blacknblue
Active member
The single-day Pemi Loop has become almost commonplace it seems. With all the trip reports and ridiculously fast times being reported, one might be tempted to approach the Pemi Loop casually. Well, I don’t care if I sound like a sissy: the Pemi Loop is HARD.
Last winter I decided to set a goal of 11 hours for a Pemi Loop, including West Bond and Galehead – 33.5 miles and 9700 vertical feet. While I was mostly confident, I really had no idea what my body would do after that much elevation gain (and loss). I gave it my best shot on Saturday.
I rarely do trip reports, and only like to do so if I am adding something new or helpful.
So here’s the useful part:
I thought I’d put together some splits, which are curiously hard to find. I only found a few useful trip reports in that regard. Metsky and LRiz were the two most thorough that I found, and I hope they don’t mind me posting their times here. I thought this might be helpful for those trying to set up split time goals, or even just to trace their progress along the way. Of course, I did WB and GH and they didn’t, and I don’t know which sections they ran instead of walked/hiked. The percentages are the total amount of the time of their hike elapsed at the given checkpoint.
Metsky
Bondcliff (2:30) (19.6%)
Bond (3:15) (25.5%)
Guyot (3:45) (29.4%)
Galehead Hut (5:20) (41.8%)
Flume (11:10) (87.6%)
finish, (12:44) (764 min) (100%)
LRiz
Bondcliff (2:04) (21.9%)
Bond (2:30) (26.5%)
Guyot (2:51) (30.2%)
South Twin (3:29) (36.9%)
Galehead Hut (3:52) (40.9%)
North Lafayette (6:32) (69.2%)
Flume (8:17) (87.8%)
finish (9:26) (566 min) (100%)
me
Bondcliff Trail
45) (6.8%)
Bondcliff (2:04) (18.9%)
Bond (2:38) (24.1%)
West Bond (3:00) (27.5%)
Twinway (3:32) (32.4%)
South Twin (4:10) (38.2%)
Galehead Hut (after tagging Galehead Mtn.) (5:00) (45.9%)
Garfield (6:35) (60.7%)
Lafayette (8:10) (75.0%)
Little Haystack (8:41) (79.7%)
Liberty (9:22) (86.1%)
Flume (9:53) (90.8%)
finish (10:53) (100%)
The first 1/3 of the miles (start – West Bond) took 3:00 exactly.
The middle 1/3 (WB – Lafayette) took 5:10.
The last 1/3 took 2:43.
As it turned out, I pulled off an 11-hour Pemi Loop after all, but it took an incredibly difficult last two hours to do so. I don’t know that I’ve ever pushed my body so hard. Getting from Liberty to Flume in 30 minutes with a full marathon already under my shoes was tough; getting from Flume to the bridge in 60 minutes was phenomenally exhausting. When I reached the bridge and went to sit down in the dirt, my legs buckled and I basically fell to the ground. A minute or two later, I tried to stand and my legs cramped up painfully. It took five minutes to walk to the car. My toes are pretty ugly today from kicked rocks and blisters, my quads and calves and Achilles are sore; my triceps are sore (from using poles on both ascents and descents); I have chafing where a man should never have chafing.
There’s my public service announcement – don’t take the Pemi Loop lightly.
So here’s the self-indulgent part:
I left Lincoln Woods at 6:00 sharp and started jogging/running down the trail with 17 pounds on my back – 6 of them liquid. I passed the Osseo Trail at 6:12, thinking it was only 1 mile from LW, and bummed at my slow time. I figured it out when I got to the Franconia Falls turnoff at 6:25. At 6:45 I was at the Bondcliff Trail. I wasn’t able to run much of the Bondcliff Trail at all – too rocky and rooty to run in an economical way. I hit “Big Bend” at 7:30 and climbed the Stairway to Heaven. I came to The Wall at 8:01, and – oh my – what a view!
Clear, cool blue skies dominated the early September morning, except for a thin line of clouds clinging to Franconia Ridge and Garfield’s peak. It was outstanding, and I took pictures for several minutes, strolling to the summit. I jogged to the col and climbed Bond in surprisingly quick time. I was quite pleased that the Bond Fortress has been reduced to a simple scree wall, and although the deadwood isn’t attractively spread around, at least it isn’t the eyesore it was a month ago.
Quickly down Bond and over to West Bond. I didn’t leave my pack at the col. I climbed the last summit blocks as my watch turned to 9:00, almost exactly 3 hours after leaving Lincoln Woods. What a great summit! Garfield and Lafayette didn’t even seem that far away. Fog was blowing over and around Guyot and South Twin, but the views were otherwise unobstructed. I passed over Guyot quickly and stopped at the Twinway junction to refuel. I had hoped to run much of the Twinway, but after the first 1/3 mile or so, it was too twisty and rocky to do so safely. Nevertheless, I topped out on South Twin within a minute of my aimed-for time, 10:10. Still feeling strong, I dropped down to the Hut and walked right on past to Galehead Mountain, which is by far the most boring summit on the Pemi Loop, but the trail was harder than I remember it, and muddy too.
I spent 11:00-11:15 in the hut, refilling three liters of water, eating, and stretching.
I had hoped to get from Galehead Hut to Lafayette in three hours, with Garfield the halfway point. The much-maligned GRT wasn’t as bad as I remembered it, especially the section between Gale River Trail and Franconia Brook Trail. I got on top of Garfield tired, but still optimistic, since it only took 1:20 from Galehead. After a few minutes of soaking in the views and admiring all the flags on the surrounding summits, I headed down. The first ½ mile is the toughest descent of the entire CCW Pemi Loop, harder than coming down from South Twin. After a few minor humps, the long 1500 vertical feet of uninterrupted ascent to Lafayette was the first time that I had doubts about a sub-11 Pemi Loop. My legs were getting really heavy at this point, and Lafayette’s north ridge seems to go on forever, with several false summits. Finally I reached North Lafayette, and was able to jog a bit as I got up to the true summit at 2:10. I chatted with a VFTTer for a few minutes, then took off for the most crowded portion of the loop.
After three hours of slogging over GRT, it felt great just to move quickly again, and once I started running down Lafayette, I kept going until the steepest part of Lincoln. I ran most of the way to Little Haystack, too, arriving at 2:41 – 31 minutes across the ridge. That left me with an hour to get to Flume, from which I figured it would take 1:15 to finish. Unfortunately, I was counting on the stretch from Little Haystack to Liberty to be predominantly runnable, but it wasn’t. I did run a bit, but had to power-hike long sections. Had my legs been stronger, I could have run nearly all of it, but it had just enough grade and rough sections to keep me from trying. I didn’t leave Liberty until 3:25, thinking I had lost my opportunity for an 11-hour loop.
Still, I decided to give it my best, and charged down Liberty at an admittedly unsafe speed, kicking rocks and bruising toes en route. After downing another Gu in the col, I got up the 450 vertical feet to Flume in ten minutes. South Twin looked impossibly far away, and I had a hard time believing I had been on its summit just a few hours previous.
I left Flume at 3:53, 5.6 miles from the finish. I thought I had it in the bag after a fast descent to the ladders (which took from 4:06-4:11 to negotiate), and a fast descent to the switchbacks. Somehow, I grossly underestimated the length of trail between Lincoln Woods Trail and the switchbacks, and it seemed to go on forever. My watch kept teasing me, and my legs were nearly dead, almost collapsing with every stride. I really thought that I was going to finish three minutes late, after all I had been through, and it was such a discouraging thought. I stopped running a few times, and wanted to just lie down, but eventually convinced my legs to keep going.
Finally, at 4:41, I was on the Lincoln Woods Trail. I had no idea what my pace was because I was so disjointed by then. I thought I saw the bridge once, but it was just some fallen trees across the river. Finally, mercifully, I got to the bridge at 4:53 and fell to the ground.
In the next hour of lying in sun-soaked grass next to my car and stretching and hydrating, I tried to appreciate what I had done. More importantly, how blessed I am to be able to spend my days enjoying the mountains. What a luxury it is to be worried about silly things like Pemi Loop times. It was an absolutely spectacular day, on the ninth anniversary of the death of thousands in NYC and DC, and I got to spend my time playing on the beautiful mountaintops of New Hampshire. Great day.
Last winter I decided to set a goal of 11 hours for a Pemi Loop, including West Bond and Galehead – 33.5 miles and 9700 vertical feet. While I was mostly confident, I really had no idea what my body would do after that much elevation gain (and loss). I gave it my best shot on Saturday.
I rarely do trip reports, and only like to do so if I am adding something new or helpful.
So here’s the useful part:
I thought I’d put together some splits, which are curiously hard to find. I only found a few useful trip reports in that regard. Metsky and LRiz were the two most thorough that I found, and I hope they don’t mind me posting their times here. I thought this might be helpful for those trying to set up split time goals, or even just to trace their progress along the way. Of course, I did WB and GH and they didn’t, and I don’t know which sections they ran instead of walked/hiked. The percentages are the total amount of the time of their hike elapsed at the given checkpoint.
Metsky
Bondcliff (2:30) (19.6%)
Bond (3:15) (25.5%)
Guyot (3:45) (29.4%)
Galehead Hut (5:20) (41.8%)
Flume (11:10) (87.6%)
finish, (12:44) (764 min) (100%)
LRiz
Bondcliff (2:04) (21.9%)
Bond (2:30) (26.5%)
Guyot (2:51) (30.2%)
South Twin (3:29) (36.9%)
Galehead Hut (3:52) (40.9%)
North Lafayette (6:32) (69.2%)
Flume (8:17) (87.8%)
finish (9:26) (566 min) (100%)
me
Bondcliff Trail
45) (6.8%)Bondcliff (2:04) (18.9%)
Bond (2:38) (24.1%)
West Bond (3:00) (27.5%)
Twinway (3:32) (32.4%)
South Twin (4:10) (38.2%)
Galehead Hut (after tagging Galehead Mtn.) (5:00) (45.9%)
Garfield (6:35) (60.7%)
Lafayette (8:10) (75.0%)
Little Haystack (8:41) (79.7%)
Liberty (9:22) (86.1%)
Flume (9:53) (90.8%)
finish (10:53) (100%)
The first 1/3 of the miles (start – West Bond) took 3:00 exactly.
The middle 1/3 (WB – Lafayette) took 5:10.
The last 1/3 took 2:43.
As it turned out, I pulled off an 11-hour Pemi Loop after all, but it took an incredibly difficult last two hours to do so. I don’t know that I’ve ever pushed my body so hard. Getting from Liberty to Flume in 30 minutes with a full marathon already under my shoes was tough; getting from Flume to the bridge in 60 minutes was phenomenally exhausting. When I reached the bridge and went to sit down in the dirt, my legs buckled and I basically fell to the ground. A minute or two later, I tried to stand and my legs cramped up painfully. It took five minutes to walk to the car. My toes are pretty ugly today from kicked rocks and blisters, my quads and calves and Achilles are sore; my triceps are sore (from using poles on both ascents and descents); I have chafing where a man should never have chafing.
There’s my public service announcement – don’t take the Pemi Loop lightly.
So here’s the self-indulgent part:
I left Lincoln Woods at 6:00 sharp and started jogging/running down the trail with 17 pounds on my back – 6 of them liquid. I passed the Osseo Trail at 6:12, thinking it was only 1 mile from LW, and bummed at my slow time. I figured it out when I got to the Franconia Falls turnoff at 6:25. At 6:45 I was at the Bondcliff Trail. I wasn’t able to run much of the Bondcliff Trail at all – too rocky and rooty to run in an economical way. I hit “Big Bend” at 7:30 and climbed the Stairway to Heaven. I came to The Wall at 8:01, and – oh my – what a view!
Clear, cool blue skies dominated the early September morning, except for a thin line of clouds clinging to Franconia Ridge and Garfield’s peak. It was outstanding, and I took pictures for several minutes, strolling to the summit. I jogged to the col and climbed Bond in surprisingly quick time. I was quite pleased that the Bond Fortress has been reduced to a simple scree wall, and although the deadwood isn’t attractively spread around, at least it isn’t the eyesore it was a month ago.
Quickly down Bond and over to West Bond. I didn’t leave my pack at the col. I climbed the last summit blocks as my watch turned to 9:00, almost exactly 3 hours after leaving Lincoln Woods. What a great summit! Garfield and Lafayette didn’t even seem that far away. Fog was blowing over and around Guyot and South Twin, but the views were otherwise unobstructed. I passed over Guyot quickly and stopped at the Twinway junction to refuel. I had hoped to run much of the Twinway, but after the first 1/3 mile or so, it was too twisty and rocky to do so safely. Nevertheless, I topped out on South Twin within a minute of my aimed-for time, 10:10. Still feeling strong, I dropped down to the Hut and walked right on past to Galehead Mountain, which is by far the most boring summit on the Pemi Loop, but the trail was harder than I remember it, and muddy too.
I spent 11:00-11:15 in the hut, refilling three liters of water, eating, and stretching.
I had hoped to get from Galehead Hut to Lafayette in three hours, with Garfield the halfway point. The much-maligned GRT wasn’t as bad as I remembered it, especially the section between Gale River Trail and Franconia Brook Trail. I got on top of Garfield tired, but still optimistic, since it only took 1:20 from Galehead. After a few minutes of soaking in the views and admiring all the flags on the surrounding summits, I headed down. The first ½ mile is the toughest descent of the entire CCW Pemi Loop, harder than coming down from South Twin. After a few minor humps, the long 1500 vertical feet of uninterrupted ascent to Lafayette was the first time that I had doubts about a sub-11 Pemi Loop. My legs were getting really heavy at this point, and Lafayette’s north ridge seems to go on forever, with several false summits. Finally I reached North Lafayette, and was able to jog a bit as I got up to the true summit at 2:10. I chatted with a VFTTer for a few minutes, then took off for the most crowded portion of the loop.
After three hours of slogging over GRT, it felt great just to move quickly again, and once I started running down Lafayette, I kept going until the steepest part of Lincoln. I ran most of the way to Little Haystack, too, arriving at 2:41 – 31 minutes across the ridge. That left me with an hour to get to Flume, from which I figured it would take 1:15 to finish. Unfortunately, I was counting on the stretch from Little Haystack to Liberty to be predominantly runnable, but it wasn’t. I did run a bit, but had to power-hike long sections. Had my legs been stronger, I could have run nearly all of it, but it had just enough grade and rough sections to keep me from trying. I didn’t leave Liberty until 3:25, thinking I had lost my opportunity for an 11-hour loop.
Still, I decided to give it my best, and charged down Liberty at an admittedly unsafe speed, kicking rocks and bruising toes en route. After downing another Gu in the col, I got up the 450 vertical feet to Flume in ten minutes. South Twin looked impossibly far away, and I had a hard time believing I had been on its summit just a few hours previous.
I left Flume at 3:53, 5.6 miles from the finish. I thought I had it in the bag after a fast descent to the ladders (which took from 4:06-4:11 to negotiate), and a fast descent to the switchbacks. Somehow, I grossly underestimated the length of trail between Lincoln Woods Trail and the switchbacks, and it seemed to go on forever. My watch kept teasing me, and my legs were nearly dead, almost collapsing with every stride. I really thought that I was going to finish three minutes late, after all I had been through, and it was such a discouraging thought. I stopped running a few times, and wanted to just lie down, but eventually convinced my legs to keep going.
Finally, at 4:41, I was on the Lincoln Woods Trail. I had no idea what my pace was because I was so disjointed by then. I thought I saw the bridge once, but it was just some fallen trees across the river. Finally, mercifully, I got to the bridge at 4:53 and fell to the ground.
In the next hour of lying in sun-soaked grass next to my car and stretching and hydrating, I tried to appreciate what I had done. More importantly, how blessed I am to be able to spend my days enjoying the mountains. What a luxury it is to be worried about silly things like Pemi Loop times. It was an absolutely spectacular day, on the ninth anniversary of the death of thousands in NYC and DC, and I got to spend my time playing on the beautiful mountaintops of New Hampshire. Great day.
