Jeff&Henry
New member
Route: Zealand Trail > Twinway > Bondcliff Trail > Lincoln Woods Trail
Full photo album (w/captions)
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The day was finally upon us. We hiked feverishly in the month of August, and bagged the peaks that we'd put off for so long, including Cabot, Moriah, Isolation, Owl's Head and Carrigain -- nearly 70 miles of hikes, in August along. Much of our summer was lost because Henry had broken his kneecap playing soccer on Memorial Day, so the idea of finishing in the summer of 2012 seemed impossible.
And yet, here we were. We planned a Pemi-traverse, to begin at Zealand Road, tag Zealand, West Bond, Bond and Bondcliff, and finish at Lincoln Woods. Our Final Four.
I must confess, I had lost sleep over this hike. At nearly 20 miles, it was intimidating: four big summits, exposed ridge, shorter days and a lot of distance. We knew it would take at least 10 hours, so we were pleased to see the weather forecast remaining constant -- sunny with chance of showers in the afternoon. The Croo at the Zealand hut would confirm this too.
In preparing the night before, we would each pack 70 ounces of water, with three bottles of iced tea. Also, we'd carry a couple plain bagels each, and some cookies. It's funny, the more we've hiked, the less food we've brought with us. We just don't eat that much.
We got going early Friday morning, and met the shuttle driver at Lincoln Woods at 6:15 AM, for the 30 minute trip up and around to Zealand Road. By 7:10 AM we were on our way.
Zealand Trail is what I call a great "warm up" trail. Very slight inclines and nice scenery. I was thrilled to see a beaver dam. And the new bridge is wonderful. What was the most entertaining about the trail, hands down, was all the families with young kids coming down from the hut. They all looked miserable (kids) and exhausted (parents). And we were thrilled to see a beaver dam. We stopped briefly at Zealand Hut, then began the climb up to Zeacliff. Just before Zeacliff, we passed a wonderful Southern couple hiking to Gorham. When they found out this was our last hike to hit 48, the woman in the duo gave us each an enthusiastic high-five. You gotta love that Southern hospitality!
We met two gentlemen just before the summit of Zealand. We chatted briefly, and one looked Henry square in the eyes and said, "You're real lucky to have a Dad like him."
Then he looked immediately over to me and said, "You're real lucky to have a Son like him."
Yup. We agree. Preaching the choir. But we appreciated the words. Zealand Mountain is remarkably unlovely. It all feels like an afterthought -- the spur trail, the signs and even the cairn. But for us, it was #45.
After passing Zealand, this hike blew our socks off. Mount Guyot is great, and the views are spectacular. You also realize you're very close to the Bonds, as you covered alot of the distance while in the trees after Zealand. We stopped at the intersection of Bondcliff and Twinway to layer up -- the wind was really whipping, and the skies began to look at bit threatening. It was definitely raining to the west...and coming our way.
We covered the open ridge quickly and went back down into the tree and opted to visit Guyot Campsite for water. Note: make sure you REALLY need water before going down to Guyot. It's not exactly "just off the trail". You go down quite bit, of course, in lousy weather, I bet it's great. After our brief water stop, we moved quickly over to West Bond, and that's when the rain and wind started. We popped up on West Bond long enough to get some photos, enjoy the view and tag #46, then hustled back to Bondcliff trail...the skies weren't getting better.
Probably the greatest surprise of this trip for us was Mount Bond -- I guess I just never head much about it. Not only was it a lovely summit (and #47), but the rain stopped and the wind settled down. For the first time, we were gazing at the ridge to Bondcliff in living color. Wow.
Then the weather really got lousy.
If you've ever seen the Jim Carey movie "The Truman Show", we felt like Truman. In the movie, whenever Truman tried to escape the perfect little world they created for him, they would concoct natural disasters, or wild fires, or whatever they had to to keep him from leaving. Well, we thought this was Mother Nature keeping us from #48. Walking down off Mount Bond and onto the ridge, Henry got blown down by wind gusts a handful of times. I shot this short video on my camera. And the rain started blowing so hard it hurt our faces. Then for good measure, Mother Nature mixed in a little hail/sleet. Up there, there's no place to hide except behind a big rock, so once again, we hustled to get to the summit of Bondcliff, but it was a much longer 1.2 miles away, and we got wet.
Well, Mother Nature must have seen how determined we were. As we got close to the summit of Bondcliff, the rain let up, and the winds settled down. And we got our #48! Henry on Bondcliff. Jeff on Bondcliff. We were the only ones up there, so we were thankful for our camera timer and nice flat rock surfaces! Because of the wind and wet surfaces, neither one of us dared dangle our legs -- we'll have to do that another time.
In a little over 4 hours, we were back at Lincoln Woods for a well-deserved swim in the East Branch Pemigewasset. I tell you, the water never felt so good.
Just about 10 hours, door to door for our own Pemi-traverse. Not too shabby. And we completed our White Mountain 48 -- and after stopping at the Mountain Wanderer, I will very proudly drive with a new sticker on the back of my car.
Note: I considered doing this as an "out and back" -- thank God we didn't. I think that would have been SO much harder. And thanks to all for the advice provided on the Q&A boards in planning.
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Full photo album (w/captions)
-----
JW
[email protected]
Full photo album (w/captions)
-----
The day was finally upon us. We hiked feverishly in the month of August, and bagged the peaks that we'd put off for so long, including Cabot, Moriah, Isolation, Owl's Head and Carrigain -- nearly 70 miles of hikes, in August along. Much of our summer was lost because Henry had broken his kneecap playing soccer on Memorial Day, so the idea of finishing in the summer of 2012 seemed impossible.
And yet, here we were. We planned a Pemi-traverse, to begin at Zealand Road, tag Zealand, West Bond, Bond and Bondcliff, and finish at Lincoln Woods. Our Final Four.
I must confess, I had lost sleep over this hike. At nearly 20 miles, it was intimidating: four big summits, exposed ridge, shorter days and a lot of distance. We knew it would take at least 10 hours, so we were pleased to see the weather forecast remaining constant -- sunny with chance of showers in the afternoon. The Croo at the Zealand hut would confirm this too.
In preparing the night before, we would each pack 70 ounces of water, with three bottles of iced tea. Also, we'd carry a couple plain bagels each, and some cookies. It's funny, the more we've hiked, the less food we've brought with us. We just don't eat that much.
We got going early Friday morning, and met the shuttle driver at Lincoln Woods at 6:15 AM, for the 30 minute trip up and around to Zealand Road. By 7:10 AM we were on our way.
Zealand Trail is what I call a great "warm up" trail. Very slight inclines and nice scenery. I was thrilled to see a beaver dam. And the new bridge is wonderful. What was the most entertaining about the trail, hands down, was all the families with young kids coming down from the hut. They all looked miserable (kids) and exhausted (parents). And we were thrilled to see a beaver dam. We stopped briefly at Zealand Hut, then began the climb up to Zeacliff. Just before Zeacliff, we passed a wonderful Southern couple hiking to Gorham. When they found out this was our last hike to hit 48, the woman in the duo gave us each an enthusiastic high-five. You gotta love that Southern hospitality!
We met two gentlemen just before the summit of Zealand. We chatted briefly, and one looked Henry square in the eyes and said, "You're real lucky to have a Dad like him."
Then he looked immediately over to me and said, "You're real lucky to have a Son like him."
Yup. We agree. Preaching the choir. But we appreciated the words. Zealand Mountain is remarkably unlovely. It all feels like an afterthought -- the spur trail, the signs and even the cairn. But for us, it was #45.
After passing Zealand, this hike blew our socks off. Mount Guyot is great, and the views are spectacular. You also realize you're very close to the Bonds, as you covered alot of the distance while in the trees after Zealand. We stopped at the intersection of Bondcliff and Twinway to layer up -- the wind was really whipping, and the skies began to look at bit threatening. It was definitely raining to the west...and coming our way.
We covered the open ridge quickly and went back down into the tree and opted to visit Guyot Campsite for water. Note: make sure you REALLY need water before going down to Guyot. It's not exactly "just off the trail". You go down quite bit, of course, in lousy weather, I bet it's great. After our brief water stop, we moved quickly over to West Bond, and that's when the rain and wind started. We popped up on West Bond long enough to get some photos, enjoy the view and tag #46, then hustled back to Bondcliff trail...the skies weren't getting better.
Probably the greatest surprise of this trip for us was Mount Bond -- I guess I just never head much about it. Not only was it a lovely summit (and #47), but the rain stopped and the wind settled down. For the first time, we were gazing at the ridge to Bondcliff in living color. Wow.
Then the weather really got lousy.
If you've ever seen the Jim Carey movie "The Truman Show", we felt like Truman. In the movie, whenever Truman tried to escape the perfect little world they created for him, they would concoct natural disasters, or wild fires, or whatever they had to to keep him from leaving. Well, we thought this was Mother Nature keeping us from #48. Walking down off Mount Bond and onto the ridge, Henry got blown down by wind gusts a handful of times. I shot this short video on my camera. And the rain started blowing so hard it hurt our faces. Then for good measure, Mother Nature mixed in a little hail/sleet. Up there, there's no place to hide except behind a big rock, so once again, we hustled to get to the summit of Bondcliff, but it was a much longer 1.2 miles away, and we got wet.
Well, Mother Nature must have seen how determined we were. As we got close to the summit of Bondcliff, the rain let up, and the winds settled down. And we got our #48! Henry on Bondcliff. Jeff on Bondcliff. We were the only ones up there, so we were thankful for our camera timer and nice flat rock surfaces! Because of the wind and wet surfaces, neither one of us dared dangle our legs -- we'll have to do that another time.
In a little over 4 hours, we were back at Lincoln Woods for a well-deserved swim in the East Branch Pemigewasset. I tell you, the water never felt so good.
Just about 10 hours, door to door for our own Pemi-traverse. Not too shabby. And we completed our White Mountain 48 -- and after stopping at the Mountain Wanderer, I will very proudly drive with a new sticker on the back of my car.
Note: I considered doing this as an "out and back" -- thank God we didn't. I think that would have been SO much harder. And thanks to all for the advice provided on the Q&A boards in planning.
-----
Full photo album (w/captions)
-----
JW
[email protected]
