Adventurous
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I was 7 peaks away from finishing the NH48 and had already set a date in November to finish. I wasn’t sure if I’d have to travel for work between now – which could potentially impact this plan. On Wednesday night, I checked the weather and the weekend looked gorgeous so I decided to take Friday off. I packed my gear and crashed at Leaf’s place Thursday night – it’s a nice halfway point for me.
Friday – 10/17/08 Whiteface via Blueberry Ledges
I left early and was at Ferncroft, for a hike to Whiteface, by 10am. Made plans with UFC regarding securing the campsites at Hancock and was on the trail by 10:15. I ascended via Blueberry Ledges which was easy to follow despite all of the leaves that have fallen. There is still a lot of color in this area so the hike up was very pleasant. I started taking pictures early on and within the first mile – “memory card is full” displays on my camera. You’re kidding me. I went through and deleted duplicate, blurry and unwanted photos. This freed up enough space for about 20 shots which were used up very quickly on the ledges. It was so much fun climbing up the boulders on the upper section of the trail. The views were spectacular from every ledge. I reached the open rocks before the true summit and stopped for a snack. I sat there for awhile looking out of the lakes, fields and the foliage that was glowing in the sun. Sure beats a day at work. I continued on to the true summit of Whiteface - NH #42/48 and NE #97/115 before turning around and heading back for the car.
My original plan was to take the Tom Rollins trail down but I changed that plan when I reached the junction and the sign said “not recommended – steep and loose trail”. Since I was alone, I decided that it might not be the wisest decision so I opted to do the cutoff trail for a change of scenery. It seemed like a good choice at the time but with all the leaves on the ground – I could hardly distinguish the trail from the woods. Occasionally I would see a blaze but for the most part, I just followed what looked like it could be a trail. The leaves had recently fallen and had not dried out or been flattened by hikers. They were over my ankles in many places which posed a falling hazard all the way to the wilderness boundary. From that point on, the trail was easy to follow. I was back at the car by 3pm and on my way to secure spots at Hancock.
Saturday – 10/18/08 Bonds Traverse (Zealand to Lincoln Woods)
We (7summits, UFC, Mad Townie and me) agreed to get up at 5am in order to be on the trail at 7am. It was left up to me to give everyone the wake up call since the hike was my idea – I have been informed that I need to be louder next time
. We were on the road by 5:30am – dropped my car off at Lincoln Woods, stopped at Dunkin Donuts and were on the trail at Zealand Rd a few minutes before 7.
I’ve done one winter hike and very few cold weather hikes so starting out on a 30 degree morning is new to me. I was awestruck by the beauty of the frost on the trees and the mist on the water on a cold morning. I stopped several times on the way up to the hut to capture the moment (ended up buying another memory card Friday night). To me, those views were comparable to the views in the Bonds. We reached the hut in 55 minutes and spent some time doing…well, I’m not quite sure what we were doing for all that time but we were there for awhile.
We eventually left and started our ascent to Zealand. The trail had several icy spots – all easy to avoid. I was intrigued with the very fine, hairlike, curls of ice that were coming out of the side of the trail – once again…I haven’t really hiked in cold weather so this was new to me. We stopped at the Zeacliff outlook on the way up. I missed this spot when I did Zealand years ago. It’s well worth the few minutes that it takes to visit the outlook. We continued on towards Zealand (which I opted not to go the .1 to the viewless summit). For some reason, I remember the hike up to Zealand being a lot harder than it was. I certainly didn’t remember all of the flat sections that we hiked along. I was glad that I was wrong because I was dreading this section. I continued past Zealand and stopped to put on warmer clothing and have a snack. A few minutes later…along comes 7summits who I thought was ahead of me – turns out she went to the summit of Zealand. We continued on to Guyot – if the views on the Bonds were as good as they were on Guyot, I was going to be very happy. It was windy and cold so we added some layers before heading up and over to West Bond. We quickly reached the spur trail to West Bond. Down we went only to begin ascending a few minutes later. We were at the summit in no time - NH #43/48 and NE #98/115. I was speechless. The views of the Pemi are magnificent. Bondcliff is impressive from this angle – not at all how I had pictured it. We didn’t spend long because the plan was to meet up with UFC and Mad Townie on Bondcliff to have lunch. This is about the time that the question of the day from 7summits started coming up “remind me again why we got up so early”. We were doing really well on time and would make it out well before dark if we kept up this pace.
We went back to the Bondcliff trail, headed toward Bond and ended up catching up with UFC and Mad Townie. We soon reached the summit of Bond - NH #44/48 and NE #99/115 and were rewarded with fantastic views of the trail down to Bondcliff. We took pictures and headed over to Bondcliff. Before reaching the summit, we found an area that offered some protection from the wind. We ended up staying there and enjoyed having lunch - somewhat out of the wind. We soon headed over to Hollywood Rock to take pictures. It was a bit windy and the exposure was turning my legs into rubber. I just wanted the pictures taken so I could get off the rock. I might have been a bit more at ease if there were no wind at all. We took lots of pictures on the summit - NH #45/48 and NE #100/115 and decided to leave our friend a message in rocks before leaving (the message didn’t survive). Up to this point, we had only seen 2 people all day so we were surprised to see so many people heading up to Bondcliff as we headed down. The trail down Bondcliff to the Wilderness trail seems to take forever. On the way down, UFC found a warm sunny spot where we stopped for a break. The sun felt so good on chilled bones. Well…we couldn’t stay there forever so we continued on. We came across an old campsite and from that point, the Wilderness Trail was right around the corner. 45 minutes later, we finally reached it – it had to be around one of those corners right. We started down the Wilderness Trail – nothing to see but leaves and railroad ties. I now see why everyone complains about it. Despite how easy the trail is, it’s difficult mentally especially at the end of the day.
By the time we reached the trail that led out to Owl’s Head, I was really hungry and started bonking. I could no longer keep up with UFC and 7summits but didn’t want to stop for a snack – I just wanted to get back to the car. I kept going but at a slower pace. I was thrilled when I saw the suspension bridge to Lincoln Woods around 5:45. UFC and 7summits were waiting at my car. I had food and beverages in the car so I made drinks for the three of us and we dined on Salt and Vinegar Pringles and Cheddar Goldfish while we waited for our fourth. He arrived about 10 minutes later. We packed up our spread, picked up Mad Townies car and went out for Pizza.
Friday – 10/17/08 Whiteface via Blueberry Ledges
I left early and was at Ferncroft, for a hike to Whiteface, by 10am. Made plans with UFC regarding securing the campsites at Hancock and was on the trail by 10:15. I ascended via Blueberry Ledges which was easy to follow despite all of the leaves that have fallen. There is still a lot of color in this area so the hike up was very pleasant. I started taking pictures early on and within the first mile – “memory card is full” displays on my camera. You’re kidding me. I went through and deleted duplicate, blurry and unwanted photos. This freed up enough space for about 20 shots which were used up very quickly on the ledges. It was so much fun climbing up the boulders on the upper section of the trail. The views were spectacular from every ledge. I reached the open rocks before the true summit and stopped for a snack. I sat there for awhile looking out of the lakes, fields and the foliage that was glowing in the sun. Sure beats a day at work. I continued on to the true summit of Whiteface - NH #42/48 and NE #97/115 before turning around and heading back for the car.
My original plan was to take the Tom Rollins trail down but I changed that plan when I reached the junction and the sign said “not recommended – steep and loose trail”. Since I was alone, I decided that it might not be the wisest decision so I opted to do the cutoff trail for a change of scenery. It seemed like a good choice at the time but with all the leaves on the ground – I could hardly distinguish the trail from the woods. Occasionally I would see a blaze but for the most part, I just followed what looked like it could be a trail. The leaves had recently fallen and had not dried out or been flattened by hikers. They were over my ankles in many places which posed a falling hazard all the way to the wilderness boundary. From that point on, the trail was easy to follow. I was back at the car by 3pm and on my way to secure spots at Hancock.
Saturday – 10/18/08 Bonds Traverse (Zealand to Lincoln Woods)
We (7summits, UFC, Mad Townie and me) agreed to get up at 5am in order to be on the trail at 7am. It was left up to me to give everyone the wake up call since the hike was my idea – I have been informed that I need to be louder next time
. We were on the road by 5:30am – dropped my car off at Lincoln Woods, stopped at Dunkin Donuts and were on the trail at Zealand Rd a few minutes before 7. I’ve done one winter hike and very few cold weather hikes so starting out on a 30 degree morning is new to me. I was awestruck by the beauty of the frost on the trees and the mist on the water on a cold morning. I stopped several times on the way up to the hut to capture the moment (ended up buying another memory card Friday night). To me, those views were comparable to the views in the Bonds. We reached the hut in 55 minutes and spent some time doing…well, I’m not quite sure what we were doing for all that time but we were there for awhile.
We eventually left and started our ascent to Zealand. The trail had several icy spots – all easy to avoid. I was intrigued with the very fine, hairlike, curls of ice that were coming out of the side of the trail – once again…I haven’t really hiked in cold weather so this was new to me. We stopped at the Zeacliff outlook on the way up. I missed this spot when I did Zealand years ago. It’s well worth the few minutes that it takes to visit the outlook. We continued on towards Zealand (which I opted not to go the .1 to the viewless summit). For some reason, I remember the hike up to Zealand being a lot harder than it was. I certainly didn’t remember all of the flat sections that we hiked along. I was glad that I was wrong because I was dreading this section. I continued past Zealand and stopped to put on warmer clothing and have a snack. A few minutes later…along comes 7summits who I thought was ahead of me – turns out she went to the summit of Zealand. We continued on to Guyot – if the views on the Bonds were as good as they were on Guyot, I was going to be very happy. It was windy and cold so we added some layers before heading up and over to West Bond. We quickly reached the spur trail to West Bond. Down we went only to begin ascending a few minutes later. We were at the summit in no time - NH #43/48 and NE #98/115. I was speechless. The views of the Pemi are magnificent. Bondcliff is impressive from this angle – not at all how I had pictured it. We didn’t spend long because the plan was to meet up with UFC and Mad Townie on Bondcliff to have lunch. This is about the time that the question of the day from 7summits started coming up “remind me again why we got up so early”. We were doing really well on time and would make it out well before dark if we kept up this pace.
We went back to the Bondcliff trail, headed toward Bond and ended up catching up with UFC and Mad Townie. We soon reached the summit of Bond - NH #44/48 and NE #99/115 and were rewarded with fantastic views of the trail down to Bondcliff. We took pictures and headed over to Bondcliff. Before reaching the summit, we found an area that offered some protection from the wind. We ended up staying there and enjoyed having lunch - somewhat out of the wind. We soon headed over to Hollywood Rock to take pictures. It was a bit windy and the exposure was turning my legs into rubber. I just wanted the pictures taken so I could get off the rock. I might have been a bit more at ease if there were no wind at all. We took lots of pictures on the summit - NH #45/48 and NE #100/115 and decided to leave our friend a message in rocks before leaving (the message didn’t survive). Up to this point, we had only seen 2 people all day so we were surprised to see so many people heading up to Bondcliff as we headed down. The trail down Bondcliff to the Wilderness trail seems to take forever. On the way down, UFC found a warm sunny spot where we stopped for a break. The sun felt so good on chilled bones. Well…we couldn’t stay there forever so we continued on. We came across an old campsite and from that point, the Wilderness Trail was right around the corner. 45 minutes later, we finally reached it – it had to be around one of those corners right. We started down the Wilderness Trail – nothing to see but leaves and railroad ties. I now see why everyone complains about it. Despite how easy the trail is, it’s difficult mentally especially at the end of the day.
By the time we reached the trail that led out to Owl’s Head, I was really hungry and started bonking. I could no longer keep up with UFC and 7summits but didn’t want to stop for a snack – I just wanted to get back to the car. I kept going but at a slower pace. I was thrilled when I saw the suspension bridge to Lincoln Woods around 5:45. UFC and 7summits were waiting at my car. I had food and beverages in the car so I made drinks for the three of us and we dined on Salt and Vinegar Pringles and Cheddar Goldfish while we waited for our fourth. He arrived about 10 minutes later. We packed up our spread, picked up Mad Townies car and went out for Pizza.
