Mohamed had proposed a trip starting at Lincoln Woods traversing the Bonds and Twins and exiting north at Haystack Road near the trailhead for the North Twin Trail. The Pemi-loop or Lolipop as it's called traverses the Franconia, Garfield, Twin and Bond peaks. This one I dubbed the "Semi-Pemi Traverse." Anne and I drove up the night before and we met Mohamed and Andy at his place.
On early Saturday morning we drove north to the Kanc then east to Lincoln Woods. The night before Andy and Mohamed had spotted a car up north. It was clearly a beautiful day and we were excited to get out for a hike
The four of us had met on an AMC Excursion trip to Summit County in Colorado. I'd actually asked Anne out on a night after a hike near Breckenridge and we were dating. I'd met Mohamed on a previous Colorado excursion hike and we'd run into each other a few times in the Whites.
So pretty quickly we arrived at Lincoln Woods, had packed up and were power walking the flat Wilderness trail. We were seasoned hikers and in pretty good shape. Anne and I were fresh off a climb over the Knifes edge to the summit of Katahdin Baxter Peak.
The Pemigewassett River wound pleasantly along the trail for a little while, several bridges spanned the areas where brooks seemed to run off the mountain into the river. We cruised down those 5 miles past some nice spots and several trails heading off in different directions. We were bound for the Bondcliff trail which I'd been on early in May.
We stopped somewhere fairly close to the Bondcliff trail for a drink and a snack and were off again........but Anne had left her hat behind so I ran back to get it and then joined up with the group to the beginning of the Bondcliff trail. Then we were off again starting to climb a little.
UGHHHHH!! I just realized I'd left my poles behind back where we rested. So I apologized and ran down the trail to collect them. Fortunately they were less than a quarter mile away. I huffed and puffed as I got back up to where everybody was waiting.
They let me collect my breath and my poles before we were hiking again at a brisk pace. Mohamed wanted to do the 19 or so miles in 10 hours and we all felt great.
Bondcliff never climbs very steep, there are several beautiful outlooks of the peak ahead. We crossed Black Brook which was much easier than it had been back in May. Cruising along still we reached the little steep part that comes before you get on the summit ridge, seemed like big rocky steps to me with one grunt of a step.
All too soon we were on the summit taking in the expansive views ....ok, it was a little cloudy. We posed for a picture or two, ate some good snacks and headed off and up for Mt Bond. It's sort of a dull knifes edge going over to where the real climbing begins. From this angle it didn't appear that Bondcliff made the requirements of an NH 4K official peak but it is.
It was a pretty moderate climb to the summit of Bond, I sweated my way up it although it seemed Andy was walking effortlessly. At the summit we paused again enjoying the weather and then headed down into the woods. It seemed like a long way down which is illustrated by the view from the Twinway of Mt Bond.
Down in the col we took the West Bond Spur to the summit of West Bond which I'd visited back in 1999 on another marathon hike. This one today was going pretty well, I felt OK. We just tagged the summit, took a few pictures and flew. West Bond has a beautiful summit, it would be nice to waste away an afternoon up there someday.
Back on the trail we passed the Guyot campsite on the way to Mt Guyot which is a round humped mountain that doesn't officially count. It is a starkly beautiful place though and maybe the best place to see the Bonds. On the Twinway we were headed off again for the climb of South Twin Mountain, our high point of the day at just under 5,000 feet and the 8th highest peak in the Whites.
What a day it had been so far. South Twin is a nice bald rocky summit with 360 views of the Pemigewassett Wilderness. We had wonderful Views from the Top on this day! My legs were complaining a little but I knew the hike over the North Twin wasn't that bad. I'd been harassed by a Spruce Grouse on my first ascent of N. Twin which can be seen from Rt-3 as it towers over the town.
We were chugging along, Anne had done great, she's in fantastic shape. At North Twin we stopped at the summit and then the outlook for some rest and to soak in the milky views. We were doing OK on time, it was well into the afternoon when we descended the trail of the same name.
I'd never been on this trail which seemed to be the wettest rockiest trail of our day so far. I was not looking forward to the steep descent. I quickly took a rolling tumble down the trail as I stepped on a slippery moss covered rock. I was tired and felt every bit of it was I brushed myself off. Just a little further down I stepped on a waterbar which was also soaking wet and again down I went like a champion fighter in the 15th round. Luckily I didn't break any bones. I wasn't hurt but I was fading fast.
Finally the trail moderated somewhat and we found ourselves crossing a brook and then faced with a river. We decided to bushwhack along the banks of the river to avoid the two worst crossings which was pretty straightforward. I was exhausted but we plodded along. Anne started to get worried but we popped out onto the trail like I knew we would.
The rest was just put one foot in front of the other and go. Pretty soon as darkness just began creeping in and filling the gullies and hollows we were back at a car. I don't remember any of the ride to Lincoln Woods but I do remember a good meal at the Common Man in downtown Lincoln. I'm pretty sure Anne drove home that night, I was just incapable.
We travelled over 5 official NH peaks with 19 miles of hiking and over 5K in gain. I added a mile to my total by having to run back to gather a hat and a pair of poles..........maybe that's why I was so tired.
