I woke up just before the guy with the big wooden Aussie tube thing got everyone out of bed. Breakfast was Cream o’ Wheat and some coffee cake and powdered eggs. The hut crew looked exhausted and I soon found out why. While the assistant hut master gave his morning lecture on folding blankets and leaving tips… two others came into the hut carrying a big propeller.
They’d left the hut at 9:30 when the lights went out and hiked/ran down to the trailhead and hopped into a car. From there they drove to the Ammonusuc ravine trailhead. They hiked 3.5 miles up the steep ravine in pitch black and crept into Lakes of the Clouds hut. Somehow (without waking the Croo) they slashed the chains holding it to the wall and managed to take it noiselessly outside.
While two of them carried it back down the ravine, the other went into the hut and woke the Lakes crew to tell them of the robbery. They hiked all the way down, drove back and hiked the final 2.5 miles to Zealand hut. The cook of the day would have to wake at 5am to start breakfast for us so he only got about 2-3 hrs of sleep. This is a tradition among the young hut keepers; let me stress “Young.”
We left the hut at about 8:30 and proceeded up the Twinway trail which ascends steadily along the flank of the ridge. We stayed together for a bit before I left the women behind to talk. The group from Mass passed us along the way. In the bright sunshine I popped out near the top of the ridge to a bunch of blueberries alongside the trail.
I sat and ate a couple while waiting for Anne and my niece to show up. The trail branched left with a sign that said “view.” I’d been here several times, once in 1994, in 1998 and in 2000 during a rainstorm. It was great to see Jess and Anne come out of the woods and join me at the top. We turned and headed down the pathway to the Zeacliffs
Jess and I walked over to the edge of the cliffs, the pesky group from Mass was still there hanging around but talking about heading over to bag Mt Zealand. Anne stayed just a little away from the cliffs loading new film in her camera. I think she wanted the views to unfold bit by bit. The panorama from the cliffs is amazing. The view is unique, a perfect perch to view the green valley below. We felt like eagles up there.
I mentally wished the group would travel away to other locales… I wanted a special place to propose and could think of nothing better than this spot. It must’ve worked because pretty soon they were packing out and it left me with a window of isolation. I quickly grabbed the opportunity and pulled the cartoon from my pack.
I handed it to Anne with the excuse, “sorry, meant to give you this the other day.” She looked skeptical but accepted the piece of paper. It was titled Anne’s world and showed her running in the first panel, taking pictures in Africa in another and finally it had a picture of us on the summit of Mt Hale with the words "“Lift me” on the bottom. She lifted it off to reveal a picture of me proposing with a diamond ring. Then I got on my knee and asked her properly (yes with a real ring.) It was a great moment… took some planning to get it done but I was happy and she said yes!
We enjoyed some moments up there before moving on and heading upwards towards the cone of Mt Zealand. Pretty soon we were passed by the group from Mass who were heading back down to the hut. They explained that a hawk-like bird had attacked them. After they left another couple passed us and said to watch out for a bird that was dying on the trail.
We found the Spruce Grouse lying on the trail ahead. It just sat there while I checked it out. I found a depression in its head and some fresh blood spilling down its neck. It seemed to be in pain... we couldn’t figure out what was best to do. After a few minutes I picked the bird up and tried to put it in my sweatshirt...I had some silly idea that we could get it to someone who could help it. I was suprised at how heavy it was. The grouse flew right back out and landed softly on a patch of moss.
Well, I figured it needed to be left alone… its fate remains unknown. We summited Mt Zealand at 4,260 and I pulled out a bottle of cactus juice and some chocolates and celebrated the occasion of our engagement. The diamond ring looked perfect on her hand (although a bit big) and she said… “It’s my ring because it has my name on it.” I had her African name “Mwende” engraved on the inside of it.
THANK YOU MWENDE!!
In the Kamba dielect Mwende means "Beloved."
We left the inviting sunny spot and headed back along the brushy trail that led back to Twinway. At the jct we took a right and continued northwest towards the Twins.
It was a spectacular day and we just meandered along, breathing in the fragrance of the forest and enjoying the sunshine. I've hiked through here with winds whipping up to 60mph in icy hail with fog wrapping you up like cellophane.
Soon we were clearing the trees once again after dropping into a deep col and headed towards Mt Guyot. From near Guyot you see spectacular views of the Bonds. We went over the summit of Guyot and South Twin ahead seemed to loom high above us. We were at 4,500 feet and South Twin was at least another 400 feet higher.
Jessie seemed to be tiring, her pack was wearing funny on her thin shoulders. I'd already unpacked mostly everything but her pack clearly wasn't meant for hiking. We trudged upward, more moderately than anything, one little steep section then we were on the summit.
South Twin has a wonderful summit with clear 360 degree views all around.
It was Jessica's highest peak ever, I offered her the option of hiking over to North Twin to bag that one or to head to the hut. She was really tired so we headed down to Galehead
Both Anne and I had done North Twin before so we left without regrets. We hiked down the steep side 1,100 feet to the lawn at Galehead hut. Jessie was especially glad to reach the place just so she could rid her back of the pack. We lounged around; it had been a great day… one of the best of my life… so many memories
We still wanted to scale Galehead before the day ended but decided to wait till after supper. We had a full meal of bread, pasta and veggies and then some kind of yucky dessert that I didn’t take. There was a spectacular sunset and then Anne jumped up on a rock to take pictures. The dying light swept across the mountains and lit an orange fire on the Twins behind us.
As nightfall approached we took flashlights and headed up the Frost trail to the summit ˝ mile above us. We scrambled to the top (at 4024 ft) pretty quickly without our packs. It was completely treed in but there was a ledge nearby down into the ravine. I was glad to have my headlamp along for the descent as it got dark fast!