Who: Giggy, Mookie, Juniper
First time doing the loop for all of us, and for Mookie, first time on most of the summits along the way. Mother Nature didn't cooperate with our plans, and on Friday night we nearly cancelled the hike altogether. Instead, we decided to go ahead and only bail if the forecast in the am was worse. We were most concerned about t-storms, so we agreed that we'd come down off Franc Ridge if we needed to, and also arranged to have a car spotted at Garfield.
In the morning our organizer-in-chief Jen checked the forecast (better!), gave me food since I had somehow forgotten my stuff at home, and got us on our way nearly on time. We hit the trail from LW at 5:15. It was humid and not even remotely cool despite the early hour. We made good time up to Flume, but Mookie and I were already having problems. Mookie had a bad headache and told us that he was quite sure he was going to bail but would wait it out another peak or two. I was experiencing leg cramps, which had never happened to me before. I started eating some of the saltiest stuff I was carrying and we moved on.
We made excellent time across the ridge, arriving at Lafayette at 9:30. Both Mookie and I were doing much better, and we all agreed to go on. We had been leapfrogging with a group of college-aged guys who were also doing the loop, but at this point we moved ahead and never saw them again. Given that the three of us were soaking wet with sweat after just a few minutes on the trail, it was interesting to see these guys wearing pants and rain jackets all morning. Ugh.
In general, the weather was better than we expected, with no sign of thunderstorms, but it was oppressively humid. Occasional light rain would pass through, adding to the fun and making the going slower than we would have liked. Slick rocks led to several "whoops" moments throughout the day, including one time when I heard giggy behind me slide all the way back down a big slab! On to Garfield, where we met a small group of hikers (not many folks out this day) and on to Galehead Hut where we spent about a half hour eating, changing out of wet socks, and refilling water. We left the hut at 1:00 in a light rain and began the climb to South Twin. I was feeling very good after getting some food in me, but now it was Giggy's turn to have a problem that would plague him the rest of the day: vicious, awful, vaseline-resistant chafing.
'Nuff said.
On we went, making pretty good time to Guyot. We decided to go to West Bond, which afforded few of the usual nice views. On to Bond, really feeling the legs now. Final climb to Bondcliff, where Mookie posed for the obligatory photo (but was scared to go out to the real picture rock, despite the 2mph winds).
The trip out was long and pretty miserable. The trail was very wet and very muddy in sections. We were trying to jog as much as possible, but it wasn't easy to do with the conditions we were dealt. Finally, we made it to the wilderness trail, but found it difficult to run there also due to wet railroad ties, lots of mud and the aforementioned vicious chafing. Oh, and it started raining much harder. So, we just walked as fast as we could. I was dreaming of a dry shirt and Mookie's quesadillas awaiting me once we got back to camp.
At last, we arrived at Lincoln Woods, approximately 13:50 after we started. To our surprise and delight, Jen had anticipated our arrival time almost perfectly, and was in the parking lot with cold beers. Ahhh.
I'm not sure any of us are going to rush out to do the loop again, but glad to know we can, even in less-than-favorable conditions.
Pictures are here: Pemi Loop.
Rebecca
First time doing the loop for all of us, and for Mookie, first time on most of the summits along the way. Mother Nature didn't cooperate with our plans, and on Friday night we nearly cancelled the hike altogether. Instead, we decided to go ahead and only bail if the forecast in the am was worse. We were most concerned about t-storms, so we agreed that we'd come down off Franc Ridge if we needed to, and also arranged to have a car spotted at Garfield.
In the morning our organizer-in-chief Jen checked the forecast (better!), gave me food since I had somehow forgotten my stuff at home, and got us on our way nearly on time. We hit the trail from LW at 5:15. It was humid and not even remotely cool despite the early hour. We made good time up to Flume, but Mookie and I were already having problems. Mookie had a bad headache and told us that he was quite sure he was going to bail but would wait it out another peak or two. I was experiencing leg cramps, which had never happened to me before. I started eating some of the saltiest stuff I was carrying and we moved on.
We made excellent time across the ridge, arriving at Lafayette at 9:30. Both Mookie and I were doing much better, and we all agreed to go on. We had been leapfrogging with a group of college-aged guys who were also doing the loop, but at this point we moved ahead and never saw them again. Given that the three of us were soaking wet with sweat after just a few minutes on the trail, it was interesting to see these guys wearing pants and rain jackets all morning. Ugh.
In general, the weather was better than we expected, with no sign of thunderstorms, but it was oppressively humid. Occasional light rain would pass through, adding to the fun and making the going slower than we would have liked. Slick rocks led to several "whoops" moments throughout the day, including one time when I heard giggy behind me slide all the way back down a big slab! On to Garfield, where we met a small group of hikers (not many folks out this day) and on to Galehead Hut where we spent about a half hour eating, changing out of wet socks, and refilling water. We left the hut at 1:00 in a light rain and began the climb to South Twin. I was feeling very good after getting some food in me, but now it was Giggy's turn to have a problem that would plague him the rest of the day: vicious, awful, vaseline-resistant chafing.
'Nuff said. On we went, making pretty good time to Guyot. We decided to go to West Bond, which afforded few of the usual nice views. On to Bond, really feeling the legs now. Final climb to Bondcliff, where Mookie posed for the obligatory photo (but was scared to go out to the real picture rock, despite the 2mph winds
). The trip out was long and pretty miserable. The trail was very wet and very muddy in sections. We were trying to jog as much as possible, but it wasn't easy to do with the conditions we were dealt. Finally, we made it to the wilderness trail, but found it difficult to run there also due to wet railroad ties, lots of mud and the aforementioned vicious chafing. Oh, and it started raining much harder. So, we just walked as fast as we could. I was dreaming of a dry shirt and Mookie's quesadillas awaiting me once we got back to camp.
At last, we arrived at Lincoln Woods, approximately 13:50 after we started. To our surprise and delight, Jen had anticipated our arrival time almost perfectly, and was in the parking lot with cold beers. Ahhh.
I'm not sure any of us are going to rush out to do the loop again, but glad to know we can, even in less-than-favorable conditions.
Pictures are here: Pemi Loop.
Rebecca
Last edited:
