Friday, December 23, 2011

LINCOLN WOODS: 12/22/11

Strange first day of winter, sunny and in the 40s after a freezing rain event the previous day. Took a morning stroll on the Lincoln Woods Trail, starting off across the familiar bridge, wearing Stabilicers for the icy trail conditions.


View north from the bridge towards a spur of North Hitchcock.


A new trail sign made of some sort of composite material.


A small trailside cascade.


Major washout from Irene, about 0.75 mi. up the trail.


View across East Branch from the washout.


Early ice forming on Osseo Brook alongside Lincoln Woods Trail.

Nasty ice from the freezing rain.

View of the Hitchcocks from a high, washed out bank on a spur path across from the Osseo Trail junction. If you go here, be sure to stay well back from the edge of the bank.


Why you need to keep back from the edge - severely undercut!

Start of the Osseo Trail.

I walked up the first gentle 0.2 mi. of the Osseo Trail, which meanders gently through hardwoods along Osseo Brook. This trail is admirably maintained by dedicated adopters Fisher Cat and Forester Jake.

A bend in the brook.

On the way back on Lincoln Woods Trail, I checked out a great new view of Bondcliff opened up by Irene, located off an obscure side path.

Cool map on the trailhead kiosk.


Peakbagger extraordinaire Ed Hawkins & crew were out bagging Owl's Head on the first day of winter. Conditions have changed today (12/23), as several inches of snow have fallen.

2 comments:

  1. Gorgeous scenes, but certainly not what one would expect for the first day of winter, especially in northern NH! Almost resembles scenery you might see in early springtime!

    John

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  2. Aha! So you're the culprit!! I had a note on my car after my OH hike and had no idea who left it. Now I know. Thanks for the note, Steve, and by the way, with all the gridders in our group, I'm comfortable that we hit the "new and true" summit. :-)

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