trailbiscuit
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Our Bonds curse continued with another foggy excursion the Pemi. Our most sincere apologies to anyone who plans a trip to the Bonds the same time we do.
In any event, we had a great weekend in the woods:
Day 1 - Wilderness Trail to Thoreau Falls Trail to mystery campsite off the Ethan Pond Trail. Great color along the Wilderness Trail. Contrary to the topo lines on the map, the Thoreau Falls Trail is not flat. Lots of little ups and downs, but a very pretty less used trail. Definitely worth the walk for more than just red-line purposes. We found a great campsite off the Ethan Pond Trail and sequestered from the obvious sites near the Shoal Pond Trail.
Day 2 - An absolutely beautiful morning! The clouds rolled in as the day went on. We ignored the AMC Guide and had to find out for ourselves how tough the Zeacliff Trail actually was. Well, it's steep. Steep going up, and steep coming down. Well worth the effort, though. Nice views, and very quiet. After a long time on the Zeacliff Trail due to lack of motivation to go any faster and the steepness of the trail we eventually made it to Twinway. It's easy to see how muc more traffic Twinway sees as compared to Zeacliff. It's probably because everyone loves the views from Zealand.
We skipped it this time though. We kept rolling to treeline and the awesome views over Mount Guyot. Amazing. We secured a platform at Guyot, and made the obligatory side trip to West Bond. Guess what? Fog. We hunkered donw early, along with the 45 other people at Guyot that night as the freezing rain, snow and slush moved in.
Day 3 - After knocking the slush off the tent, we decided to get an early start in case the conditions worsened, since our plan was to head out over Bond and Bondcliff. There was snow on the ground, but the winds and slush accumulations were less than we had anticipated. So, our hike was actually very pleasant. Cold, soggy and foggy, but very pleasant. We managed to score a couple views as the clouds broke briefly from time to time. But once again, no views for us at either Bond or Bondcliff. By the time we stopped for lunch at the first major stream crossing on the Bondcliff Trail, the sun was shining brightly. We could have climbed back up for the views...but would you? Maybe next time.
All in all, a great weekend, and a fantastic way to celebrate our anniversary.
Pics here: http://homepage.mac.com/daniellenryan/PhotoAlbum17.html
In any event, we had a great weekend in the woods:
Day 1 - Wilderness Trail to Thoreau Falls Trail to mystery campsite off the Ethan Pond Trail. Great color along the Wilderness Trail. Contrary to the topo lines on the map, the Thoreau Falls Trail is not flat. Lots of little ups and downs, but a very pretty less used trail. Definitely worth the walk for more than just red-line purposes. We found a great campsite off the Ethan Pond Trail and sequestered from the obvious sites near the Shoal Pond Trail.
Day 2 - An absolutely beautiful morning! The clouds rolled in as the day went on. We ignored the AMC Guide and had to find out for ourselves how tough the Zeacliff Trail actually was. Well, it's steep. Steep going up, and steep coming down. Well worth the effort, though. Nice views, and very quiet. After a long time on the Zeacliff Trail due to lack of motivation to go any faster and the steepness of the trail we eventually made it to Twinway. It's easy to see how muc more traffic Twinway sees as compared to Zeacliff. It's probably because everyone loves the views from Zealand.
We skipped it this time though. We kept rolling to treeline and the awesome views over Mount Guyot. Amazing. We secured a platform at Guyot, and made the obligatory side trip to West Bond. Guess what? Fog. We hunkered donw early, along with the 45 other people at Guyot that night as the freezing rain, snow and slush moved in.Day 3 - After knocking the slush off the tent, we decided to get an early start in case the conditions worsened, since our plan was to head out over Bond and Bondcliff. There was snow on the ground, but the winds and slush accumulations were less than we had anticipated. So, our hike was actually very pleasant. Cold, soggy and foggy, but very pleasant. We managed to score a couple views as the clouds broke briefly from time to time. But once again, no views for us at either Bond or Bondcliff. By the time we stopped for lunch at the first major stream crossing on the Bondcliff Trail, the sun was shining brightly. We could have climbed back up for the views...but would you? Maybe next time.
All in all, a great weekend, and a fantastic way to celebrate our anniversary.
Pics here: http://homepage.mac.com/daniellenryan/PhotoAlbum17.html
