June 8, 2024

Start/End: Lincoln Woods Trailhead, Kancamagus Hwy

Peaks: Owl's Head (4,025')

Elevation Gain: 3,190 ft

RT Mileage: 16.42 mi

Duration: 9 hours, 44 minutes

Rock Difficulty: Class 2

Back in September, the last time I was in the Pemi Wilderness, I made the decision to bag the Bonds and procrastinate Owl's Head for a later date. That later date has finally arrived. To ease my misery just a little, I decided to use the Black Pond bushwhack and shave two miles off the hike.

Waking up at 4:50 AM, I was on the road by 5:15, and arrived at the trailhead two hours later. I started out on the Lincoln Woods Trail just after 7:20. After 2.5 miles of following an old railroad, I took the trail to Black Pond. A couple of rain showers came through in the early morning, nothing compared to the rain forecasted later in the day. After 0.8 miles, I arrived at Black Pond.

There were some rather noisy green frogs near the pond, along with a ton of black flies, so I didn't linger long. From Black Pond, I took the Black Pond bushwhack 1.1 miles to the western side of the Lincoln Brook, where it meets the Lincoln Brook Trail. The bushwhack was fairly easy to follow, though clearly not as used as the Engine Hill bushwhack on Isolation, for example.

After the bushwhack, it was 2.5 miles on the Lincoln Brook Trail to the base of the Owl's Head Slide. A steady rain began around 10:20. By the time I reached the Lincoln Brook crossing, the rocks had become slippery, making the crossing a little tricky.

Shortly after the river crossing, I took the defunct Owl's Head Path away from the Lincoln Brook. Owl's Head is unique in that it's the only one of the 48 NH 4,000ers with no official trail to its summit. The trail quickly brought me to the base of the Class 2 Owl's Head Slide, which is mostly scree. The slide offered decent views of the Franconia Ridge despite continuing rain and low clouds.

At the top of the slide, the trail entered the coniferous forest and began to ascend more gradually. After around 800 vertical feet, I gained the south shoulder of Owl's Head, where the trail flattened out. After 0.3 miles on the ridge, I summited Owl's Head just before 12:30 PM. It was cold, windy, and raining, so I only stayed on the summit for around five minutes.

At around 3,400 ft on the way down, I decided to take the Brutus bushwhack back down to Lincoln Brook instead of descending the much steeper Owl's Head Slide. The bushwhack was still unpleasant to descend, especially since the rock was wet. On the bright side, the sun briefly made a reappearance while I was descending.

Rain showers returned as I was nearing the bottom of the bushwhack, and just after I made it back to Lincoln Brook it began to absolutely pour. Water was beginning to pond on the trail, and I was glad I had made it down the steep part of the hike before it started pouring. The rain began to lighten up after around 30 minutes, and stopped within an hour. My clothes dried surprisingly quickly after the rain stopped.

I stopped at Black Pond for a quick snack on the way back. Just after I made it back to the Lincoln Woods Trail, it began to rain again, although thankfully this shower was significantly lighter and shorter than the previous one. I made it back to the trailhead just after 5:15, and 4,000er #33 was in the books.