Copy/Repost Hike

George and I both arrived early at the Lincoln Woods parking lot on June 11th.  It was approximately 7:45 and we quickly got organized.  We left one car here and carpooled up to the Bridle Path/Falling Waters Trailhead in Franconia Notch.  As usual, this lot was already mostly full by this time.  The peaks were initially out of the clouds with a slight chill in the air.  

By 8AM we started up the trail.  The trail was initially pretty crowded, but luckily by the time we reached the trail split, most of the hikers took the Falling Waters Trail to do the loop in a counter-clockwise direction.  We stayed on the Bridle Path.  We made good time and by 8:45 we were getting glimses of Franconia Ridge through the trees.  It was a short time later that we reached the open ledges with wonderful views up to Mts. Lafayette and Lincoln.  We continued up the trail and as we climbed there were also views of Cannon and the Kinsmans across the notch.  We arrived at the Greenleaf Hut by 9:30.  By this time clouds had enveloped the peaks above.  We took a break inside for a snack.  At just before 10AM we headed back out for the climb to Mt. Lafayette.  As we gained elevation it became much cooler and windier.  We reached Mt. Lafayette's summit (5260') by 10:40.  The winds were even more intense up there and with the clouds everything was rather obscured.  Since there wasn't much to see, we pressed on.  Thankfully, by the time we descended into the col the winds had significantly lessened.  Along the way, we ran into two rangers, who were hiking between the peaks to ensure that hikers were alright and to make sure that they stayed on the trail.  While we spoke, they asked what we were doing and I hesitated before telling them that we were taking the Lincoln Slide to Owl's Head.  I was surprised that they didn't flinch, considering they were trying to keep hikers to the trail (maybe they just figured we must know what we were doing).  Anyway, we reached the summit of Mt. Lincoln (5089') by 11:20.  We didn't stay long, as this peak was also very hazy too.  We backtracked along the trail and on the way back the clouds began to lift and the Lincoln Slide was becoming visible.  We reached the point just above the slide and we descended around some rocks and scrub.  There was a small cairn near the top and it looked like a faint herd path in spots.  This leg of the slide started very close to the trail and it was fairly easy to get to it.  By 11:50 we were at the top of the slide and we began our descent.  It was also by this time the clouds were beginning to lift off of the ridge and the peaks across the Pemigewasset Wilderness...Owl's Head was prominent as we looked down the slide.  The slide was quite easy to descend with its fine scree and some boulders, which made portions of the slide more stable.  It also wasn't particularly steep.  At 12:10PM we found a nice set of rocks on which to sit, enjoy the clearing views and have a bit of lunch.  There was a deep drainage cut through the center of the slide and we sat just above this during of lunch break.  After lunch we were a bit chilled and wanted to get moving again, so by 12:24 we continued our descent.  It wasn't long before the slide narrowed into a ravine and we were rock hopping from side to side to find the best path along the brook, which had become swifter after a number of drainage streams had combined.  We followed this for awhile, but as the slide narrowed to nothing more than the brook, the woods seemed to be opening up and we climbed the bank to bushwhack the woods.  Luckily, as reported, the woods were fairly open and quite easy to hike through.  There were a few spots that we briefly found ourselves in thicker pine, but after some course corrections we were good again.  At 1:30 we reached a small beaver pond with nice views over to Mt. Garfield and a partial view back up to the Franconia Ridge.  It was only 15 minutes further when we were crossing Lincoln Brook just above a large cascade.  We had to climb the opposite bank to find the Lincoln Brook Trail.  

It was just before 2PM when we were finally on the trail again and we headed south for the junction with the Owl's Head Herd Path.  This didn't take long to reach...in just 15 minutes we reached two cairns which marked the start of the Owl's Head slide.  There was a large group of hikers taking a break here.  It was lightly sprinkling and we enquired about the state of the slide.  Of course, they made it sound horrendous, but we took this with a grain of salt and headed up.  It wasn't long before the slide began to open up and it became steeper.  It was slow going as we were both tired, but we just pressed on.  It had been a long time, since I last climbed this slide and I had forgotten what a challenge it was.  Still it was nice, but unfortunately by this time the peaks were again obscured by clouds, so there were limited views across the valley.  It was surprising that we met an almost constant stream of hikers on this herd path, particularly considering mostly only peakbaggers venture out to this mountain.  The slide had a very worn path and wasn't bad at all.  By 2:50 we had re-entered the woods and the trail continued to climb aggresively to the top of the ridge.  We reached this point by around 3PM and we walked north across the peak until we reached the true summit of Owl's Head (4025') at 3:30.  There we ran across a group of women leaving the summit, who were celebrating one of their final peaks and at the summit a group of young men who were close to finishing their list.  We spoke to these guys, while we took a well-deserved break.

After awhile we thought we should start back.  We re-traced our steps across the summit and descended the slide arriving back at the Lincoln Brook Trail by 4:30.  We still had a long way to go, so we headed south for our trek back to Lincoln Woods.  The brooks were fairly full and running swiftly.  We had to cross the Lincoln Brook and a couple of the side brooks, but luckily these weren't too bad (folks had said the main crossings further down were challenging).  We quickened our pace as the trail was mostly level with a very gradual descent.  By 5:40 we reached the main crossing of Lincoln Brook.  Instead of continuing on by the trail, we headed into the woods following the Black Pond herd path.  There were two herd paths which left the trail, but we choose the one which paralleled the brook.  This trail quickly faded away.  We continued through mostly open woods on a fairly straight bearing to Black Pond.  It was lightly raining by this time and we were getting soaked from brushing up against the vegatation through here.  At 6:15 we found ourselves in a wet area just north of the pond.  We made our way around this and finally found the herd path.  Here there was a sign warning about camping within 200 feet around the pond.  We were now the on the distinct herd path and we quickly headed to the south end of Black Pond, where the official spur trail ended.  Here we met a bunch of guys, who were fishing and camping near the pond for the night.  We talked for a bit and then continued following the Black Pond Trail back to the Lincoln Woods Trail (with which we intersected by 6:45PM).  From here it was just another 2.4 miles back to the parking lot along this old railroad grade.  After hiking all day, this stilled seemed to take forever, but by 7:30 we were crossing the suspension bridge at the end of the trail.  We got packed up and headed back up Franconia Notch to pick up the other car (the notch was completely fogged in by this time).  It was quite late, so we just decided to call it a day.

Although it was a long and challenging day, it was very cool to hike the Lincoln Slide, both for its remoteness and its historic prospective.  It was fairly easy to do, but it was challenging climbing Owl's Head after climbing and descending Franconia Ridge.  It's amazing that this was once a blazed trail 60+ years ago.  It was spectacular, but not surprising that it fell into disuse.  Thanks to George to sharing the adventure!

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