook then Wilderness followed for the long hike out. It's a long day in the Pemi, I'd enjoyed my first hike much more. I'd like to visit here in the winter, maybe do the Black Pond Bushwhack to cut a few miles off.
