Mad Townie
New member
Last September, just before she started college, my daughter Elisabeth (Boulderdash) and I spent four days in the northern Presidentials, hiking around and enjoying each other's company. It was my way of sending her off into her own life by giving myself a few moments of her time. I never dared to even dream or hope of ever doing anything like that with her again.
Early this summer she did one of those things that make a parent choke up with love and appreciation: she asked me, "Dad, can we do a hike together at the end of the summer, like we did last year?" That was the genesis of what became our two-day adventure in the Zealand-Bond range.
Between the two of us it was hard to find a time that would work. We ended up taking Thursday and Friday, just before she returned to school on Saturday. I figured that gave us enough time to discover those mountains I had read so much about here and heard so much about from many of you. I knew I had to see them, and I had to share them with Boulderdash.
After making our way through the construction mess in North Conway
, we headed up the Zealand Road looking forward to a couple pretty nice days. It was pretty cloudy as we parked and put our boots on, though. Then came the rail bed--what a trail! Flat and even for most of the way to Zealand Hut, it allowed us to move right along. We reached the hut in an hour and three minutes, well under book time. At the hut we stopped for a few pictures, some water and a bit of a rest.
Then came the hike up Zeacliff. I can roll pretty well on the flats, but I'm not in good enough condition to make any kind of time on the uphills. Just ask MEB, Abster SherpaK or anyone else who's hiked with me! So I was huffing and puffing up that rocky, rooty trail, stopping frequently to catch my breath. The little loop to the top of Zeacliff gave us the opportunity to stop for some food and water and a couple photos. Soon we were back on our way, toward Zealand.
After that hill climb, the fairly gradual rise to Zealand was a fine respite. We stopped at the Zealand spur trail, leaving our packs and zipping up to the summit. When I saw the cool summit sign I was disappointed I had left the camera back with the packs. Oh well, next time. Then we headed out to Guyot.
The sky continued to be quite cloudy, the clouds being dark but not really threatening because of the breaks between them. They made for a nice, cool walk in the woods. We reached the Guyot summit, that strange mountain on which the "other" summit always looks higher than the one you're on. The next day on Bond we saw that the northeasterly hump is definitely higher, though not by much.
We headed down toward Guyot campsite, where we met Alex the caretaker and paid our rent for the night. We had brought a tent in case the shelter was full, but we found only one person in it. As it turned out, we made it to the campsite in just a little over book time despite our frequent breaks. Cooking up an early supper, we decided to watch the sunset from West Bond.
(to be continued)
Early this summer she did one of those things that make a parent choke up with love and appreciation: she asked me, "Dad, can we do a hike together at the end of the summer, like we did last year?" That was the genesis of what became our two-day adventure in the Zealand-Bond range.
Between the two of us it was hard to find a time that would work. We ended up taking Thursday and Friday, just before she returned to school on Saturday. I figured that gave us enough time to discover those mountains I had read so much about here and heard so much about from many of you. I knew I had to see them, and I had to share them with Boulderdash.
After making our way through the construction mess in North Conway
, we headed up the Zealand Road looking forward to a couple pretty nice days. It was pretty cloudy as we parked and put our boots on, though. Then came the rail bed--what a trail! Flat and even for most of the way to Zealand Hut, it allowed us to move right along. We reached the hut in an hour and three minutes, well under book time. At the hut we stopped for a few pictures, some water and a bit of a rest. Then came the hike up Zeacliff. I can roll pretty well on the flats, but I'm not in good enough condition to make any kind of time on the uphills. Just ask MEB, Abster SherpaK or anyone else who's hiked with me!
So I was huffing and puffing up that rocky, rooty trail, stopping frequently to catch my breath. The little loop to the top of Zeacliff gave us the opportunity to stop for some food and water and a couple photos. Soon we were back on our way, toward Zealand. After that hill climb, the fairly gradual rise to Zealand was a fine respite. We stopped at the Zealand spur trail, leaving our packs and zipping up to the summit. When I saw the cool summit sign I was disappointed I had left the camera back with the packs. Oh well, next time. Then we headed out to Guyot.
The sky continued to be quite cloudy, the clouds being dark but not really threatening because of the breaks between them. They made for a nice, cool walk in the woods. We reached the Guyot summit, that strange mountain on which the "other" summit always looks higher than the one you're on. The next day on Bond we saw that the northeasterly hump is definitely higher, though not by much.
We headed down toward Guyot campsite, where we met Alex the caretaker and paid our rent for the night. We had brought a tent in case the shelter was full, but we found only one person in it. As it turned out, we made it to the campsite in just a little over book time despite our frequent breaks. Cooking up an early supper, we decided to watch the sunset from West Bond.
(to be continued)
