michael
New member
Theme for this day: “You been doin’ what I think you been doin’, you can’t do that ‘round here…”
After a gig at the Sea Dog Brewery in Topsham Friday night, I was home and in bed by 1:45AM.
Up at 4:30 and out the door by 5:11. This routine is a painfully familiar one to me and I was, amazingly enough, awake and cognizant of my surroundings.
Heading to Pownal, alert yet apprehensive about the upcoming jaunt, I was pondering the logic of a 23-miler after 2 hours of sleep – it did not seem to be a recipe for success.
As we were to spot cars and go our separate ways post hike, I had to drive, not sleep on my way to Conway. So up and over the Kanc to Lincoln Woods we go. We leave two cars there and drive around to the Zealand Road parking lot. As anyone who drives a lot knows, sometimes when nature calls any snow bank will do. Comprendez? The very nice State Trooper pointed out that there were plenty of woods to be had and that ‘you can’t be doin’ that around here!’ Sir, yes sir! Eh for whatever reason he dicided that boyz being boyz was ok for the time being. Not like anyone was searching for a lost wedding ring at the bottom of a women's privy.
So, fortunately for us, at 9 sharp, we were on our way southbound. The day was warmish and the sun was bright. My body was screaming at me that I should not be doing this but I forged ahead ignoring the fear and loathing in the pit of stomach. We set a pretty good pace up the road, through the disputed moose territory, and up the pitch to the Hut.
I was hitting a wall at this point and sat my sorry butt down on the bench outside the hut and tried desperately to regroup in the warm sun. I was soooo tired and I was dehydrated and so sucked down a liter of Gatorade and fired as many calories into my body as I could stand. Sitting there shaking somewhat I had serious doubts about my chances but I was determined to give it a try to the Zeacliff trail at the very least. Knowing that the 1500’ feet to Zealand combined with the elevation gain to the hut would be approximately 60 percent of our total vertical of the day and a good chunk of our mileage afforded me that glimmer of hope that I needed to motivate my body and mind to keep going.
Surprisingly enough, I did feel better as I ascended the uphill to Zealand. The trail was firmly packed and we bare booted the pitch above the hut to the junction arriving there approximately 11:45.
The views were fantastic along the Zeacliff trail and I felt as though I had rounded a corner mentally and physically. We charged ahead to the Zealand spur and headed to the summit. We met a couple of hut visitors on their way back from West Bond. We talked about trail conditions and the beautiful weather and we parted ways. There was a fine vftt from the summit of Zealand, something that one definitely cannot enjoy during the non-winter months. The snow is really deep. A solid 4 feet pretty much everywhere in this area. We sat there at the summit, fed some curious snack seeking Canada Jays and ate our lunches.
Another pair of hikers soon arrived. They were doing an ambitious out and back from Lincoln Woods. I don’t know that that particularly appealed to me, I mean that is longer than the mileage we were slated to do by 4 or 5 miles. Made me tired just to look at them. But they were young and ambitious and passed us on our way to Guyot and were long gone by the time we arrived on the Guyot summit.
“Keep on truckin mama, truck my blues away”…. We were making pretty good time I felt and we were almost halfway there. We could see a group of hikers on West Bond as we topped out on Guyot. The vftt were inspiring. Peaks and more peaks in every direction. A steady breeze kept us from hanging out for too long and we were quickly at the spur to West Bond. I put my stabilicers on at this point, looking for some extra traction in the churned out foot path.
Atop West Bond we paused for a good half hour and soaked up the enormity of the Pemi wilderness. The views from West Bond are spectacular. We enjoyed a PBR and some snacks and bid goodbye to this lofty perch and headed up the path to Bond. It surely did appear that our traverse was in the bag but we reminded ourselves at how lucky we were to be here. The day could have begun much differently. ‘you been doin’ like I think you been doin’ you can’t do that round here’. Those lyrics were repeated frequently and we laughed and laughed at our good fortune. What a fine day for hiking. Sunny and not too warm made for good footing and fine vftt.
On top of Bond we paused to snap more pictures but we did not linger too long as we really wanted to spend the rest of our summit time on Bondcliff. Bondcliff was void of hikers when we arrived at 6PM. The sun was hanging low over the Franconia ridge as we dug into our food bags and shared a celebratory snort of Beam and a cold PBR.
After a good half hour we were on our way. We had only 9 miles and change to go. It would be dark soon but we lingered until the sun was nearly standing atop the Franconia ridge. What a day we were having! It was almost too good to be true. 9 miles of downhill seemed so easy. But we knew that the tune would change once we hit the Wilderness trail. As previously mentioned by various members in this forum, that 4.7 to Lincoln Woods is an eternity when all you really want at that point is a comfy chair, slippers and a woodstove. But we had to keep our date with destiny and we picked em up and put em down. We staggered into the Lincoln Woods lot at 10:12 tattered and shattered, grinnin’ like a dog eating bumblebees. What a day!
We regrouped at the Micky-D’s in Lincoln. Coffee and burgers and 20 minutes of cat-napping in a booth and I was recharged for the trip back to Richmond. We compared our winter lists and made tentative plans for next winter’s hiking season.
Pics to follow...
After a gig at the Sea Dog Brewery in Topsham Friday night, I was home and in bed by 1:45AM.
Up at 4:30 and out the door by 5:11. This routine is a painfully familiar one to me and I was, amazingly enough, awake and cognizant of my surroundings.
Heading to Pownal, alert yet apprehensive about the upcoming jaunt, I was pondering the logic of a 23-miler after 2 hours of sleep – it did not seem to be a recipe for success.
As we were to spot cars and go our separate ways post hike, I had to drive, not sleep on my way to Conway. So up and over the Kanc to Lincoln Woods we go. We leave two cars there and drive around to the Zealand Road parking lot. As anyone who drives a lot knows, sometimes when nature calls any snow bank will do. Comprendez? The very nice State Trooper pointed out that there were plenty of woods to be had and that ‘you can’t be doin’ that around here!’ Sir, yes sir! Eh for whatever reason he dicided that boyz being boyz was ok for the time being. Not like anyone was searching for a lost wedding ring at the bottom of a women's privy.
So, fortunately for us, at 9 sharp, we were on our way southbound. The day was warmish and the sun was bright. My body was screaming at me that I should not be doing this but I forged ahead ignoring the fear and loathing in the pit of stomach. We set a pretty good pace up the road, through the disputed moose territory, and up the pitch to the Hut.
I was hitting a wall at this point and sat my sorry butt down on the bench outside the hut and tried desperately to regroup in the warm sun. I was soooo tired and I was dehydrated and so sucked down a liter of Gatorade and fired as many calories into my body as I could stand. Sitting there shaking somewhat I had serious doubts about my chances but I was determined to give it a try to the Zeacliff trail at the very least. Knowing that the 1500’ feet to Zealand combined with the elevation gain to the hut would be approximately 60 percent of our total vertical of the day and a good chunk of our mileage afforded me that glimmer of hope that I needed to motivate my body and mind to keep going.
Surprisingly enough, I did feel better as I ascended the uphill to Zealand. The trail was firmly packed and we bare booted the pitch above the hut to the junction arriving there approximately 11:45.
The views were fantastic along the Zeacliff trail and I felt as though I had rounded a corner mentally and physically. We charged ahead to the Zealand spur and headed to the summit. We met a couple of hut visitors on their way back from West Bond. We talked about trail conditions and the beautiful weather and we parted ways. There was a fine vftt from the summit of Zealand, something that one definitely cannot enjoy during the non-winter months. The snow is really deep. A solid 4 feet pretty much everywhere in this area. We sat there at the summit, fed some curious snack seeking Canada Jays and ate our lunches.
Another pair of hikers soon arrived. They were doing an ambitious out and back from Lincoln Woods. I don’t know that that particularly appealed to me, I mean that is longer than the mileage we were slated to do by 4 or 5 miles. Made me tired just to look at them. But they were young and ambitious and passed us on our way to Guyot and were long gone by the time we arrived on the Guyot summit.
“Keep on truckin mama, truck my blues away”…. We were making pretty good time I felt and we were almost halfway there. We could see a group of hikers on West Bond as we topped out on Guyot. The vftt were inspiring. Peaks and more peaks in every direction. A steady breeze kept us from hanging out for too long and we were quickly at the spur to West Bond. I put my stabilicers on at this point, looking for some extra traction in the churned out foot path.
Atop West Bond we paused for a good half hour and soaked up the enormity of the Pemi wilderness. The views from West Bond are spectacular. We enjoyed a PBR and some snacks and bid goodbye to this lofty perch and headed up the path to Bond. It surely did appear that our traverse was in the bag but we reminded ourselves at how lucky we were to be here. The day could have begun much differently. ‘you been doin’ like I think you been doin’ you can’t do that round here’. Those lyrics were repeated frequently and we laughed and laughed at our good fortune. What a fine day for hiking. Sunny and not too warm made for good footing and fine vftt.
On top of Bond we paused to snap more pictures but we did not linger too long as we really wanted to spend the rest of our summit time on Bondcliff. Bondcliff was void of hikers when we arrived at 6PM. The sun was hanging low over the Franconia ridge as we dug into our food bags and shared a celebratory snort of Beam and a cold PBR.
After a good half hour we were on our way. We had only 9 miles and change to go. It would be dark soon but we lingered until the sun was nearly standing atop the Franconia ridge. What a day we were having! It was almost too good to be true. 9 miles of downhill seemed so easy. But we knew that the tune would change once we hit the Wilderness trail. As previously mentioned by various members in this forum, that 4.7 to Lincoln Woods is an eternity when all you really want at that point is a comfy chair, slippers and a woodstove. But we had to keep our date with destiny and we picked em up and put em down. We staggered into the Lincoln Woods lot at 10:12 tattered and shattered, grinnin’ like a dog eating bumblebees. What a day!
We regrouped at the Micky-D’s in Lincoln. Coffee and burgers and 20 minutes of cat-napping in a booth and I was recharged for the trip back to Richmond. We compared our winter lists and made tentative plans for next winter’s hiking season.
Pics to follow...
