grumpygran
New member
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2008
- Messages
- 85
- Reaction score
- 40
Sept. 5th and Sept. 7th
Twoweeks ago Rory, aka. Son of Grumpygran, emailed to say that they were selling their tickets to the Revolutions game and coming up over Labor Day weekend to hike one of the days depending on the weather. Once I saw the forecast I suggested we do the Bonds on Saturday and Owl's Head on Monday. He wrote back that 40 miles in a weekend seemed a lot to which I replied that one week later I would be twice his age so...
Saturday morning, crisp and clear, we set out from Lincoln Woods at 6.30 including Cymbidium in our group. Marched along (my kids didn't call me sargeant for no reason!) and were soon at the base of the Bondcliff Trail where I ate the first half of my (hand carried in its DD bag) honey glazed donut (tradition...ask Silverfox!). We ascended to Bondcliff at a more mature pace and by 10.15 were at the big rock to get to the ridge. Oh the magnificence of the view from there ! I said to Laura "Welcome to my world!". The breeze was brisk and cold as we moved over to Bondcliff itself and took the appropriate photos and chatted with the first group of hikers sitting there. Over then to Mt. Bond where I took out the Scudder maps and we tried to identify every bump way back to Vermont and over to Maine. The wind continued cold and quite strong so we did not linger as long as we might have liked. On to West Bond where there was a large group of hikers enjoying lunch. We elected to wait to get to Guyot to eat but the cold wind kept us going until, at last, we huddled down behind some rocks on the Twinway for lunch.
Next over those large and unyielding rocks to Zeacliff where we could only stand to admire the view as it was covered by a large group of Dartmouth freshmen on one of those "get lost in the woods and find yourself" outings! They planned to stay at the Guyot shelter. We wished them luck and didn't bother to tell them that we had met at least 40 people so far who had told us that.
Hardest part of this traverse, fo me, is always the descent to the hut. No easier this year! Put my feet in the water for a few minutes and they felt great on the journey out. Met in the parking lot by Ward's girl who told me my husband had been waiting for hours! (Not true). She had seen my vftt sticker and asked him what he was doing and he told her that he was waiting for Grumpygran who was out there in the woods. Nice to meet you Ward's girl. Hope you found a quiet spot to camp.
So nice to have someone meet you at the end of 19.6 miles and (tradition) so nice to be taken out for dinner after we got the other car. Thanks Tom.
We recovered on Sunday and 6.45 found the three of us marching once again down the Lincoln Woods trail and off to Owl's Head. Same old, same old! No problem with the water crossings. No problem finding the base of the slide. The moose is now a carpet of hair with a few bones off to the side. The slide is, without doubt, steeper, with more loose shale, slippier rocks, steeper steps and longer than ever before. The views of the Franconia Ridge were awesome. Once in the trees the trail is much easier to follow than before. We caught up with David who was finishing his 48 today as well so he and Laura congratulated each other and we took photos for him and he for us and we enjoyed the moment of triumph with Laura. Congrats laura! Slowly down the slide and the journey out was uneventful and the LW trail just as long as ever but our feeling of accomplishment kept us going to theend. Celebrated with icecream in Lincoln!
Two great days out with great companions and lots of fun.
Grumpygran
PS: reminder to Grumpygran: Don't try to prove you're half your age again!
Twoweeks ago Rory, aka. Son of Grumpygran, emailed to say that they were selling their tickets to the Revolutions game and coming up over Labor Day weekend to hike one of the days depending on the weather. Once I saw the forecast I suggested we do the Bonds on Saturday and Owl's Head on Monday. He wrote back that 40 miles in a weekend seemed a lot to which I replied that one week later I would be twice his age so...
Saturday morning, crisp and clear, we set out from Lincoln Woods at 6.30 including Cymbidium in our group. Marched along (my kids didn't call me sargeant for no reason!) and were soon at the base of the Bondcliff Trail where I ate the first half of my (hand carried in its DD bag) honey glazed donut (tradition...ask Silverfox!). We ascended to Bondcliff at a more mature pace and by 10.15 were at the big rock to get to the ridge. Oh the magnificence of the view from there ! I said to Laura "Welcome to my world!". The breeze was brisk and cold as we moved over to Bondcliff itself and took the appropriate photos and chatted with the first group of hikers sitting there. Over then to Mt. Bond where I took out the Scudder maps and we tried to identify every bump way back to Vermont and over to Maine. The wind continued cold and quite strong so we did not linger as long as we might have liked. On to West Bond where there was a large group of hikers enjoying lunch. We elected to wait to get to Guyot to eat but the cold wind kept us going until, at last, we huddled down behind some rocks on the Twinway for lunch.
Next over those large and unyielding rocks to Zeacliff where we could only stand to admire the view as it was covered by a large group of Dartmouth freshmen on one of those "get lost in the woods and find yourself" outings! They planned to stay at the Guyot shelter. We wished them luck and didn't bother to tell them that we had met at least 40 people so far who had told us that.
Hardest part of this traverse, fo me, is always the descent to the hut. No easier this year! Put my feet in the water for a few minutes and they felt great on the journey out. Met in the parking lot by Ward's girl who told me my husband had been waiting for hours! (Not true). She had seen my vftt sticker and asked him what he was doing and he told her that he was waiting for Grumpygran who was out there in the woods. Nice to meet you Ward's girl. Hope you found a quiet spot to camp.
So nice to have someone meet you at the end of 19.6 miles and (tradition) so nice to be taken out for dinner after we got the other car. Thanks Tom.
We recovered on Sunday and 6.45 found the three of us marching once again down the Lincoln Woods trail and off to Owl's Head. Same old, same old! No problem with the water crossings. No problem finding the base of the slide. The moose is now a carpet of hair with a few bones off to the side. The slide is, without doubt, steeper, with more loose shale, slippier rocks, steeper steps and longer than ever before. The views of the Franconia Ridge were awesome. Once in the trees the trail is much easier to follow than before. We caught up with David who was finishing his 48 today as well so he and Laura congratulated each other and we took photos for him and he for us and we enjoyed the moment of triumph with Laura. Congrats laura! Slowly down the slide and the journey out was uneventful and the LW trail just as long as ever but our feeling of accomplishment kept us going to theend. Celebrated with icecream in Lincoln!
Two great days out with great companions and lots of fun.
Grumpygran
PS: reminder to Grumpygran: Don't try to prove you're half your age again!
