Date(s) Hiked: 09/30/2006
Trails(s) Hiked: Wilderness, Bondcliff, West Bond Spur, Twinway, North Twin Spur, Frost, Twin Brook, Franconia Brook, Wilderness Trail
Total Distance: Just about 30 miles
Difficulty:Difficult,
Conditions: Early in the AM Rime on rocks & plants above 4000 feet, by the time I left Bond (9:30) it was jus on the trees
Special Required Equipment: gloves, hat, long sleeves
Trip Report: If I told you that on one of the peak foliage weekends you could have the summits of all three Bonds to yourself, you’d probably say, “tell me how Mike, tell me how”. As you’ll see below, sharing hem with like minded hikers is not so bad after all.
After not being hiking any of the 4,000 footers in the Whites, since spring, this was a weekend to visit several peaks in a short amount of time. During the summer I had just been to Monadnock, VT, the Catskills & Bald Cap, a nice 2,369 foot peaks with great views near Cranmore.
Friday I started at 4:15 & missed the rain hiking Mt. Tecumseh in just under 2 ½ hours. Tecumseh is my 15th of 48 4K’s I hiked in all four seasons. Above the view on the ski slop, it was all fogged in, the foliage in Waterville I could see looked good though.
I was in the bunkhouse at Lyon’s after dinner by 9:00. As of Friday night, I had fifteen done in four seasons & 34 done in three seasons. I had set my alarm for 4:30 but when I awoke at 3:00 AM I decided to eat my sugary breakfast leisurely & then head out. I had planned on hiking with a couple of friends on the Bonds but when they backed out, I decided to do the 2nd half of the Pemi loop, having done the Franconia’s Garfield & Galehead back in May. I needed the Bonds on my three season list & Galehead on my four season list.
This was a later start, that trip started at 3:30, this one started almost an hour later, under what seemed to be billions of stars at 4:25 AM. In May, it was light enough to turn my headlamp off at 4:45, that time would not come until almost 6:30 on he last day of September. I was about a mile in on the Bondcliff trail I could see that the leaves that were on the trees were nice but a lot of trees had little color left. By the time I got to the 4th brook crossing, the birches were bare & the only color was several hundred feet below.
I had started the hike in shorts & a polyester T-shirt with glove liners. A few minutes before 8:00, I was just above the big ledge on Bondcliff, adding wind-bloc fleece gloves, a hat & a fleece shirt. The trees were covered in light rime ice some of the rocks were a bit slick. The higher Franconia peaks, Garfield & South Twin were in the clouds but everything else was wide open. After a few minutes on Bondcliff taking pictures, I was off across the ridge to Mt. Bond. By the time I got to Bond a few minutes after 9:00 AM only Lafayette & the Presidentials were in the clouds. I spent 20 minutes on Bond, eating, taking more pictures of the rime covered trees & far in the distance, the sun lit the Atlantic. I was unsure if it really could be but the shimmer of light was too big for a lake. From Bond I could see two hikers on Bondcliff, probably the campers I had passed below the 4th brook crossing on the Bondcliff trail. At 9:29 I was off to West Bond, one of my favorite summits, especially solo as the top really does not hold more than two or three hikers comfortably. I figured I’d see a camper or two from Guyot over there but I was alone on West Bond too. A few more pictures, especially of Bondcliff, a snack & I was on my way. At the junction of the West Bond Spur with the Bondcliff trail, I came across my first hiker, a man finishing his 48, he needed Bond & West Bond & had decided on finishing on West Bond. We warned each of other of the icy conditions we had encountered & were then on our separate ways.
On Guyot I started running into the Saturday morning hikers, including a woman who had warned me they had forecasted snow. It couldn’t be right but apparently it must have been the Higher Summits forecast from the MWO which usually applies to Washington & the Presidentials, especially the Northern ones. The Twinway outside of a lot of mud from yesterday’s rain was uneventful except for passing several hikers. Right about 12:00 I was on South Twin & the Presidentials were now visible & from South Twin, appeared to be covered in snow above 5,000 feet. Since I was ahead of schedule, I opted to head over to North Twin. A woman had come up from Gale River & was heading their too, I lead on the downhill but the moment we started uphill, the mileage already under my boots was evident & I fell back meeting her a few minutes later on the summit ledge. The trees were losing their rime but still had some ice on them. We had lunch & I headed back to South Twin so I could head down the Twinway to Galehead so I could fill up my water bottles & see what baked goods they had to eat. By the time I had replenished, eaten some ‘freshly’ baked food & visited the Galehead summit for my 16th 4,000 footer hiked in four seasons, it was 3:30. It would be dark by 7:00, I had started in the dark, I was determined not to finish in it too. I did all over 11 miles to go, either downhill of flat. Jogging & hopping when safely appropriate I got down to Franconia Brook around 4:15, 21 miles down, 8.9 miles to go. Being tall, well at least a little above average helps. I was missing the foliage but really, I had miles of it, there was no need to focus on one tree, I was going to see thousands more.
At one brook crossing where a beaver had made a new damn back in May & the crossing was almost under water then, the whole area was underwater, the trees used in May were now under 5-8” of water. I had just crossed the water, this time even on the crossing, my feet were soaked by water coming over the top. The rest of the trip was uneventful except for getting out before dark (6:44 PM) & running into a few of recently (Spring 2006) Don L.’s friends.
No more six peak hikes this year, doing the Franconia loop later in October is going to feel pretty short.
Trails(s) Hiked: Wilderness, Bondcliff, West Bond Spur, Twinway, North Twin Spur, Frost, Twin Brook, Franconia Brook, Wilderness Trail
Total Distance: Just about 30 miles
Difficulty:Difficult,
Conditions: Early in the AM Rime on rocks & plants above 4000 feet, by the time I left Bond (9:30) it was jus on the trees
Special Required Equipment: gloves, hat, long sleeves
Trip Report: If I told you that on one of the peak foliage weekends you could have the summits of all three Bonds to yourself, you’d probably say, “tell me how Mike, tell me how”. As you’ll see below, sharing hem with like minded hikers is not so bad after all.
After not being hiking any of the 4,000 footers in the Whites, since spring, this was a weekend to visit several peaks in a short amount of time. During the summer I had just been to Monadnock, VT, the Catskills & Bald Cap, a nice 2,369 foot peaks with great views near Cranmore.
Friday I started at 4:15 & missed the rain hiking Mt. Tecumseh in just under 2 ½ hours. Tecumseh is my 15th of 48 4K’s I hiked in all four seasons. Above the view on the ski slop, it was all fogged in, the foliage in Waterville I could see looked good though.
I was in the bunkhouse at Lyon’s after dinner by 9:00. As of Friday night, I had fifteen done in four seasons & 34 done in three seasons. I had set my alarm for 4:30 but when I awoke at 3:00 AM I decided to eat my sugary breakfast leisurely & then head out. I had planned on hiking with a couple of friends on the Bonds but when they backed out, I decided to do the 2nd half of the Pemi loop, having done the Franconia’s Garfield & Galehead back in May. I needed the Bonds on my three season list & Galehead on my four season list.
This was a later start, that trip started at 3:30, this one started almost an hour later, under what seemed to be billions of stars at 4:25 AM. In May, it was light enough to turn my headlamp off at 4:45, that time would not come until almost 6:30 on he last day of September. I was about a mile in on the Bondcliff trail I could see that the leaves that were on the trees were nice but a lot of trees had little color left. By the time I got to the 4th brook crossing, the birches were bare & the only color was several hundred feet below.
I had started the hike in shorts & a polyester T-shirt with glove liners. A few minutes before 8:00, I was just above the big ledge on Bondcliff, adding wind-bloc fleece gloves, a hat & a fleece shirt. The trees were covered in light rime ice some of the rocks were a bit slick. The higher Franconia peaks, Garfield & South Twin were in the clouds but everything else was wide open. After a few minutes on Bondcliff taking pictures, I was off across the ridge to Mt. Bond. By the time I got to Bond a few minutes after 9:00 AM only Lafayette & the Presidentials were in the clouds. I spent 20 minutes on Bond, eating, taking more pictures of the rime covered trees & far in the distance, the sun lit the Atlantic. I was unsure if it really could be but the shimmer of light was too big for a lake. From Bond I could see two hikers on Bondcliff, probably the campers I had passed below the 4th brook crossing on the Bondcliff trail. At 9:29 I was off to West Bond, one of my favorite summits, especially solo as the top really does not hold more than two or three hikers comfortably. I figured I’d see a camper or two from Guyot over there but I was alone on West Bond too. A few more pictures, especially of Bondcliff, a snack & I was on my way. At the junction of the West Bond Spur with the Bondcliff trail, I came across my first hiker, a man finishing his 48, he needed Bond & West Bond & had decided on finishing on West Bond. We warned each of other of the icy conditions we had encountered & were then on our separate ways.
On Guyot I started running into the Saturday morning hikers, including a woman who had warned me they had forecasted snow. It couldn’t be right but apparently it must have been the Higher Summits forecast from the MWO which usually applies to Washington & the Presidentials, especially the Northern ones. The Twinway outside of a lot of mud from yesterday’s rain was uneventful except for passing several hikers. Right about 12:00 I was on South Twin & the Presidentials were now visible & from South Twin, appeared to be covered in snow above 5,000 feet. Since I was ahead of schedule, I opted to head over to North Twin. A woman had come up from Gale River & was heading their too, I lead on the downhill but the moment we started uphill, the mileage already under my boots was evident & I fell back meeting her a few minutes later on the summit ledge. The trees were losing their rime but still had some ice on them. We had lunch & I headed back to South Twin so I could head down the Twinway to Galehead so I could fill up my water bottles & see what baked goods they had to eat. By the time I had replenished, eaten some ‘freshly’ baked food & visited the Galehead summit for my 16th 4,000 footer hiked in four seasons, it was 3:30. It would be dark by 7:00, I had started in the dark, I was determined not to finish in it too. I did all over 11 miles to go, either downhill of flat. Jogging & hopping when safely appropriate I got down to Franconia Brook around 4:15, 21 miles down, 8.9 miles to go. Being tall, well at least a little above average helps. I was missing the foliage but really, I had miles of it, there was no need to focus on one tree, I was going to see thousands more.
At one brook crossing where a beaver had made a new damn back in May & the crossing was almost under water then, the whole area was underwater, the trees used in May were now under 5-8” of water. I had just crossed the water, this time even on the crossing, my feet were soaked by water coming over the top. The rest of the trip was uneventful except for getting out before dark (6:44 PM) & running into a few of recently (Spring 2006) Don L.’s friends.
No more six peak hikes this year, doing the Franconia loop later in October is going to feel pretty short.
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I was climbing Moriah while you were on the Wilderness trail. Very very clear sky, great stargazing. Good stuff. The loop you did is hella long 
