Re: GPS coordinates of Owls Head? -- Forum - New Hampshire Hikes & Walks

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Date Posted: 13:40:27 09/11/06 Mon
Author: Jon Niehof
Subject: Re: GPS coordinates of Owls Head?
In reply to: Content Manager 's message, "GPS coordinates of Owls Head?" on 17:16:45 12/14/04 Tue

I climbed Owl's Head yesterday (10 Sept. 2006). Several people passed us on the way down; I asked if they'd reached the true summit and they said "Of course, the trail leads right to it! There's a cairn and everything."

GPS reading at the cairn at the end of the path was 44 8.509'N, 71 36.356' W. Completely closed-in. GPS reads 4087' (I don't trust that one bit.)

Bushwhacked north, trying to stay on the highest point of the ridge and looking at distance from the false summit on GPS (since true summit is 0.2mi N). Many herdpaths run through here for a hundred feet or so, and somebody has apparently even brought a saw! But there's no continuous path and there's some definite real bushwhacking to be done.

Reached a slightly more open high point (can look through trees to Franconia Ridge and Bonds) and spotted a cairn in a cluster of trees. 44 8.661' N, 71 36.297' W, 4044' (riiiight.) In taking pictures we found the Owl's Head sign bolted high up on a tree...must be a 1" bolt.

Only took 15 minutes to get to the true summit, take pictures, and return to the false summit (getting the heading from GPS). It's possible the Flags on the 48 team had opened things up a bit for us the day before. We set up an arrow of rocks pointing down the herd path that gets a good ways towards the true summit. Hopefully people will understand it.

Since the slide path is now noted on many maps (e.g. National Geographic Trails Illustrated), I think it's attracting a lot more than 4000-footer candidates--people who simply think "oh, this is a trail, let's try it." I hate to be a curmudgeon, and I want people to appreciate the wilderness, but some underknowledgeable, underprepared people are coming up here. As we were ascending the slide, a boy scout troop was descending well ahead of us. One of them THREW HIS PACK. It landed about five feet in front of me. It could have landed on my face. It could have started a slide. And the adults in the group didn't say a thing to the kid. Unmaintained wilderness is no place for "boys will be boys."

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Path in AMC White Mtn Guide -- Content Manager, 16:13:43 09/11/06 Mon