dangergirl
Active member
Don and I set off to do the Pemi loop this weekend. My pack weight with water was 42lbs and Dons was 46lbs. We had the most amazing weather! It was nice and cool, but not too cold and there were no clouds in the sky! Day one was a bit windy, but it wasn't even that bad! This had to have been the hardest 3 days we have done in the mountains so far!
We drove up Friday night and stayed in the Franconia Brook Hotel where we found a vibrating bed in our room! Well, it looked like the wires were gonna set fire to the room but we couldn't resist. Don popped in a quarter and it was funny! First it was quiet, but then it sounded like it kept getting louder! I could hear it during my shower! After a good laugh we went to bed. At 5am we got out of bed. We locked the key in the room and headed out only to realize that Don left his glasses in the room. We figured we would leave a message on the hotel answering machine, but someone answered at 5am! She let us in and we went on to get breakfast at Pegs and then head out to the trail. We were on the Lincoln Woods trail at 7am. Things went great and we made decent time up the trail. The top of Bondcliff trail was a bit of a bushwack, but nothing compared to what we were about to experience later that day! At BondCliff we saw some military jets dropping flares and doing some sort of manuevers. It was really cool! We marched on up to Bond and pushed through some pretty steady winds. At the top of Bond we had spectacular views of the entire Pemi Loop and The Presidential Range (as well as everything else near and far!). We snapped a few pictures and headed out to Guyot.
Twinway trail was a complete nightmare. The snow was so deep that it was hard to navigate (we only found one track in the woods and sometimes it was faint). It was a total schwack and only a hobbit could fit through it! The branches don't bend or break. Instead they poke you in the ribs, eyes, and face. They grab your pack and throw you on the ground so you are laying on your back like a turtle. At some points I was reduced to crawling! One time I pushed through a bunch of branches only to be greeted with a huge pungee stick that wailed me in the forehead leaving a nice bruise! Pine needles and bark got into my shirt and pants creating other problems! On battle with the branches ripped my watch right off my arm and broke the strap! We kept doubting that we were on the trail but when we checked our GPS we were right on! Finally after what felt like an eternity of schwacking we made it on top of Galehead Hut! We motored down the steep hill and hiked onto the Garfield Ridge tral where for a while the schwacking let up a bit! We were exhausted and it was 6pm so we found a place to camp and spent the night. Don found out that he punctured his sleeping pad and had to spend night on our packs. I had holes in everything I wore, including my backpack!
Day two we woke up at 5:30 and make breakfast and water. We were pretty pokey and didn't leave camp until 7:53am! Oh well, we were tired! We saw a solo hiker doing the pemi solo in the opposite direction of us just as we were packing up and got excited to push on. The climb up Garfield was grueling, but the views at the top were so spectacular! It was a bit windy up there so we had a quick snack and headed down the steep descent. We ran into some hikers at Garfield Pond that didn't bring snowshoes and postholed from Lafayette the day before. The post holes made for very frustrating travel because it kinda destroyed the trail! Shortly after the pond another schwacking session began. We couldn't wait to get on the ridgeline and away from the trees! Finally, we made above treeline! Then we were greeted with very slick ice on the ascent up Lafayette. I switched over to crampons and was more comfortable. When we got up Lafayette i was so awesome! What a view! We looked back at where we came from and were just so happy! We were very sore and tired, but that made it all okay. We trudged along to hit all of the summits on the ridge and enjoyed the views and spectacular weather! Before long we were back in the trees schwacking away! We found a killer campsite just below the summit of Liberty (it looked like a huge group stayed there the night before). We setup camp here at 5:30pm. It was a great night! Too great because we slept through our alarm clock the next morning!
Day three we woke up ready to finish. We packed up camp and were on the trail by 8:30 and then summitted Liberty! It was another perfect day! We had a very quick snack and headed out to Flume which was pretty exciting in the winter! After that it was all downhill to the car. On the steep parts I sat on my snowshoes and slid down the hill! We ran into a slight bit of schwacking, and then we were in the clear. We did the long boring march out of the woods via the Osseo Trail and onto the Lincoln Woods Trail. At that point we smelled so bad and were so tired we just wanted to get to the car. We did the last 1.4 miles in 30 minutes! We arrived at the car super tired but very proud! We finished the winter Pemi Loop! It was much harder than we anticipated! If it weren't for the schwacking it would have been a bit more enjoyable! This trip was nothing short of a sufferfest but it was also a lot of fun and the views made it all worthwhile! Now onto our next plan! We hope to tackle the presi traverse this weekend!
Check out our pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kfolcik/sets/72157615377786341/
We drove up Friday night and stayed in the Franconia Brook Hotel where we found a vibrating bed in our room! Well, it looked like the wires were gonna set fire to the room but we couldn't resist. Don popped in a quarter and it was funny! First it was quiet, but then it sounded like it kept getting louder! I could hear it during my shower! After a good laugh we went to bed. At 5am we got out of bed. We locked the key in the room and headed out only to realize that Don left his glasses in the room. We figured we would leave a message on the hotel answering machine, but someone answered at 5am! She let us in and we went on to get breakfast at Pegs and then head out to the trail. We were on the Lincoln Woods trail at 7am. Things went great and we made decent time up the trail. The top of Bondcliff trail was a bit of a bushwack, but nothing compared to what we were about to experience later that day! At BondCliff we saw some military jets dropping flares and doing some sort of manuevers. It was really cool! We marched on up to Bond and pushed through some pretty steady winds. At the top of Bond we had spectacular views of the entire Pemi Loop and The Presidential Range (as well as everything else near and far!). We snapped a few pictures and headed out to Guyot.
Twinway trail was a complete nightmare. The snow was so deep that it was hard to navigate (we only found one track in the woods and sometimes it was faint). It was a total schwack and only a hobbit could fit through it! The branches don't bend or break. Instead they poke you in the ribs, eyes, and face. They grab your pack and throw you on the ground so you are laying on your back like a turtle. At some points I was reduced to crawling! One time I pushed through a bunch of branches only to be greeted with a huge pungee stick that wailed me in the forehead leaving a nice bruise! Pine needles and bark got into my shirt and pants creating other problems! On battle with the branches ripped my watch right off my arm and broke the strap! We kept doubting that we were on the trail but when we checked our GPS we were right on! Finally after what felt like an eternity of schwacking we made it on top of Galehead Hut! We motored down the steep hill and hiked onto the Garfield Ridge tral where for a while the schwacking let up a bit! We were exhausted and it was 6pm so we found a place to camp and spent the night. Don found out that he punctured his sleeping pad and had to spend night on our packs. I had holes in everything I wore, including my backpack!
Day two we woke up at 5:30 and make breakfast and water. We were pretty pokey and didn't leave camp until 7:53am! Oh well, we were tired! We saw a solo hiker doing the pemi solo in the opposite direction of us just as we were packing up and got excited to push on. The climb up Garfield was grueling, but the views at the top were so spectacular! It was a bit windy up there so we had a quick snack and headed down the steep descent. We ran into some hikers at Garfield Pond that didn't bring snowshoes and postholed from Lafayette the day before. The post holes made for very frustrating travel because it kinda destroyed the trail! Shortly after the pond another schwacking session began. We couldn't wait to get on the ridgeline and away from the trees! Finally, we made above treeline! Then we were greeted with very slick ice on the ascent up Lafayette. I switched over to crampons and was more comfortable. When we got up Lafayette i was so awesome! What a view! We looked back at where we came from and were just so happy! We were very sore and tired, but that made it all okay. We trudged along to hit all of the summits on the ridge and enjoyed the views and spectacular weather! Before long we were back in the trees schwacking away! We found a killer campsite just below the summit of Liberty (it looked like a huge group stayed there the night before). We setup camp here at 5:30pm. It was a great night! Too great because we slept through our alarm clock the next morning!
Day three we woke up ready to finish. We packed up camp and were on the trail by 8:30 and then summitted Liberty! It was another perfect day! We had a very quick snack and headed out to Flume which was pretty exciting in the winter! After that it was all downhill to the car. On the steep parts I sat on my snowshoes and slid down the hill! We ran into a slight bit of schwacking, and then we were in the clear. We did the long boring march out of the woods via the Osseo Trail and onto the Lincoln Woods Trail. At that point we smelled so bad and were so tired we just wanted to get to the car. We did the last 1.4 miles in 30 minutes! We arrived at the car super tired but very proud! We finished the winter Pemi Loop! It was much harder than we anticipated! If it weren't for the schwacking it would have been a bit more enjoyable! This trip was nothing short of a sufferfest but it was also a lot of fun and the views made it all worthwhile! Now onto our next plan! We hope to tackle the presi traverse this weekend!
Check out our pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kfolcik/sets/72157615377786341/
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