Owl's Head Mountain is a stand alone 4000+ foot mountain located in the middle of the Pemigewasset Mountain range horseshoe. This treed summit has a longer approach than most objectives in the White Mountains. Due to it's viewless summit, it is dreaded among peak baggers as a large effort with little reward.
Deb and I rose around 5AM at the Hancock campground and ate breakfast. We hopped in the car and drove over to Lincoln Woods and paid the $5 parking fee. We left the parking lot around 6:30AM, and marched down the old rail trail towards the Black Pond turnoff. After a very hot July and August so far, the temperatures had dipped down in the 9C range overnight and the forecast called for sun and a pleasant 22C day - perfect for hiking. By the time we had walked onto the Black Pond trail, we were warmed up and needed to de-layer. Here we were passed by a trio of trail runners also attempting Owl's Head Peak. We met up with them at Black Pond as they were taking some photos of the view across the pond, one of the few views of the day. Here we exchanged phones and took photos and off they left. The most common way to Owl's Head is taking the Black Pond Bushwhack. Not on any official trail map, this bushwhack is an unmarked trail that connects Black Pond to the Lincoln Woods trail near a river crossing. It was a well trod trail with some blowdown and was easy to navigate - no compass or map required. I could see the trail labelled on my Garmin watch map. Once we were dumped onto the Lincoln Woods trail, we turned left and handrailed the Lincoln Brook all the way to the turn off. We originally wanted to climb the slide to the top, but by mistake ended up taking the Brutus Bushwhack up instead. This is another unmarked trail that is easy to follow and you miss the slide completely. It connects back up to the official trail just below the summit ridge. We got to the height of land pretty quickly and easily and felt pretty happy with our efforts. We were passed by a single male hiker as we traversed the ridge over to the summit proper. The pitiful cairn and word "Owl" carved into a tree was not much reward. In the distance between the trees, you could see some glimpses of the Pemi range but that's it. After a few summit shots we put on a layer and pulled our lunches for a break.
We found it odd that the trio of trail runners were no where to be seen. As we were eating, they showed up! They had taken the slide up, but we "slow hikers" as they called us had beat them up! We chatted away again, and got invited to be a guest on one of their podcasts! The energy was great and we all left the summit at the same time. We let them go ahead on the bushwhack and realized at the switchback that they had gone the wrong way and were coming back. We got ahead of them again! We met up at the bottom of the bushwhack at the river, taking a break. We kept going, and so they passed us yet again on the Lincoln Brook Trail. Thinking we would never see them again we said our goodbyes. We turned right before the river crossing and took the Black Pond Bushwhack back, but they continued on the Lincoln Brook trail back as it was more runnable. We marched out the last few miles and ended up meeting up with them in the parking lot. It had taken us 8 hours but them just under 7 hours. So much fun!
After dreading and putting off this mountain hike for a long time, I didn't find it hard. The trails are easier than most trails (mainly dirt) and the steep ascent doesn't seem to last for very long. The hardest part is definitely the mileage, but your speed is faster than most hikes in the the NorthEast. Also, we didn't see the infamous Pemi bear of 2025, but carried bear spray just in case.
Stats:
Date: Tuesday August 19th, 2025
Distance: 26.2km
Time: 8 hours
Elevation gain: 3100ft
Peak #109 of 115
Deb and I rose around 5AM at the Hancock campground and ate breakfast. We hopped in the car and drove over to Lincoln Woods and paid the $5 parking fee. We left the parking lot around 6:30AM, and marched down the old rail trail towards the Black Pond turnoff. After a very hot July and August so far, the temperatures had dipped down in the 9C range overnight and the forecast called for sun and a pleasant 22C day - perfect for hiking. By the time we had walked onto the Black Pond trail, we were warmed up and needed to de-layer. Here we were passed by a trio of trail runners also attempting Owl's Head Peak. We met up with them at Black Pond as they were taking some photos of the view across the pond, one of the few views of the day. Here we exchanged phones and took photos and off they left. The most common way to Owl's Head is taking the Black Pond Bushwhack. Not on any official trail map, this bushwhack is an unmarked trail that connects Black Pond to the Lincoln Woods trail near a river crossing. It was a well trod trail with some blowdown and was easy to navigate - no compass or map required. I could see the trail labelled on my Garmin watch map. Once we were dumped onto the Lincoln Woods trail, we turned left and handrailed the Lincoln Brook all the way to the turn off. We originally wanted to climb the slide to the top, but by mistake ended up taking the Brutus Bushwhack up instead. This is another unmarked trail that is easy to follow and you miss the slide completely. It connects back up to the official trail just below the summit ridge. We got to the height of land pretty quickly and easily and felt pretty happy with our efforts. We were passed by a single male hiker as we traversed the ridge over to the summit proper. The pitiful cairn and word "Owl" carved into a tree was not much reward. In the distance between the trees, you could see some glimpses of the Pemi range but that's it. After a few summit shots we put on a layer and pulled our lunches for a break.
We found it odd that the trio of trail runners were no where to be seen. As we were eating, they showed up! They had taken the slide up, but we "slow hikers" as they called us had beat them up! We chatted away again, and got invited to be a guest on one of their podcasts! The energy was great and we all left the summit at the same time. We let them go ahead on the bushwhack and realized at the switchback that they had gone the wrong way and were coming back. We got ahead of them again! We met up at the bottom of the bushwhack at the river, taking a break. We kept going, and so they passed us yet again on the Lincoln Brook Trail. Thinking we would never see them again we said our goodbyes. We turned right before the river crossing and took the Black Pond Bushwhack back, but they continued on the Lincoln Brook trail back as it was more runnable. We marched out the last few miles and ended up meeting up with them in the parking lot. It had taken us 8 hours but them just under 7 hours. So much fun!
After dreading and putting off this mountain hike for a long time, I didn't find it hard. The trails are easier than most trails (mainly dirt) and the steep ascent doesn't seem to last for very long. The hardest part is definitely the mileage, but your speed is faster than most hikes in the the NorthEast. Also, we didn't see the infamous Pemi bear of 2025, but carried bear spray just in case.
Stats:
Date: Tuesday August 19th, 2025
Distance: 26.2km
Time: 8 hours
Elevation gain: 3100ft
Peak #109 of 115
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