To begin at the beginning... NH_Mtn_Hiker and I began our Pemi Loop at 5:45 am (if high mileage exhaustion memory serves) Sunday morning as we crossed the suspension bridge to begin the Lincoln Woods Trail. The forecast predicted a blue-sky day - sunny, dry, warm, and breezy in the Whites. Little did they know how Franconia Notch provides its very own weather system.
We saw a couple of illegal campsites set up on the Osseo Trail, one of which was set up exactly where I intended to water up. Unlike NH, I opted to go light on water and carry my water filter for fill ups along the way. The sun rose as we ascended. It was quickly swallowed by the clouds we saw massed in Franconia Notch as we got off 93 in Lincoln. Little did we know that was the last we'd see of sunshine 'til Guyot late in the afternoon.
We zoomed up Osseo, boogied across Flume (too chilly and windy to stop for long), paused between Liberty and Flume for the first snack of the day, then took off for Little Haystack. We kept going... good thing I took numerous pics of Lincoln Slide on my Semi-Pemi west-half loop a couple of weeks ago for NH to scout 'cause we couldn't see even a bit of it on this cloud-filled morning. We reached Lafayette around 11 with only a few other people in sight. We followed a young man in a kilt off the summit (he was FAST!!!).
Thus began the Garfield Ridge Trail, the slowest section of the day. It was wet but not soaked after Katrina. The descending wet sections slowed us (okay, me) considerably as we made our way to Garfield. From Garfield, there were spectacular views of... more clouds! Somewhere along the way, NH and I both pulled on our knee braces (doesn't it suck to get old?) and pushed on to Galehead Hut.
The Hut was crowded. I quickly fell face first into my lunch, devouring spoonfuls red beans & rice as fast as I could swallow, while NH ate yet another granola bar. We borrowed the hut's bird book to discover that the woodpecker we spotted somewhere along the way was a Black-Backed Woodpecker. In addition, we spotted 3 Spruce Grouse along the way. After a quick knee evaluation, we both decided to push on up South Twin, rather than ditch out down Twin Brook.
And what an up to South Twin it was... our last big up the day. Lunch definitely had not made it to my legs yet! We both "ouched" and "oyed" our way down south Twin. The up to Guyot helped a great deal with all of our achey knees. By then (5 pm ish - by now the speed record of several weeks ago was now a few hours gone????) we were finally seeing some of the predicted sunshine. We made our way south along Bondcliff Trail eventually looking east into Hellgate Ravine. NH stepped somewhat off trail (very carefully avoiding any delicate alpine vegetation) with my camera to photo some of the slides in Hellgate Ravine. Dr. Wu - if you're out there - we spotted a very likely looking route. With some views, we also spotted some likely looking slides in other areas (anyone wanna go slide 'whackin????).
We finally reached the summit of Bondcliff as the sun disappeared behind clouds lingering over Lafayette. We dropped below tree line just before sunset (yay, my goal achieved!) and kept walking. And kept walking, and walking. I was mumbling something about headlamps for quite a while but couldn't seem to stop walking (car, must reach car) until NH stepped in front of me and stopped. Thus stopped, I put away my ball cap, we got out our headlamps, then devoured the last of my home-baked 'smores squares (positively addictive sugar buzz). We kept on going, reached the Bondcliff landmark of the hairpin drainage turn.
Somewhere along the way I thought I hallucinated a burning ember on the tip of a curl of birch bark in the indirect glow of my headlamp. I called NH to look at this oddity. As he picked up the bark, we saw the ember was actually the firey orange glow of a moth's eye. Very odd and very cool. We saw (or maybe hallucinated) lights indicating illegal campsites as we made our way to the Wilderness Trail. From there, we set a relatively quick pace back to the car.
Never was I so glad for a chauffeur!!! As NH changed his shoes (who needs fresh shoes?), I sat down in the passenger seat in my sweaty hiker gear and said, "Home, Jeeves!" We saw an open Irving station in Lincoln where I bought a pint of Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby to celebrate completing a Pemi Loop.
Somewhere along the drive back I took off my knee braces in his car... 'phew! what a stench! I couldn't have asked for a better cairn fixin', rock hoppin', car drivin', slide scoutin', humor filled hiking partner to complete this massive hike with.
Stinkyfeet - and you added Owl's Head to this????
Wahoo!!! What's next?!?!?!
(ps gotta sleep for a couple of more days before whatever comes next!)
Edit: Trail conditions overall excellent. A few new blow downs, nothing that wasn't easily crossed. The bees on Osseo were inactive, whether due to early morning temps or ranger-delivered chemicals.
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