Pemi Loop - 7/16

[cbcbd]

Date Hiked:
7/16/05

Trails Hiked:
Lincoln Woods
Osseo
Franconia Ridge
Garfield Ridge
Twinway
Bondcliff
Wilderness

Total Distance:
37.3mi (4.4 "bonus" miles), 15.5hrs, 11 summits

Difficulty:
Very Strenuous

Conditions:
Humid, partly cloudy, 81F avg

Special Required Equipment:
Lots of water and energy.

Trip Report:
I'm very good with my bearings out in the woods and have a good memory for remembering trails I've been on... not this time.


Getting there
Friday, 6pm - headed out from Stamford, CT. Drove and drove until I stopped at White River Jct and got a McGrill from McDs - ugh, did not feel too good after 30mins - no more McDs for me ever, I've been getting sick from it lately. Anyway, after a fun twisty drive from 91 around Orford to Lincoln I arrived at the trailhead at around 11:45pm. I got out of my car and instantly I remembered why I loved being out there - the stars were everywhere and I could only hear the swoosh of the East Pemi river. This IS life!
I prepared my passenger seat and went to sleep in the car.

Lincoln Woods
Woke up at 4:20am, excited, tired, and nervous. After preparations were done and I was ready I crossed the Pemi bridge and was on the Lincoln Woods trail at 5am sharp. The trail was pretty flat and full of old railroad ties. I was making good time at 4mph and was so distracted by my own thoughts that I missed the Osseo trail by a mile!! I turned around berating myself and headed back- time lost - 30 min, extra miles added -2 heh heh, so going on...


Osseo
~5:50am - The Osseo trail was a gradual ascent that eventually got steeper and had a section full of nice ladders. The day was warming up now as the sun came out, it was getting pretty hot. On the trail I met an older northbound thru hiker who had started the trail on Feb 1st! He was taking his time- the contrast between both our goals was very apparent and ironic.


Franconia Ridge
Arrived at the Franconia Ridge trail at around 7:15am. Soon I'd be at Flume and the trail would be pretty easy for a few miles...

I arrived at Flume and stopped just a bit to look around and kept on to Liberty.

30 minutes later I arrive at Liberty...
Little did I know that my haste would soon be bitting me in the butt.

I stopped a bit to take some pictures and take a short break - I didn't want to use up too much time after losing that 30min earlier.
After I was ready to go on I looked around quickly, saw a blaze and went for it...

30 min later I arrive at a peak and start talking to a hiker who's resting there. I tell him where I had come from while pointing behind me. He looked confused and pointed out that the Kancamagus was the other direction. When I looked behind me I saw something that looked a lot like Franconia Ridge towards Lafayette. It was just that...

D'oh!!!


I asked him what mountain we were on and he told me it was Flume... my heart sank! At first I did not understand what I had done... but later when I returned to Liberty I noticed that the blaze I quickly followed was the trail back to Flume and I had been in such a daze until then that I did not notice I was walking back on the same trail!!

At this point I added another 2.2 miles to the trip and lost 1 hour - 4.4 total "bonus" miles
Hey, the more hiking the merrier

I made some quick calculations and figured that if I could make it to Garfield peak by 1pm I would still have plenty of time to finish the loop. The hiker asked me if I still had energy to do whatever hike I had planned for the day even with this slight error... I laughed inside and gave him sure thumbs up - of course I could make it Onward I went...


~9am: Now leaving Liberty on the right direction I had new resolve! From there to Lafayette the clouds had covered the ridge and a nice breeze was coming through. I was feeling pretty good, making good time, and since the sun was being blocked it was cool and perfect. No views, but that's all right. Passed some people on the ridge and stopped to talk to a few (anyone from here?).

Arrived at Lafayette at 10:35am, exactly 5mins over my ETA. Summit was in the clouds and cool. Stopped and sat for a bit and had lots of GU. Didn't stay there too long - but the ranger and his buddies enjoyed my tale of misdirection and told me I should carry a map (I did have my map but hadn't pulled it out yet, which is even more shameful)

Garfield Ridge
10:45am: headed down Garfield Ridge trail - steep, rocky, one of the hardest trails of the day.
I was in the zone and by this point I could feel my body going through an energy/low energy cycle - I'd get hungry and feel a little weak, eat some food over the course of a mile, feel energized, then 30 min later I'd feel hungry and a little weak again... and the cycle would repeat. It was very cool to see a cycle that usually takes many hours go so fast.


Arrived at Garfield Summit at 12:30pm, 30min ahead of my cutoff point for the day. I was pretty happy to make it since I had lost some time earlier in the day. At this point I had hiked 16.5 miles.
Hung out at the summit a little bit, had some food, lots of water, took pics, and went onward to the Galehead hut.

Trail started descending right away and some rocky sections were a little tricky but fun
but soon I could see the hut in the distance and the trail went up gradually.


Arrived at the hut around 1:40pm - Since I was past my halfway point, from here on I didn't keep track of time as much since it became irrelevant - I would finish before 9pm.
At the hut I refilled my water bladders at their potable water sink (nice!) and sat for a few minutes, or more like seconds.

I left my backpack at the hut and hiked/jogged up to the Galehead summit. There was a nice outlook on the way there, but the actual summit is in the middle of trees and not too exciting.



I got back to the hut, got my things ready and headed out at 2:25pm. I could feel that the day would get harder from here on. I started to feel more sluggish as soon as I left the hut.

Twinway
Going up to South Twin was tough! The combination of a long day, a pack full of water again, the sun who had come out now, and 1150ft elevation gain in .8 miles got to me. The going was tough, but I made it up in 35min despite feeling like it took a whole hour. Shade was hard to find on the way up.


The views from the S Twin summit were amazing. You could basically see the whole Pemi Wilderness and the rocks up there made great chairs as tons of people sat around enjoying the afternoon. I stopped at the summit of S Twin, sat down, ate a bit, drank some, and decided that my original plans of going to N Twin, Zealand, and West Bond would not fly today. I had lost too much time to attempt the extra summits ahead of me and still be back before dark and in one piece. It made me sad to have to make that decision but I knew I had to be realistic.

~3pm I started towards the Bondcliff trail. My breath was getting short now but the trail followed the ridge and was pleasant and pretty flat. Broke above treeline once more and arrived at the Bondcliff trail junction at 4pm.

Bondcliff
Rested a bit, took some pics and went on, I had 6.9 miles to the Wilderness trail and estimated I'd be there at 7pm.

From this trail, greats view of the Franconia ridge could be had... not to mention all of the mountains around. The WM guide says that from Mt Bond you can see the most uninterupted mountains in the WMs and they are right. Sitting there I felt surrounded by the most mountains I'd ever seen in the area - it was an overwhelming sight and feeling!


Bondcliff came to view and I was amazed at the beauty of it. My left hamstring was tight and hurting a little but my mind and will were on autopilot.




Arrived at the last peak of the day. The light was perfect for taking pictures and many people were there doing just that. I took advantage of having people around and asked for help to get a "cover pic" of my own

Left the peak and the trail was all descents. Some hard parts and a tricky rock wall to get down. But other than that I was in the zone and my body just knew what to do. I saw some people going up the trail and thought it was a little odd to be starting that late. One was a guy who had obviously dragged his incredibly obliging girlfriend up the mountain and promised her that there wouldn't be too much more hiking left - I advised her to escape, heh heh.


At this point my body was getting more and more tired and my mind was getting impatient. Towards the end of the trail I started running in spurts to speed up a bit - I didn't feel like hiking in the dark and had forgotten my headlamp in the car.


After what seemed to be ages I ran up to the Wilderness trail junction and sighed in relief and joy.

Now... what happened next is what will have me puzzled for a while:

As soon as I started arriving at the Wilderness trail and turned right onto it I saw a man walking away on the trail. He looked taller than 6ft, was wearing dark clothes and was about 30 yards away. I thought nothing of it and figured I'd talk to him when I caught up shortly. At this point I started fishing for my watch in my pocket to see what time it was - 7:05pm - I had missed my estimate by only 5min, excellent! I put my watch back in my pocket and looked up.

The man was gone.

There was a bush and a log to the right of the trail where I had last seen him so I thought that he stopped there to rest or something. As I got closer I kept looking in that direction. I got there and no one was there. I looked around and there was no way that someone could have left the trail and hid without me hearing leaves rustling or seeing them through the trees. There were many trees around, but the forest was not dense, had low vegetation, and I could see at least 50 ft out. I looked around more, whistled, called out to see if maybe an animal would appear or run away or something. Nothing.
I walked away very puzzled and the only explanation that crossed my mind was that I was hallucinating or I had just seen a ghost. Of course preferring to take the latter assumption I became curious to find out if there had ever been any "sightings" in the area.
The trail itself looked eerie enough as the trees formed an endless tunnel - when the "ghost" thought settled in my mind I walked away faster and once in a while would glance over my shoulder, just in case.

Wilderness
The Wilderness Trail was the last stretch and felt like an eternity. The old RR ties had to be watched out for the whole time and once in a while I would run a little bit until my lungs would tell me to stop. Halfway on this trail I finished my last squeeze of Gu and drank the rest of my water.
After 1h15m I was swinging my legs forward with the last ounces of energy, I was very hungry and a little dizzy. This was by far the worst part of the day. I vowed that if I would return that I'd have someone pick me up at the end of the Bondcliff trail.
"Why did they get rid of the RR?", I thought, "It would be awesome to have it right now".
I finally reached the Osseo Trail. For some reason my mind calculated 45 more minutes left for the 1.5 miles... I have no idea what I was thinking, it was only 20 more minutes.
I was ecstatic and surprised when I saw the suspended Pemi river bridge so soon. I leaned on the bridge and enjoyed the view and savored my accomplishment as my legs jellied under my body.

8:30pm - I crossed the bridge laughing with joy. I walked to the parking lot with a little hobble, put some things away in my car and headed back to the river.
By the river and bridge I could see the bats flashing by my sight as they flew from under the rocks near the water. They were so fast I could hardly see them. I left that quick daze of watching them fly and headed for the water.
I sat on a rock and put my feet in the rushing water. Aaaah, absolute heaven!
I got in the water and was in love. I bathed and bathed and kneeled on the rocks until the water was rushing by at waist level - I couldn't get enough of it on me. I stayed there relaxing for a while with a big smile on my face, remembering my day... just thinking "This IS life".


Can't wait to go back!

[SilentCal]

Awesome report! I am doing the same loop with my girlfriend in September, but staying at Greenleaf and Galehead huts. I'm not a runner and like to be pokey and take in the views. I've never hiked the Osseo, Garfield Ridge and Bondcliff trail below Bondcliff so I get to do some redlining too. How did you not notice you were going back to Flume? That's one of the DOH! moments.

[MtnMagic]

I'd pass out on the ground after 37 miles in one day! That's some great hiking and a great trip report complete w/pix. I very much enjoyed reading your adventure and hope to read many more.

[cbcbd]

Originally Posted by SilentCal

How did you not notice you were going back to Flume? That's one of the DOH! moments.

Head in the clouds is my best but still lame explanation

...I tell ya, I was in a daze that morning and my mind was pretty busy with thoughts... but after that I kept a clear mind and felt pretty awake like my regular self

Originally Posted by MtnMagic

That's some great hiking and a great trip report complete w/pix.

I'll have to credit the whole report with pics embedded thing to MichaelJ - I always liked his reports and copying is the ultimate flattery, right?

[Stephen]

Holy cats... I hope I have that kind of stamina some day.

It'd help if I wasn't carrying a full pack BEFORE I put my pack on...

-Stephen

[Greg]

Great report. Yeah - that stretch of Garfield Ridge is a killer. Perhaps those folks heading up Bondcliff were heading for the Guyot tent site? I especially liked the apparition part of the TR. That's worthy of the Ghost Stories thread...

[JimG.]

Cool report!

[cbcbd]

Originally Posted by Greg

Perhaps those folks heading up Bondcliff were heading for the Guyot tent site? I especially liked the apparition part of the TR. That's worthy of the Ghost Stories thread...

Yep, that is exactly where they were headed. But from where I was and how long they had to go they would most likely get there just as it was getting dark. And one of the groups ran out of water... so I was little worried there.

Cool, hadn't seen the ghost thread. Will post in it

[blacknblue]

Excellent report! I hope you at least remembered to sink a few beers in the Pemi River for your grand finale! That's such a wonderful loop; my brother and I did the same route 2 summers ago, with a lot of rain until it gloriously parted as we came up on West Bond with blue skies.
That Garfield Ridge is a killer, and ascending the Osseo can be a slog, too.
That Wilderness/Bondcliff Trail junction is kinda a creepy area; I also walk real fast through there. I don't know that it was a ghost, but I know that feeling of "did that just really happen?". Admittedly, most of those moments have come at the end of a long endurance-type activity, so maybe it was just low blood-sugar.

[MichaelJ]

I'll have to credit the whole report with pics embedded thing to MichaelJ - I always liked his reports and copying is the ultimate flattery, right?

LoL! I'll just have to work a little harder now - the pressure's on.

It's funny that you missed the Osseo Trail ... Bob & Geri, along with Sherpa John, were recently headed to Owl's Head and got all the way to the suspension bridge (yes, past the Bondcliff Trail, where they stopped to talk to people, and past the old trestle) before realizing they'd missed the Franconia Brook Trail. Truly, the Wilderness Trail sucks people's minds away...