Saturday, January 20
Summits: Owl’s Head
Start/Finish: Lincoln Woods TH
Miles: 15.98
Elevation gain/loss: 3858′
I left from the parking lot at 11am, with snowshoes on my back and hot water in my Nalgenes. I made good time to Black Pond in my spikes and was able to continue onward without putting on snowshoes. The people before me had packed the trail down very well and left it in great condition. The ~3 major crossings on trail were solidly bridged and I felt very safe going across in spikes. I dropped my bag at the start of the Brutus bushwhack, and carried a few things with me in my pockets and clipped onto my belt. The climb up was brutally steep and much more slippery than usual due to all the foot traffic. I missed having heel lifts for this portion, but just kept it slow and steady. I tagged the summit, and headed back down. The low temperature was zero on the summit, with the lower temp hanging out around 5-10 degrees. I was able to hike most of the way back past Black Pond, before needing to turn on my headlamp. The walk out of Lincoln Woods wasn’t too bad, since it was so much shorter than the ZBonds traverse a few weeks ago by comparison.
Transcending Mountains 