5/5-5/6 Owl's Head; 4025 ft/18 mi.

Owls Head is the furthest 4000 footer from a road. It is 9.2 miles one way to the summit but we figured it would be pretty easy and snow free for most of the way so we chose this perfect weekend to tackle it.

Here's Greg attatching Ryan's sleeping bag with a bungee cord because Ryan decided it would be best to leave his large comfortable backpack at home for some reason.

This is us on the suspension bridge near the Lincoln Woods ranger station.

The start of the hike is on old train tracks so it is wide and straight. You could see 1400 yards dead straight at one point, give or take a few steps

The old pillars of the RR bridge are still there and have a bridge for hikers into the official wilderness area

Check your bikes at the door

No more bridges once you're in the wilderness. This is one way to cross small brooks

This is Owls Head at sunset, seen over a beaver pond that flooded the trail

And this is another way to cross the brooks and stay high and dry

Finally we came to a river that was too dangerous to cross in the dark and it was getting cold so we set up camp a few hundred feet off the trail

Then we saw the no camping sign but it was a little too late and we couldn't go any further in the dark

We made a small fire pit and cooked Bratwurst and Kielbasa's

And torched a perfectly good book we had brought in case we needed dry paper

We didn't really need it but we burned it anyways

This is me with our emergency bear repellent

Our camp in the morning. It was only 32 degrees at 6 AM

That's Owls Head and it's namesake cliff. Does that look like an owls head to anyone?

One of our more industrious attempts at crossing the river wasted 45 minutes building a bridge to the rocks. After Greg dunked one leg I took my boots off and waded across. I'd rather have cold numb feet for a minute than wet feet all day

The next crossing was too wide and we all had to take our boots off and walk across. I took the right way, they got stuck and had to come upstream to where it was shallower

Cold, but kind of refreshing

Finally, eight miles in, the start of the rock slide and the climb to the summit. It's the only 4000 footer without an official trail to it

The open slide gives good views of the Franconia ridge. Here's Mts Lincoln and Lafayette. The rock slide there is similar to the one we we're on only more recent

Mount Liberty from the slide

Near the top it turns from loose rock to ledges

Then gets steep and covered in snow...

...icy, crusty knee deep snow that slices at your legs when you posthole

The summit ridge was a tangled mess of downed trees and thigh deep soft snow

Which made Ryan and Greg give up about 100 yards from the summit so I was the only one there for the summit photo

Greg picking his way down. We accidentally dislodged several large rocks that could have ruined someones day if they hit anyone but there was nothing we could do about it

...and then he climbed Owls Head

On the way back we just walked through the rivers and brooks, boots and all. Very very refreshing for the feet and saved a little time too

A few miles of wet feet and it was back to "civilization" and only three more miles to go

Along the way there was a great view out to the Bonds up the river

These are two of the three 4000 footers I have left to climb

And finally back to the parking lot on the Kanc