To: mitoc@MIT.EDU
Subject: Owl's Head--Trip Report
Date: Thu, 03 Jun 1999 00:22:53 EDT
From: James C Reardon <nemesis@MIT.EDU>

Jim Reardon, Jesse Darley:  June 2 1999

Owl's Head is perhaps the least-climbed 4000+ ft peak in New Hampshire.
It is nestled in between Franconia Ridge and the Bond-Guyot ridge.  
Jesse Darley and I have just climbed it.  Here are some notes:

  I'd made two previous attempts to climb it, several years ago, and hadn't
  been able to find the trail up, which had been described in the AMC guide as
  an unmarked bushwhack.  As of now there is a obvious carin, marking the
  start of the Owl's Head path, which looks well-used, on the Lincoln Brook 
  Trail.  

  Jesse and I, approaching from the north, took the first apparent possible
  route (rather than look for a carin we didn't know existed) and reached 
  the top after an unmarked bushwhack. We found the trail 300 ft from the top,
  which has no vista but what can be seen through the open woods.  On the way 
  down we lost the trail 300 ft from the top and reached the bottom after 
  another unmarked bushwhack (both of us are now refreshingly pine-scented).
  Our way led through what had recently been a Moose's living room.  Jesse
  gets a Moosestalker cap for using the moose's trail for our advantage.

Open Questions:  Is there a well-marked trail all the way from bottom to top?

                 At the top, the trail appeared to continue down the East
                 side of Owl's Head (towards Bond and Guyot).  Does this go
                 anywhere?

                 On the south side of Owl's Head (as seen from the Kancamagus
                 highway) there are some cliffs.  Is the rock good?  Has 
                 anyone ever climbed there?

Jim Reardon
