NH_Mtn_Hiker
New member
Dugan and I reached the Lincoln Woods parking area at about 7:30am. This was to begin an all-day wilderness adventure which I had promised her a week earlier. The 7:30 arrival time was 1 1/2 hours later than we had originally planned. (That's another story 
) Anyways, at 7:40 the two of us headed up the Lincoln Woods Trail, then North on the Franconia Brook Trail. We arrived at the Hellgate Brook 5.6 miles from Lincoln Woods at 9:30.
We turned eastward and followed the brook upstream for about three miles then we moved up the side of West Bond about 200 feet to get a better look at the slides below Bondcliff col. The views from down in the ravine were just as breathtaking as most summit views. Dwarf birches, evergreens and large erratics were scattered everywhere, as was the moose scat. After taking in the scenery we took a bearing on one of the lower slides at the North end of the ravine and then headed across the brook and up the side of the Bond-Bondcliff col.
The slides here are made up of steep, loose, medium sized stones. They were a little hazardous to walk on because they were shifting and rolling underfoot. Upon reaching the top of the slide we proceeded into the dense shrubbery. This part of the bushwhack (perhaps 1500 feet) took longer than the 3 mile bushwhack up through the ravine.
After finally getting clear of the shrubbery, it took only a few minutes to hike up to the Bondcliff Trail. The bushwhack from the Franconia Brook Trail had taken about 4 1/2 hours and up to this point it had been an awesome hike.
The plan from here was to drop our packs, run over and bag Bondcliff, come back, get the packs and proceed to Bond and West Bond. From West Bond we would follow the ridge out to the southern end, then take one of the slides down to Hellgate Brook, then back out the way we came....but plans can change...sometimes painfully.
We dropped our packs on the West side of the col about 50 feet below the ridge, behind a rock out of sight from the trail. We ran over, bagged the summit of Bondcliff and then returned to retrieve our packs. We spent about 15-20 minutes looking for the packs below the ridge...All those rocks look the same.
When I found the packs I yelled so to Dugan who was also about 50 feet off the trail. I carried the packs back up to the trail and turned North to join her. When I heard her cry out I looked over to where she was hunched over about 15 feet off the trail and asked her if she was alright, she replied... NO! I ran over to discover she had stepped on a loose rock which rolled over and smashed her foot. When she got her shoe off, (lightweight trail runner, ) we saw that her foot was swollen and badly bruised top and bottom just behind her big toe, but it didn't appear to be broken and she could still walk, although painfully.
After bandaging her foot and having lunch we began the painfull 10 mile hike back to Lincoln Woods via the Bondcliff and Wilderness Trails. While I don't think she'll be doing much running for the next couple of days, I have no doubt she'll be back to bag the all three Bonds via Hellgate Ravine soon.
While not as serious as alot of other hiking accidents, this incident came as a wake-up call as to just how fast a great hike can become something else. Had this happened while descending from West Bond into Hellgate Ravine a few hours later we probably would have spent the night under the stars...Or what if the rock had been bigger...I don't normally think of hiking as "dangerous"...but apparently it can be.
As the Boy Scouts say "Be prepared"
Note:
The beaver dam flooding the Franconia Brook Trail about 1/4-1/2 mile North of the Lincoln Brook Trail has grown in the last few weeks. It's now about 30-40 yards across and tends to sink in places when you walk on it. At this rate, in another few weeks we'll need life preservers to cross here safely.
For more info on the bushwhack, slides, etc., PM me.
A few pics.
) Anyways, at 7:40 the two of us headed up the Lincoln Woods Trail, then North on the Franconia Brook Trail. We arrived at the Hellgate Brook 5.6 miles from Lincoln Woods at 9:30.We turned eastward and followed the brook upstream for about three miles then we moved up the side of West Bond about 200 feet to get a better look at the slides below Bondcliff col. The views from down in the ravine were just as breathtaking as most summit views. Dwarf birches, evergreens and large erratics were scattered everywhere, as was the moose scat. After taking in the scenery we took a bearing on one of the lower slides at the North end of the ravine and then headed across the brook and up the side of the Bond-Bondcliff col.
The slides here are made up of steep, loose, medium sized stones. They were a little hazardous to walk on because they were shifting and rolling underfoot. Upon reaching the top of the slide we proceeded into the dense shrubbery. This part of the bushwhack (perhaps 1500 feet) took longer than the 3 mile bushwhack up through the ravine.
After finally getting clear of the shrubbery, it took only a few minutes to hike up to the Bondcliff Trail. The bushwhack from the Franconia Brook Trail had taken about 4 1/2 hours and up to this point it had been an awesome hike.
The plan from here was to drop our packs, run over and bag Bondcliff, come back, get the packs and proceed to Bond and West Bond. From West Bond we would follow the ridge out to the southern end, then take one of the slides down to Hellgate Brook, then back out the way we came....but plans can change...sometimes painfully.
We dropped our packs on the West side of the col about 50 feet below the ridge, behind a rock out of sight from the trail. We ran over, bagged the summit of Bondcliff and then returned to retrieve our packs. We spent about 15-20 minutes looking for the packs below the ridge...All those rocks look the same.
When I found the packs I yelled so to Dugan who was also about 50 feet off the trail. I carried the packs back up to the trail and turned North to join her. When I heard her cry out I looked over to where she was hunched over about 15 feet off the trail and asked her if she was alright, she replied... NO! I ran over to discover she had stepped on a loose rock which rolled over and smashed her foot. When she got her shoe off, (lightweight trail runner,
) we saw that her foot was swollen and badly bruised top and bottom just behind her big toe, but it didn't appear to be broken and she could still walk, although painfully.After bandaging her foot and having lunch we began the painfull 10 mile hike back to Lincoln Woods via the Bondcliff and Wilderness Trails. While I don't think she'll be doing much running for the next couple of days, I have no doubt she'll be back to bag the all three Bonds via Hellgate Ravine soon.
While not as serious as alot of other hiking accidents, this incident came as a wake-up call as to just how fast a great hike can become something else. Had this happened while descending from West Bond into Hellgate Ravine a few hours later we probably would have spent the night under the stars...Or what if the rock had been bigger...I don't normally think of hiking as "dangerous"...but apparently it can be.
As the Boy Scouts say "Be prepared"
Note:
The beaver dam flooding the Franconia Brook Trail about 1/4-1/2 mile North of the Lincoln Brook Trail has grown in the last few weeks. It's now about 30-40 yards across and tends to sink in places when you walk on it. At this rate, in another few weeks we'll need life preservers to cross here safely.
For more info on the bushwhack, slides, etc., PM me.
A few pics.
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