My alarm sounded at 4:15am so we could get to the trailhead by 7:30am. The weather was nice and sunny. It was little cooler making the hike much more enjoyable (rather than the heat and humidity of the previous weeks). We took the Lincoln Woods Trail to Franconia Brook Trial to Lincoln Brook Trail to Owls Head Slide. Lincoln Woods Trail was wide and really easy hiking. Franconia Brook trail had a couple small stream crossing, but after one crossing, the trail was a little muddy and it made a sharp left. There were many stream crossings on the Lincoln Brook Trail, but fortunately the water was not very high. The Owls Head Slide was a lot of fun. There were a lot of loose rocks so we had to be careful of the people below us and beware of the people above us. We had some nice views from the slide. We reached what we thought was the old summit where two nails were still in a tree and then continued on for 10 more minutes on a well worn path that was difficult to follow in a couple of places until we reached a cairn. We assumed this cairn was the true summit. Then we turned around, ate lunch on the slide and journeyed back to the trailhead. A very nice dry day. The clouds in the morning burned off in the afternoon.
Danielle fearlessly crossing over the rushing waters.
Matthew (after jumping across the stream)
Matthew, Jeff and Michelle navigating through another stream crossing
Going Up the Owls Head Slide
Jeff and Danielle
Lincoln and Lafayette in the clouds
Little Haystack
Liz cheerfully climbing up the slide.
Mt. Liberty in the distance
The great, magnificent, wonderful, amazing view of Owls Head Summit
The two nails marking where the old summit
The cairn marking the new summit (or at least I hope its the true summit)
Group Photo (my camera was balancing on very small branch for this picture)
Group Photo
Another Group Photo
Old Summit
Matthew swinging down the slide
Lincoln and Lafayette (it clear up)
Flume and Liberty
Franconia Ridge (Little Haystack on right)
Matthew and Michelle
Liz and Jeff
Amanda and Danielle
The group after descending Owls Head Slide (only 8 more miles to go)
The group marching on the Lincoln Woods Trail.