Bob (bob&geri) invited me on this hike to Owlshead a few weeks ago. I was determined this year to knock off some of the harder-longer ones off the Winter-48 list. I'd never done the Blackpond bushwhack before, my two previous trips to OH were in summer when you don't mind wading through rivers.
This had been a strange winter, hardly any snow and too warm. Ice filled the wide road known as the Wilderness trail. Fortunately a dusting of snow over the top gave some traction and we all barebooted. The group today was Bob&Geri, Poison Ivy (Amy), Hiker Bob, Gaigirl (Chris) and Tom. Amy and Bob headed off before us, I hoped I wasn't holding anyone up. We all left our snowshoes in the car, I also left my 12 point crampons behind but did bring the Charlot Moser 6 pointers. My winter pack had never been so light.
It was a beautiful morning, we walked briskly down the more than familiar Wilderness trail, the sun was coming up over the Eastern horizon and lit some high peaks overhead. The river wasn't as wild looking as I'd seen in the past and I hoped the crossings ahead would be easy. Amy was hiking in her trailrunners, her boots tucked away in her pack. Clearly she expected to get wet. Bob&Geri also carried sneakers. We blasted past the Osseo sign and caught up with Hikerbob and Amy, 1.5 miles in and another mile to the Black Pond trail
We turned left on Black Pond, conditions underfoot improved to more crunchy snow than ice and soon it was even bare ground underfoot where the sun bathed the open woods. We crossed over the ice cutting off a little bit and just following tracks. Here was the end of established trail. It was a mixture of old leaves, frozen mud and some snow on the other side but we could clearly see tracks. Amy pulled out her compass and said it was magnetic north.
The sky was a cobalt blue, still a little cold, maybe 15 but warming in the sun. We travelled through some open woods, pretty easy stuff, a few face stingers when you followed someone too close. We paused often to de-layer, drink and snack. We could see some views through the trees and the knobby summit at the end of Owlshead.
Pretty soon we popped out on the Lincoln Brook trail avoiding those two bad crossings just east of us. Now we had that long march I remembered well along the brook. Today we had an extraordinary sight, Lincoln brook was partially frozen and water bubbled up and over the surface making the color a beautiful azure blue like you see in glaciers.
My pictures here will not even begin to do it justice, we all stopped at points to just sit and take pictures and enjoy it all. The time went by easily and the miles passed by with beautiful sights and pleasant conversation. Up ahead we could see the white blasted high ridge, probably Garfield
Both Bobs took a bunch of pictures. Later on we had some interesting crossings where the ice creaked and groaned but we managed to make it across with no trouble.
Is it safe?----->
This one was the most interesting, you had to take a big step over one spot. Amy, Chris and Geri cross, afterwards, Amy stops to put her hiking boots on. We ran into a group of four young college guys that seemed to be heading up, they couldn't find the slide. One was carrying a big green sled. The cairn marking the slide from the brook is now gone and they were confused. Bob H. pointed out the bushwhack we were heading up and off they went.
So we began what is called the Bruttie slide trail. When Kevin and Brutus did the winter48 they had to find a different route because Brutus, a large Newf had trouble with steep rocky and icy spots, well who doesn't?!? Hikerbob pulled out the GPS and we set off. Again the woods were open and easy but he worried we weren't going up enough. Tracks ahead were new and old, Cath Goodwin and others had blazed this already.
<--Here we are, slabbing across the slope, soon it would take a left turn as it zig-zagged up. The white birch against a pure blue sky was truly inspiring. The woods were quiet today with very little wind.
The uphill turned steep and more shrouded in fir and spruce. Wildpeaks (Tom) takes a little break here,-----> Don't get so close or "whack" a branch right in the face. Heading up this section I jammed my leg into a hidden branch and ripped my snow pants wide open. Ah winter bushwhacking.
I followed Bob Hayes and Chris up the steep icy trail, we barebooted it pretty easily with a few slips, this is where tree-hugging takes on a whole new meaning. Finally this dumped us just above the slide where the unofficial herd path/trail takes you to the summit. Now we had the well-remembered grunt up to the summit ridge.
We reached the clearing with the little cairn and the tree that once had the vertical Owlshead sign on it. This had been a new sign after the rangers pulled down the old one. Three spikes stuck out of the tree, the sign was gone once again. Well, who cares, we know where the summit is, who needs a sign. It looked like the college kids moved on, the trail continued on.
On the way to where the supposed true summit is we had amazing views of Franconia Ridge all painted white against the sky. A big AMC group was up there too, they'd turned around when the set of tracks seemed to go down. Hmm, well, we came to a high point with a those incredible views (yes this is Owlshead) and posed for some pictures
Bob and Geri congratulated themselves on number 40 in winter, I reached 29 along with Amy and Tom. It had been a perfect day so far, no breaking trail, plunging through thin ice bridges, falling on ice, etc...would it continue?
After a bit folks were getting cold so we bushwhacked back to the official summit (although it appears to be lower) and hiked down to a sunny spot where we stopped and waited for Hiker Bob. We parted again as Bob, Chris, Geri, Tom and I took off at a faster pace. We'd planned on bushwhacking down the same trail but somehow missed the left. Then we found ourselves at the top of the "dreaded" slide.
More incredible views, should we continue down or go back up to the bushwhack, we wondered what Amy and HikerBob were doing. Geri, Bob, Tom and Chris didn't have crampons on...I'd quickly put my Charlot Moser ones on at the official (although more shady) summit. After about 15 minutes were were heading down, it wasn't too bad, some rock and tree hugging and we had to wait for one of the college kids as he clearly wasn't up for this kind of terrain. The footing was pretty good, some icy spots but with crampons it was safe.
We ended up passing them so he could take his time...the slide always seems long going up but short going down. Soon we were back at the Lincoln Brook trail and we headed south to hopefully meet up with Amy and Bob. It wasn't long before the group was reunited and we made the long slog in the waning afternoon sun. We leapfrogged with the big AMC group after catching them. Once when I was behind Geri, their leader almost bumped into me several times. Amy said it happened to her too. I joined the fast group with Bob in the lead and we quickly left them behind
Back at the pond we stopped to watch the last of the golden sun hit the tops of the mountains in the distance. Some of the group raced off while the AMC group caught up again and others stayed back to take a more relaxed pace.
(Amy) The sun was pretty much gone by the time we did the mile back to the Wilderness trail and the moon was starting to rise. It would be almost full tonight. Hikerbob, Geri, Amy and I hiked out at a nice fast pace and soon the 2.5 miles was over and we were back to our cars. Start time 7:30 and finish at 6:30, not a bad way to spend 11 hours. Thanks to everyone, it was nice meeting you Tom, Chris and HikerBob. See you out there again.
WINTER PEAKS 05-06 SO FAR: ISOLATION, JEFFERSON, TWO HANCOCKS, MOOSILAUKE, OWLSHEAD...