LRiz
New member
Steve and I were running late. Brought to a crawl by a particularly slow-moving truck, I was beginning to worry that we weren't going to make our 8:45 on trail time. However, my feelings of stress quickly dissipated at the sight of Drew's car pulling into the parking lot at the same time as mine. Well, I suppose they did not dissipate entirely - I did have some last-minute packing to do, and was concerned about holding everyone else up. Bounding out of my car, I hastily pulled on my gaiters and made sure that all of my gear was in order. The sky outside was overcast and gray, and the winds seemed to be far stronger than had been predicted. Nevertheless, I had faith in the forecast, and my excitement about the upcoming hike had me in an especially upbeat mood. A Zealand/Bonds traverse, in winter, after four consecutive days of amazing hiking... I couldn't wait to hit the trail.
Locking my car, I headed over to see Drew. He introduced me to Cath, with whom I'd never had the pleasure of hiking, and gave me a saw so that we could help remove any blowdowns encountered on the trail. Knowing that we had a 3.5 mile roadwalk ahead of us, we all opted to bareboot the first stretch of the hike. Zealand Road was well packed-down by ski and foot traffic... but quite icy in places. After Steve took a tumble while walking around one of the gates, Drew decided to put on his microspikes. Fortunately, we were greeted with some rather pretty river views:
The road walk seemed to fly by. Within no time at all, we reached the Zealand trailhead. Since the trail was so well packed out (though badly postholed in places), we decided to continue barebooting. Once again, the going was fast. I stopped on occasion to take pictures of Zealand Pond:
The stretch of trail right before the hut was especially tough to navigate due to rough conditions, though I did become quite adept at hopping between the postholes... and I must say it's tiresome business! By the time we arrived at the hut, I was certainly ready to take a break. All four of us sat inside and chatted with the caretaker (an engaging, interesting guy named Helon), and refueled in anticipation of the arduous climb up to the Twinway. Drew also used the time to carve a mushroom that he'd found along Zealand Road. The cloud cover had started to break as well, making for lovely views from the hut:
Soon, we were on our way once more. Knowing that the trail was going to steepen up considerably, I opted to put on my microspikes for some additional traction... and I was glad that I did, because soon we reached the first water crossing, over which someone had placed a very "special" bridge:
Drew tried to throw one of his poles across the water, but it slid off the bank and started to float downstream. Luckily, it was caught by a rock only 10 feet or so away, and Cath was able to retrieve it. Pressing onwards, the climb began almost instantaneously. At this point, the double espresso Clif shot that I'd downed right before leaving the hut started to kick in... and I was ridiculously hyper. Bounding up the trail with surprising speed, I reached the Twinway with enough time to take a quick side trip to the outlook. It turned out to be a good decision on my part. Thick beams of light pierced through the clouds, and the views were simply fantastic:
After snapping a few pictures and re-electrolyting with yet another Clif shot, I headed back to the Twinway and put on my snowshoes. Initially, the trail appeared to be in good shape, but became increasingly postholed as we moved along. The snow was quite deep, and we passed a few people who needed to turn around due to lack of snowshoes. About a half mile from the Zealand spur trail, we bumped into Ed Hawkins and crew and chatted for a while. I really felt quite humbled, being in the presence of so many accomplished hikers. The winds started to pick up at this point, making it necessary for us to press onwards towards Zealand.
Knowing that we'd be very exposed to the winds whilst traversing the Bonds, Cath made a quick call to Steve Smith to get an update on the weather conditions. 14 MPH winds on Washington - Not bad at all. We made the decision to continue on with the hike.
From Zealand onwards, the trail was unbroken. Cath and I were able to float on top of the snow with relative ease, but the boys were having a far rougher time (but still "building endurance," yes?
). Nevertheless, we persevered, and when we reached the treeline, it was surreal. Given my lack of writing prowess, perhaps it'd be best if I let the pictures tell the story:
Locking my car, I headed over to see Drew. He introduced me to Cath, with whom I'd never had the pleasure of hiking, and gave me a saw so that we could help remove any blowdowns encountered on the trail. Knowing that we had a 3.5 mile roadwalk ahead of us, we all opted to bareboot the first stretch of the hike. Zealand Road was well packed-down by ski and foot traffic... but quite icy in places. After Steve took a tumble while walking around one of the gates, Drew decided to put on his microspikes. Fortunately, we were greeted with some rather pretty river views:
The road walk seemed to fly by. Within no time at all, we reached the Zealand trailhead. Since the trail was so well packed out (though badly postholed in places), we decided to continue barebooting. Once again, the going was fast. I stopped on occasion to take pictures of Zealand Pond:
The stretch of trail right before the hut was especially tough to navigate due to rough conditions, though I did become quite adept at hopping between the postholes... and I must say it's tiresome business! By the time we arrived at the hut, I was certainly ready to take a break. All four of us sat inside and chatted with the caretaker (an engaging, interesting guy named Helon), and refueled in anticipation of the arduous climb up to the Twinway. Drew also used the time to carve a mushroom that he'd found along Zealand Road. The cloud cover had started to break as well, making for lovely views from the hut:
Soon, we were on our way once more. Knowing that the trail was going to steepen up considerably, I opted to put on my microspikes for some additional traction... and I was glad that I did, because soon we reached the first water crossing, over which someone had placed a very "special" bridge:
Drew tried to throw one of his poles across the water, but it slid off the bank and started to float downstream. Luckily, it was caught by a rock only 10 feet or so away, and Cath was able to retrieve it. Pressing onwards, the climb began almost instantaneously. At this point, the double espresso Clif shot that I'd downed right before leaving the hut started to kick in... and I was ridiculously hyper. Bounding up the trail with surprising speed, I reached the Twinway with enough time to take a quick side trip to the outlook. It turned out to be a good decision on my part. Thick beams of light pierced through the clouds, and the views were simply fantastic:
After snapping a few pictures and re-electrolyting with yet another Clif shot, I headed back to the Twinway and put on my snowshoes. Initially, the trail appeared to be in good shape, but became increasingly postholed as we moved along. The snow was quite deep, and we passed a few people who needed to turn around due to lack of snowshoes. About a half mile from the Zealand spur trail, we bumped into Ed Hawkins and crew and chatted for a while. I really felt quite humbled, being in the presence of so many accomplished hikers. The winds started to pick up at this point, making it necessary for us to press onwards towards Zealand.
Knowing that we'd be very exposed to the winds whilst traversing the Bonds, Cath made a quick call to Steve Smith to get an update on the weather conditions. 14 MPH winds on Washington - Not bad at all. We made the decision to continue on with the hike.
From Zealand onwards, the trail was unbroken. Cath and I were able to float on top of the snow with relative ease, but the boys were having a far rougher time (but still "building endurance," yes?
). Nevertheless, we persevered, and when we reached the treeline, it was surreal. Given my lack of writing prowess, perhaps it'd be best if I let the pictures tell the story:
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