Tuesday, July 11, 2017

13 Falls Overnight with Owls Head July 9-10 2017



This is Sage, Alex is at camp.

13 Falls Overnight with Owls Head July 9-10 2017
Total miles: 20.6
Trails:  Lincoln Woods Trail, Franconia Brook Trail, Lincoln Brook Trail, Owls Head Path
Elevation Gain:  3,550


Most of the pictures in this trip report were taken by me, but some are Mom's that she let me use.


This is my new backpack fully packed for the overnight.  My old one was really falling apart.


Me in front of the suspension bridge at Lincoln Woods.  It's 6:00 am here, so I'm really tired!


This is the river by Lincoln Woods.  It's so pretty in the early morning!


This is Franconia Brook Trail.  Still pretty flat.


The photo doesn't really capture the beauty of this spot.  It was like staring down a long, green tunnel.




The sunlight was coming through the trees and was speckling these thin trees with sunlight. So pretty.




Here, everything was so green and bright.  Very inspiring.



Franconia Brook Trail was pretty every step of the way.  Look at this pond with a mountain view in the background.


Though beautiful, the still water attracted lots of bugs!




Yay!  After about 8.1 flat miles, we arrived at the day's destination: 13 Falls Campsite.  We were planning to spend the night there.  We got there very early, so we had plenty of time to explore.



13 Falls had two bear canisters which we used, as well as a cooking/eating area.


We had just gotten to our tent site when we saw a slug hanging from a long string of what looked like slime!  He or she was twisting in midair as if trying to keep Mom and me in eye site.  It was also lowering itself slowly towards the ground.  After taking many pictures of it, we turned around to start unpacking the tent, and when we looked back, only about 30 seconds later, it was gone!  We looked on the ground around where it had been hanging, but could not see it anywhere.  Mom thinks that maybe it got eaten by a frog.














Here is our one-pound tent all set up.  It is suppose to be a two-person tent, but Mom, Alex, and I can all fit in it.



This is just an artistic shot of my sleeping pad.


From inside the tent, this is what you saw if you looked outside.


Another artistic photo.


Most of the sites were open when we got there, so we had our choice.  Here are a couple of photos of the surrounding campsites.



As the name "13 Falls" suggests, there are water falls close to the campsite in which you can swim, though there are not actually 13 falls.  The "13" references that the campsite used to be a logging camp called Camp 13.



I swam in the water.  It was very cold, and it took some getting used to, but I eventually was able to swim without freezing to death!







This pool was particularly pretty, as there were strips of orange rock underneath the water.  In between them were deep gorges where I could not stand.  It was a little scary, to be honest!


The next day, we got up at around 5:30 am.  We packed up, ate, then headed out.  We were planning to take Lincoln Brook Trail to the Owls Head slide, tag the peak, then continue on to Franconia Brook Trail.  We would then walk out to the Lincoln Woods parking lot, where we had started our trek.  Here is Mom packing up our tent.


The area around our campsite.


This is a frog that Mom noticed, who was right next to our campsite.




The part of Lincoln Brook Trail that comes before the Owls Head slide (from our perspective) was rumored to be not very well maintained and hard to follow, but we found it to be, though a little bit more wild than the part after the slide, quite easy to follow in whole.  Though one part, just before the slide, was confusing, we managed to figure it out in the end.





We found the entrance to the Owls Head Slide pretty easily and started up.  It basically was just straight up the whole way.  This is a view from the slide.


When we got up there, official trail stopped and herd paths reined.  We got to the old summit; here are a few pictures of the clearing and the surrounding area.






 Selfie!




This is just a hole in the ground.  I wanted to take its picture.


We then started in search of the other summit.  We followed herd paths for a while, going up and down.  We got to a few places that might have been the 2nd summit, but after a while we thought we had probably already passed it and that we were wandering too far away from the designated trail.  Here are some pictures of the herd path we followed.



We came back down the slide.  At the intersection with Lincoln Brook Trail, we sat down and took a snack break.


Here is the beginning of the slide.  As one can see from the picture, someone put up some illegal cairns, but I think they are pretty recent, and they will probably get taken down soon.


Someone carved an arrow showing where the trial going up the slide starts.  I think this behavior is disgusting, as the people that do this are hurting the trees on which they carve things.


We walked toward Franconia Brook trail feeling very tired and happy about the fact that most of the ups of the day were done.  This is the Lincoln Brook Trail after the slide.


We finally got to the bridge just before the Lincoln Woods Trail.  We were so weary and looking forward to milk shakes!



This was an amazing hike altogether, and a good mother-daughter bonding experience.  Also, when we were driving back home, we stopped by McDonalds and picked up hamburgers and milkshakes!
























11 comments:

  1. Nice report, Sage! I didn't know that's why it's called 13 Falls -always a good day when I learn something new! Agree completely with you about carving on trees. What kind of tent did you use? Roomy and one pound - I'd like to hear more!

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    1. Thanks, John! We use a Tarp Tent. Our tent is actually 1 pound and 3 ounces, contrary to what it says in the trip report. Here is the link to the site: https://www.tarptent.com/store/tents

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  2. thanks for this wonderful trip report.. looks like a great adventure that you had lots of mother daughter fun. Both of you are fabulous hikers I am in awe

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  3. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    1. This comment was removed by mistake, sorry! To answer the question - we hiked the entire trail on this trip, the section past the slide included. The trip report details our adventure. :)

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  4. Sage, I was wondering how the new pack fits? My girls are 12 & 14 (5'3") and are needing new packs too and wondering about the Kumo. They aren't sure if it will be too long! Thanks!!!!

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  5. Hi Val,

    This is Sage -- I am 5'6" and the pack fit well for me. All I had to do was tie the hip straps so they wouldn't loosen when I hike, but this was a pretty easy thing to do. Alex is 5'5" and the pack fits well on her too, but she has the same issue with the hip belt. These packs are good otherwise. Hope this helps!

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  6. Thanks for the journey. I hiked to 13 Falls in 1962. There was a lean2 and out house then!

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