OWL'S HEAD TALUS: 10/6/15

After last week's Hellgate Brook/West Bond slide exploration, I was eager to return for some more wandering in the Franconia Brook valley, deep in the western Pemigewasset Wilderness. Today's plan was to do a bushwhack loop to visit the southern two of the four talus slopes that spot the eastern flank of Owl's Head Mountain.  I had been to one of these rock patches twice in the '90s; the other would be a new spot. Both promised great views across the valley to the Bond Range with some good foliage, hopefully, on the valley floor.

It was a brisk walk up the Lincoln Woods Trail, with quick stops at mile 1.7 for looks at West Bond...

...and Bondcliff.

More mountain views along the way...Mount Flume from the Franconia Brook bridge...

...and the southern end of Owl's Head from a beaver meadow beside the bypass section of Franconia Brook Trail, 4 miles in.

Stove pieces from J.E. Henry's Camp 9. I owe thanks to logging railroad enthusiasts Ray Caron and Beth Zimmer for beta on this; I had always assumed that the Camp 9 location had been submerged by beaver activity.

More remnants from the Camp 9 site.

I made a short side excursion to a beaver swamp along Camp 9 Brook, surrounded by tall white pines.

Red maple leaves carpeted this section of the Franconia Brook Trail, following the arrow-straight bed of J.E. Henry's early 1900s logging railroad.

Morning sun illuminated the foliage by this beaver pond at the base of the western spur of Bondcliff.

After crossing Hellgate Brook, I briefly poked around the site of Camp 10, finding this piping that was apparently part of a water system.

Another section of piping runs through a small drainage right across the trail.

I left the trail a half-mile north of Camp 10 and headed across to Franconia Brook. Near the stream I crossed what looked to be a railbed. A couple of weeks ago Beth Zimmer and Ray Caron walked/bushwhacked the entire route of the spur line that wrapped around the south side of Owl's Head, "inside" Franconia and Lincoln Brooks. To their surprise, on the upper east end the line continued some distance north of the Camp 10 site, which did not correspond to the logging railroad maps that have been published. They concluded that the spur line crossed Franconia Brook well north of Camp 10 and then looped back to join the main line. If this photo and the one below it are indeed depicting a railbed, it would substantiate their theory.

Franconia Brook is a big and beautiful backcountry stream.

Part of the Owl's Head ridge rises behind a display of foliage.

More foliage and Owl's Head.

Looking north, skies were cloudy and remained that way all day. From this spot I could see talus slope #2 on the flank of Owl's Head.

I used my crocs to cross the brook here, as there were not many good stepping stones.

A restful scene, looking back from the west bank.

I proceeded to bushwhack up the east slope of Owl's Head through mostly open hardwoods.

A beautiful glade as I approached the vicinity of talus slope #1 (the southernmost).

Gorgeous maple forest at 2600 ft.

After crossing a drainage I emerged in the sun on talus slope #1.

The view down the Franconia Brook valley was excellent, with the Hancocks, Hitchcocks and Osceolas in the distance.

I carefully made my way up and across the rocks - some of which were loose, others secure - to a perch with a magnificent vista across the valley to West Bond and Bondcliff.

A closer look at that storied duo in the heart of the Pemi.

This spot is well-placed for a fine view of Mount Guyot and the slide-scarred southern cirque at the head of Redrock Brook.

Looking back across the slope.

This century-old sled road was invaluable for the traverse northward across the slope to talus slope #2. Otherwise I would have been floundering through some steep and rough terrain.

I came out at the scrubby upper southern corner of the slope.

I picked my way down to the top of the main rock field, which had a completely open view across the valley.

A down-look to the Franconia Brook valley floor.

A commanding viewpoint, with a sweep all the way around to Scar Ridge. It was as great as I remembered from my previous visits.

West Bond, Bondcliff and Hancock.

The crags of Bondcliff rising above the twisting valley of Hellgate Brook.

A terrific profile of the Bond Range.

The blunt rounded humps of Galehead Mountain and Southwest Twin rise to the north. North and South Twin are also visible from here, but were smothered in cloud.

The upper half of the whack down from talus slope #2 was steep and rocky, then it segued into open hardwoods for the lower half.

Franconia Brook, well upstream from my earlier crossing.

A peek at the profile of the SE cliff of Owl's Head.

Redrock Brook, looking downstream from the trail crossing.

USGS benchmark on the bank of Redrock Brook.

The last rays of the sun light up the west spur of Bondcliff at the beaver pond just north of the Lincoln Brook Trail junction. Another great day in the Pemi!

HELLGATE BROOK & WEST BOND SLIDE: 10/2/15

On a cool fall day with high clouds and occasional sun, I joined Chris "NeoAkela" Whiton for a bushwhack adventure into the Hellgate Brook valley in the western Pemigewasset Wilderness. Our objective was a large slide on the steep south slope of the remote West Bond. In the view seen from Bondcliff below, it is the wide slide farthest to the left, sometimes called the "V-Guitar Slide" for its resemblance to a stylish rock guitar.

 
Starting a little after 7:30 am, we strolled up the familiar Lincoln Woods Trail, pausing for a peek at Bondcliff rising far off in the Wilderness beyond the wide East Branch of the Pemigewasset.

I always admire the view of Mount Flume from the bridge over Franconia Brook.

Our route is that-a-way, to the left.

Chris takes in the fine view of Owl's Head from a beaver meadow just off the bypass section of Franconia Brook Trail.

A closer look at the sharp south peak and wild SE cliffs of Owl's Head. Chris, John "1HappyHiker" Compton and I visited those cliffs back in the winter of 2009.

The railroad grade built by J.E. Henry's loggers in the early 1900s provides smooth, easy walking through the valley.

A scenic beaver pond just north of the Lincoln Brook Trail junction. The west spur of Bondcliff is seen on the right. The remote peak of Southwest Twin peeks over the trees on the left.

The old nourishing the young.

A needle-carpeted stretch of the old railroad grade.

A glimpse of West Bond through the trees.

 In this late-in-coming foliage season, we found some nice color at the base of Bondcliff's west spur.

Hellgate Brook at the crossing on Franconia Brook Trail, 5.5 miles from the trailhead.

A USGS benchmark adorns a rock on the north side. We left the trail here and started bushwhacking along the brook, starting on the north side through some scrappy woods, switching to the south side for better going, then hopping back to the north side.

About a half-mile upstream, we came to this neat cascade and rock wall. Chris, one of the finest photographers working in the Whites, gets the shot. We wondered if this was the feature for which the brook was named.

In the next section we followed the remains of an old tote road, grown up in places to face-slapping small conifers. Overall the woods in this valley seemed a fair bit peskier than when I last came through here 20 years ago.

Hellgate Brook, deep in the valley.

After crossing a northern tributary, we climbed higher up the slope and came into some ferny birch glades.

An old sled road well up on the slope.

Birch glade whackin'!

First glimpse of Bondcliff, through the trees.

Eventually we came to the western of the slide's two lower tracks and followed it up.

Approaching the slide.

Lots of loose stuff, requiring attention to footing.

Chris climbs under the baleful gaze of Bondcliff.

Looking up the slide over some exfoliating slabs.

When climbing a slide, it's best to stay off the slime.

Another perspective.

Looking across to Whaleback, Flume and Liberty.

A closer view of Flume and Liberty.

Chris takes in the view.

Wow!

A spot of sun illuminates the crags of Bondcliff. I first visited this slide in 1995 after gazing at it from up there, then making a gnarly bushwhack down Bondcliff's upper west ridge and dropping steeply into the Hellgate valley. I had time for only a brief visit on that October day before undertaking the long whack down the valley to Franconia Brook Trail. Today we spent a long time soaking in the scenery from the slide.

We spotted a couple of hikers on the famous jutting crag up there.

Looking down from the upper end of the wide part of the slide. The Osceolas and Scar Ridge are seen in the distance over the west ridge of Bondcliff.

The Osceolas, displaying several of their slides.

Chris surveys the scene at the uppermost end of the lower part of the slide, at 3600 ft. We had discussed the possibility of continuing up the upper part of the slide and on through the scrub to the ridge and the summit of West Bond, followed by an 11.5 mile exit hike over Bond and Bondcliff. But it was now 3:00 pm and we would have had a tough climb above and many miles out by headlamp, with a midnight exit a possibility. So we made the sensible decision to hang at the slide a while longer and return the way we came. Were it July, with those precious extra hours of daylight (and were I twenty years younger), we might have decided differently.

We each found a perch and just sat, and looked.

Almost 4 o'clock, time to head down.

Pearly everlasting was blooming abundantly at the base of the slide.

Our route back down the valley followed the brook more closely, with many pretty vignettes.

Chris spotted this artifact across the brook. Though there were no known logging camps in this valley, it was cut hard by J.E. Henry's crews. We did the last 4 1/2 miles along the trails by headlamp, encountering a cow moose on the Lincoln Woods Trail at the Osseo Trail junction, then stopping to chat with a pair of inbound backpackers. It was a fine outing in the western Pemi!