Bondcliff as seen from Black Pond
6:45am-The start It's been quite a journey on this road to finish my winter fours. I once never thought I'd return to Owlshead after my first trip there 8 years ago in the summer. It rained and it was a slog. Been there, done that!
But now as I was about to set off on Owlshead part 6, I realized how much I love this hike in the woods. The morning was cold, Bill's car thermometer said 12-F, way different from the 38-F in Southern NH that morning. We knew it would drop all day too.
This was actually supposed to be Zealand-Bonds day but the wind-chill advisory of -60-F scared us....rightly so. I'd seen BigEarl's invitation to Owlshead on Friday and that sounded like fun. Jeb and Bill both agreed and so here we were.
Great to finally meet BigEarl and TrailTrotter (Sue) as we geared up at the busy Lincoln Woods parking lot. Darl came over and introduced herself, they were headed to the Bonds to meet up with others who would be trying to finish the Bonds. It was already windy and we wished them luck.
We barebooted, Bill and I took up a pretty fast pace. BigEarl had been injured the week prior on a Wildcats attempt. He and Sue went at a comfortable pace with Jeb somewhere in between.
TrailTrotter on the trail
It seemed like we reached the Osseo jct in no time and then the Black Pond spur was only a little ways further. We expected to be passed by the Bonds X-ski team but saw nobody. The trail was nicely packed, very wide and consolidated. I'd put on my snowshoes a mile or so back but the rest of us donned them to head in to Black Pond.
The last time I did the bushwhack, we crossed the pond and took a compass bearing. Plus Bob Hayes had his GPS and we stayed left which runs along a nice ridge and avoids the wet spots further down. Someone had blazed this trail with ugly orange paint and the snowshoe track followed the bad route.
It seemed to meander a lot with some ups and mostly downs that are avoided by staying left. It would be our trail though because breaking a new one was not an option. Bryan caught up with us here, he'd gotten a late start. He must've been flying as he started about an hour after us! Finally our path swung away from the illegal blazed trail and took a left turn to intersect with the Lincoln Brook trail further down.
Bryan, Bill and I on a bushwhack---------->
We could see ski tracks where somebody had come in along the regular trail so the crossings must've been fine. We wondered how much time the BP bushwhack had saved us.
We went along at a pretty good pace along the Lincoln Brook. In some places, the moving water kept spots open. It was beautiful blue water against a stark white. We spread out, each going at their own pace. Bill, Jeb and I stayed pretty much together with Bryan. Jeb set a nice pace and we didn't get sweaty. I was pretty warm despite the icicles that were forming on my hat.
We made a smaller and then larger crossing of the brook which were solid and easy. We had to be pretty close to the Brutus BW, would we go up it, or the slide? We passed the spot for the bushwhack but just a little further up, the freshly broken track went right. BigEarl and Sue caught up and we only discussed for a few seconds. I was glad to go up the Bruttie and not the slide.
The trail went up very steep for a little before turning right and heading into a beautiful open hardwood slope. We cruised up it, again, our little group seperated and we each found our own pace. I was feeling great, Jeb continued to set a nice pace. At one spot, it turned again and began to get steeper. We debated again, this time about crampons or snowshoes. Snowshoes for me! We continued on with snowshoes and plenty of trees to grab onto. Bryan passed Jeb here and began making nice steps with his big snowshoes. Part of the AMC group passed us here, we would leap-frog with them the rest of the way.
Using one pole and many trees, I was able to make it pretty easily. The snow was well beaten down and the snowshoe crampon bit in nicely. We broke out at a big rock above the slide and now headed up the official Owlshead trail. It remains steep but also was a beaten down frozen sidewalk. We thought about waiting for the rest of our group but some were getting cold so we continued on slowly.
We reached the old summit just about the same time as the lead trio from the AMC group. We already decided to try for the new summit but a hiker heading down told us he hadn't made it. One of the AMC guys who was working on his grid and had done OH about 10 times, thought he knew the way. So we followed them and they did a great job breaking through the snow and tight curtain of trees. Bill, Jeb, Bryan and I continued to beat down the new trail.
There were nice views here and there. We could clearly see Bondcliff and West Bond off to our right where it opened up. When we popped out on the official new summit, we would see off to the west as well. We'd had a few glimpses of Lincoln before but now it was completely in the clouds along with Lafayette. It was Jeb's 30th in winter and Bill's 35th. We only paused for a few minutes before we headed back to the old summit for a quick lunch break.
BigEarl and Sue had reached the spot (which boasts another new sign) and quickly headed to the new summit .2 miles away. We stood and ate some lunch with about 15 others. I pulled out my wonderfully hot-hot chocolate and downed the whole thermos. My hands were cold now, it was -5 there on the summit but felt colder. Your gloves would freeze to your poles.
We began our long trek back with about 9 miles to go and we were looking forward to getting some sun. One thing about the old OH summit, it's always shady and depressing to me. I like the new one much better. OH was sure a busy place today!
We stormed down the OH trail (well, I fell a few times and slid.) Back at the Bruttie Jct, we went left. There was no new traffic heading down the slide. At least on this day, the Bruttie whack was the way to go.
The next part of our trip was pure joy. Glissading to me is just butt sliding. It's purely fun and we had a blast. We started out trying to walk it down but after a number of falls backwards, we gave up and let gravity help us down the mountain.
We were laughing all the way to the glades again and then we slid down the last steep section.
Shoot, now we had to walk again, how boring. At one point higher up, I'd lost my insulated bottle holder so I walked about a hundred yards up the trail and slid back down. What fun! You have to love winter hiking.
We waited at the brook crossing and soon BigEarl and Sue showed up. We stayed pretty much together for the walk back to the Black Pond twisty bushwhack. Bill seemed to have a rocket in his pack and he took off, go Bill! The rest of us stayed pretty much together. Jeb muttered that this trail was worse than Fishin' Jimmy. We did have quite a bit of elevation gain that was not as evident on the original BP whack.
Back at the Wilderness trail, we ran into the Bonds group including Darl and Frodo and two others. They'd made it as far as Bondcliff but the winds were too tough. I was glad we'd gone with plan B>
I wasn't even sunset, so it seemed like we would be able to finish without headlamps. What a great day. We all took a nice pace and finished up at the bridge right around 5:10pm. I hung around and waited for Jeb who came along a few minutes later. What a fantastic day and with good company to share this peak which has become a favorite. Nice to meet BigEarl and Sue.
We should thank others for breaking the trail, you really couldn't have had better conditions.