Owl's Head (Cherry Mountain): 8/6/24

With the humidity finally breaking, I took the afternoon off to make the stiff climb up the Owl's Head Trail to the ledges of Owl's Head (the north spur of Cherry Mountain), one of the great viewing spots in the Whites.

 

This historical marker commemorates the July 10, 1885 Cherry Mountain Slide, which nearly rivaled the Willey Slide in notoriety, as it was massive, highly visible, and resulted in a fatality. 

 

This is an outlying trail of the Randolph Mountain Club.

The first mile of the trail is on private land, and recent cutting by the start of the trail has opened a view of the sharp peak of Owl's Head.

The first 0.6 mile of the trail takes a circuitous route to bypass another private parcel. This nearly flat section is rough with an abundance of mud.

Wish there were a few more of these!

The footing improves on this old logging road.

At 1.1 mile the trail crosses Stanley Slide Brook, which is also the revegetated track of the 1885 Cherry Mountain Slide. After climbing the far bank, the trail turns left and up into the WMNF.

For the next 0.8 mile the trail makes a long, steady climb through a fine hardwood forest. The whole upper half of the trail is pretty relentless, climbing 1,600 feet in 1.3 miles.

An impressive burl on an old yellow birch.

Well up on the mountain, I made a short bushwhack across to the revegetated track of the 1885 slide. The upper part of the trail used to follow the track, with steep and eroded footing. In 2000 the RMC cut a relocation that gains the ridge by a long switchback, a much more sustainable route.

Here the slide track is a mossy swath.

Climbing along the lower part of the switchback relocation.

A beautiful section along a NW ridgecrest, on the upper section of the switchback.

Thank you, RMC trail crew!

In the summer of 1885, three weeks after the fall of the Cherry Mountain Slide, AMC member, Rev. M. V. B. Knox from Littleton, NH ascended the slide and made a number of observations, which were published in the March 1886 Appalachia. By way of introduction to his report, George C. Mann, AMC’s Councillor of Natural History, wrote: “The land-slides on the northern side of Cherry Mountain and upon Tripyramid have aroused interest in the study of land-slides in general, – their causes, phenomena and effects. They present a striking and picturesque illustration of geologic change, and at the same time afford an opportunity for the study of rock and earth formation beneath the ordinary surface of the ground, which is unique. It is to be wished that some comparative observations of land-slides might be made at this present favorable opportunity.” At the top of the slide, “a dozen rods below the top of Owl’s Head,” Rev. Knox found a massive ledge, measuring fifteen by fifty feet. From its narrow, tapered top the slide soon widened to a swath sixty to a hundred feet across.This ledge next to the trail clearly fits Knox's description.

Thus, this is the top of the old slide track.

Above here, the trail makes a very steep zigzag climb.

Leveling off on the summit approach.

This wooded ledge marks the 3,258 ft. summit.

Approaching the view ledges, with Cherry Mountain (Mt. Martha) looming close by to the south.

A wide view to the west, with Mt. Mansfield and Camel's Hump visible on the horizon.

The main ledges offer one of the best of all views of the Presidential Range. In the foreground are spurs of Cherry Mountain known as "The Humps." Seen below is the secluded Walker Valley.

Madison, Adams and Jefferson, with a peek into Castle Ravine.

Clay, Washington, Monroe and Franklin.

Eisenhower, Pierce and Jackson.

Webster and the Willey Range framing Crawford Notch, with Mt. Chocorua in the distance.

Cool trailside rocks. The round trip to Owl's Head is 5 miles with 2,000 ft. of elevation gain.