2 Days In The Pemi, 8 4K's & A Different Strategy 10/26-10/27/12

[jake L.]

Day1 Friday- My brother and I spotted a car at the Hale Brook trailhead and continued on to Gale River trail to leave our second car. At 8:30 am we were hiking in beautiful summer weather along the Gale River and a couple pleasant hours later were on the ridge and at a boarded up Galehead hut. A quick dash brought us to the summit of Galehead and clear views. Soon after we were atop South Twin where we dropped packs and made a fast out and back of North Twin. As we made our way across the alpine area of Guyot we met many people coming out from Zealand who would be staying with us at the campsite tonight. At 2:30 pm the spur for Guyot Campsite was reached, packs were stashed and pockets filled with supplies. We "pocket packed" across Bond and Bondcliff where we ran into two rock climbers working on a lead climb. It was now time to backtrack to our last summit of the day and our packs. Climbing out onto West Bond we were losing light fast and on the summit we watched the spectacular alpenglow play across the mountains. We were last to arrive at a very full Guyot Campsite and scored the single remaining tent platform, #6. Camp was struck, food consumed and eyelids were shut.

Day2 Saturday- At 9 am we were at it again, trekking back to Guyot and enjoying another fine summers day. After crossing Zealand and upon reaching Zeacliff we were greeted by many day hikers coming out from the hut below. We diverged at the Lend-A-Hand trail and in an hour were on Hale, our last mountain top. The last half of the Hale Brook trail was filled with ankle deep leaves which made for a fun tromp through the woods. At 2 pm we found ourselves back at our car and at the end of our travels. Perfect company, weather and a little different route made this a stellar trip!
Pictures below:

Bondcliff

Carrigain & Hancocks

Bondcliff

South Twin, Ravines & Slides

Shadows On Mt Bond

Bond & Moon

Lenticular Over Franconia Ridge

 

[The Unstrung Harp]

Awesome Bondcliff pic!! Putting that one at the top of my list.

What did you carry? I never know what to pack at this time of year for an overnight. There are certainly some amazing days but things can change so fast. Would love to hear your take.

 

[jake L.]

Thank you, it was one of the highlights of the trip!

Normally on shoulder season trips I end up taking a lot more than I actually use because it's very true how quickly the weather can change in the mountains. Besides the t-shirt and shorts that I wore there was very little else I brought. I had been following the weather all week very closely and left much of my gear behind. When I'm carrying a sleeping bag and a tent I feel much more comfortable about leaving an article or two behind, weather dependent.

 

[Sunshine Chris]

You sure chose to awesome days to get this trip done for late October. I am envious!

 

[jake L.]

You sure chose to awesome days to get this trip done for late October. I am envious!

Couldn't have asked for better weather, it was like August but without the humidity. A lot of people were out there taking full advantage.