NH_Mtn_Hiker
New member
I set out on the Lincoln-Woods trail at 2:15pm. The reason for the late start is another story in itself. It' didn't appear I'd be hiking at all this weekend but things change quickly and here I was heading out for the Bonds.
Despite having been awake 9 hours already, I set a mosquito and black fly beating pace of about 3.7 mph all the way to Hellgate Brook where as soon as I stopped I immediately grabbed the 15% Picaridin from my pack and soaked myself down. It took about 20 minutes for the Picaridin to reach full effectiveness, but once it did the bugs were all but gone.
As I started out eastward, bushwhacking along Hellgate Brook, I explored the slopes to either side searching for logging roads and herd paths to make the trip a little easier. I found an old logging road about 2/10 mile in and followed it for nearly two miles. As I was making my way along the east slope of West Bond a couple hundred feet above the brook I heard some noise from just ahead. The sounds were fairly faint but unmistakable. A large animal was walking by just ahead of me snapping branches from trees as he passed through the dense evergreens. About a hundred feet further along the smell hit me, a strong musky wet dog smell as distinctive as a skunk but not near as repulsive. The bear had walked by just out of sight on his way down to the brook. I strained my eyes to see him through the dense trees, but the sound slowly faded and disappeared as he neared the brook, so I turned my attention back to finding my route over to the base of the talus fields.
The final part of the trip up to the talus fields on Bondcliff is the hardest. From the east side of Hellgate Brook you can't see the talus fields. The easy route from the brook to the Bondcliff Trail takes less than an hour...being off 50 feet or so to the south could take 3-4 hours if you can get through at all. After having supper on the talus I proceded up to the Bondcliff Trail arriving there at 7:00pm.
By this time my legs were getting pretty wobbly but I turned towards Mt. Bond and headed up the trail eagerly awating my second wind. Upon summiting Mt. Bond I considered turning south and heading back to L-W, but the call to the SAR team wouldn't go out until after 8:00am, so what the heck, after taking a few pics and exploring some herd paths around the summit, I made my way over to West Bond arriving easily in time to watch the sunset.
By the time I got to West Bond the Sunset Crew from the Guyot shelter was already there. They hassled me briefly about beer
, but once convinced I didn't have any they left me alone and I went and pulled an ice cold Mountain Dew from my pack and began chugging away. We discussed the lack of maintenance of the Hi-Cannon Trail and that awesome website Views from the top. A couple of people spoke pretty highly of someone at the site named Darren, imagine that.
After we'd takin pics of the sun setting behind Mt. Garfield, the Sunset Crew headed back to the Guyot shelter and I headed back up over Mt. Bond. Just after leaving West Bond I realized my second wind had caught up to me. The pain in my legs was gone and I felt like a whole new person as I sped up over Mt. Bond and south towards Bondcliff. I took a break on Bondcliff to eat my second deluxe PB&J sandwich and gaze at the flickering of a headlamp across the Pemi on the Garfield Ridge Trail then I put on my own headlamp and headed down below treeline towards the Wilderness Trail.
The Bondcliff Trail south of Bondcliff is undergoing some maintenance. There are new steps, waterbars, etc...Looks pretty good, though those doing the maintenance should probably stash their tools more than 30 feet off the trail so people like me don't trip over them.
By the time I reached the Wilderness Trail at about 11:40 my second wind had left me. My legs were killing me, my toes hurt, my head hurt, and I was having difficulty walking a straight line. Perhaps I should have brought a second Mountain Dew. I headed east on the Wilderness Trail crossing the bridge over the East Branch at midnight, then up the Cedar Brook Trail to the East Side Trail. Sometime before reaching the campsites on the East Side Trail I went into zombie mode...must keep walking...must keep walking...
At 2am I reached the L-W parking area after hiking about 22.5 miles and about 4,600 vertical feet. The late start sure made a huge difference on the difficulty. If I'd waited another few hours to start the hike I'd of probably never made it back...unless I took a six-pack of Mountain Dew with me.
Pics are here.
Despite having been awake 9 hours already, I set a mosquito and black fly beating pace of about 3.7 mph all the way to Hellgate Brook where as soon as I stopped I immediately grabbed the 15% Picaridin from my pack and soaked myself down. It took about 20 minutes for the Picaridin to reach full effectiveness, but once it did the bugs were all but gone.
As I started out eastward, bushwhacking along Hellgate Brook, I explored the slopes to either side searching for logging roads and herd paths to make the trip a little easier. I found an old logging road about 2/10 mile in and followed it for nearly two miles. As I was making my way along the east slope of West Bond a couple hundred feet above the brook I heard some noise from just ahead. The sounds were fairly faint but unmistakable. A large animal was walking by just ahead of me snapping branches from trees as he passed through the dense evergreens. About a hundred feet further along the smell hit me, a strong musky wet dog smell as distinctive as a skunk but not near as repulsive. The bear had walked by just out of sight on his way down to the brook. I strained my eyes to see him through the dense trees, but the sound slowly faded and disappeared as he neared the brook, so I turned my attention back to finding my route over to the base of the talus fields.
The final part of the trip up to the talus fields on Bondcliff is the hardest. From the east side of Hellgate Brook you can't see the talus fields. The easy route from the brook to the Bondcliff Trail takes less than an hour...being off 50 feet or so to the south could take 3-4 hours if you can get through at all. After having supper on the talus I proceded up to the Bondcliff Trail arriving there at 7:00pm.
By this time my legs were getting pretty wobbly but I turned towards Mt. Bond and headed up the trail eagerly awating my second wind. Upon summiting Mt. Bond I considered turning south and heading back to L-W, but the call to the SAR team wouldn't go out until after 8:00am, so what the heck, after taking a few pics and exploring some herd paths around the summit, I made my way over to West Bond arriving easily in time to watch the sunset.
By the time I got to West Bond the Sunset Crew from the Guyot shelter was already there. They hassled me briefly about beer
, but once convinced I didn't have any they left me alone and I went and pulled an ice cold Mountain Dew from my pack and began chugging away. We discussed the lack of maintenance of the Hi-Cannon Trail and that awesome website Views from the top. A couple of people spoke pretty highly of someone at the site named Darren, imagine that. After we'd takin pics of the sun setting behind Mt. Garfield, the Sunset Crew headed back to the Guyot shelter and I headed back up over Mt. Bond. Just after leaving West Bond I realized my second wind had caught up to me. The pain in my legs was gone and I felt like a whole new person as I sped up over Mt. Bond and south towards Bondcliff. I took a break on Bondcliff to eat my second deluxe PB&J sandwich and gaze at the flickering of a headlamp across the Pemi on the Garfield Ridge Trail then I put on my own headlamp and headed down below treeline towards the Wilderness Trail.
The Bondcliff Trail south of Bondcliff is undergoing some maintenance. There are new steps, waterbars, etc...Looks pretty good, though those doing the maintenance should probably stash their tools more than 30 feet off the trail so people like me don't trip over them.
By the time I reached the Wilderness Trail at about 11:40 my second wind had left me. My legs were killing me, my toes hurt, my head hurt, and I was having difficulty walking a straight line. Perhaps I should have brought a second Mountain Dew.
I headed east on the Wilderness Trail crossing the bridge over the East Branch at midnight, then up the Cedar Brook Trail to the East Side Trail. Sometime before reaching the campsites on the East Side Trail I went into zombie mode...must keep walking...must keep walking...At 2am I reached the L-W parking area after hiking about 22.5 miles and about 4,600 vertical feet. The late start sure made a huge difference on the difficulty. If I'd waited another few hours to start the hike I'd of probably never made it back...unless I took a six-pack of Mountain Dew with me.
Pics are here.
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