MarcHowes
New member
Date(s) Hiked: 9/18,19
Trails(s) Hiked: Wilderness Trail, Bondcliff, West Bond Spur, Twinway, Zealand Spur, North Twin Spur, Frost, Twin Brook.
Total Distance: 35 Miles
Difficulty: Strenous
Conditions: (trail)Outside wilderness: Excellent, inside wilderness: Often very poor. (weather) PERFECT, clear, 65 degrees nice!
Special Required Equipment: Boots!!!! Comfy socks, food, tent sleeping bag etc
Pictures http://hoosactunnel.net/nonhoosac/NH/Bonds060918/
Map http://hoosactunnel.net/adventure/images/bondtrip.jpg
Trip Report:
Long two day hike with amazing views I copied my report from my pcitures page and am pasting it here:
My longest hike yet. A 2 day event. I planned on reaching 10 summits: Bond Cliff, Bond, West bond, Guyot, Zealand, South Twin, North Twin, Galehead, Garfield, and Owl's Head. In the end I was unable to get Garfield AGAIN! (I knew it was a really long shot if I could bag that one anyways, it wasn't in my original plan anyways cause I was supposed to bag it on the E Franconia hike). All are in the 4000 footer list except Guyot. I started on 9-18-06 at 3:54AM at the Lincoln Woods trailhead on the Kanc. I did not have a flashlight so I sued my cell phone for light. Not a big deal because the first 5 miles are wide rail grade. I reached the Bond cliff trail just as twilight came in. I ascended the fairly easy trail which was largely built on logging roads. I reached the summit after 4 hours of walking. I was greeted with perfectly clear views which were probably the best I have encountered in the Whites. I proceeded up to Bond where I encountered another hiker. We swapped stories and he informed me of the locations of water sources which I took into account with great interest. I snapped some more nice clear pictures and proceeded to the West Bond trail junction. I left my heavy backpack at the spur head and bagged the peak, on my way back I saw a partridge which seemed not afraid of me. I was hungry at the time and thought of how good the partridge would taste
But I left the fearless partridge alone and proceeded back to my backpack.
Next stop was Guyot camp. I met some hikers who I would see off an on for the rest of the day (they were as I later learned from Lowell) I dropped my bag off at the spur head and descended 300 feet to Guyot camp to fill my bottle at the spring. I conversed quickly with the caretaker and went back uphill to my pack. I then proceeded to Guyot summit which was not far off. I caught up to those hikers at the twin way/bond cliff trail intersection I took twin way East they took West. I bagged Guyot peak, left my backpack on the trailside and traveled a mile to the Viewless Zealand peak (there was a nice sign though). Then I unhappily walked back to Guyot and proceeded West on the twin way to south twin. This part seemed agonizingly slow, but at least it was mostly flat. I finally made the steep final grind to South Twin where I took my first break of the day. Five minutes later I was on my way to North Twin which was only a mile north of South Twin. I left my pack on South twin and did the spur hike to North Twin. Not many views on North Twin unfortunately. I ascended back up South twin (which was BTW the tallest peak of the day at 4902'). I took another short break on the rocks and started the slow painful descent down to galehead hut. I could see Garfield far off to the west. I knew I would not make it there. I stopped at the hut and got some water. I met my friends from Guyot camp and we spoke briefly. I rested a bit then walked the mile to the boring Galehead summit and back. I rested again briefly and saw my Lowell friends off (they were heading to 13 falls camp just like I was). I left for the camp about 10 minutes after they did but I caught up to them about 10 minutes before we got to the camp. We arrived at around 6:15. I ate my meal of canned spaghetti-o's and promptly fell asleep. I did hear them tell me good night at one point later on in a half conscious daze.
I woke up at 6:15 or so (don't be fooled into thinking I got 12 hours of sleep, I definitely woke up a lot that night from the uncomfortable gravel I was sleeping on). I heated up some water on my improvised candle stove and made some soup. I started hiking at 7:30. My goal: Owl's head. I crossed the river and began a gradual logging road ascent up to about 3200' It was then that I entered the most miserably swamp infested muddy trail hell hole. I was not a fan of this section at all. When the trail crossed over to the east side of the newly formed river I bushwhacked to the slide trail up owls head rather than descending then ascending a wasteful 500 feet. I had to be careful where I stepped out here because of the fragile moss growing on rocks. I could see others had bushwhacked here and had done damage. Eventually I merged with the trail at 3775' (I planned to do a more modest 3300). I dropped off my pack and swiftly reached the summit. My last 4000 footer of the trip! I descended the trail with my VERY UNCOMFORTABLE pack (down a slide no less!). I was relieved to get back to the valley trail (even though I still had hours of walking left). I filled my bottle and added iodine tablets in the stream (I did not trust this water due to the swampy hell hole upstream (the water did taste fine however)). The trail eventually turned into a nice railgrade which crisscrossed the river a few times (but the trail stayed on one side). Near one of the larger trestle sites at a river crossing and at almost exactly noon tragedy struck. I fell into a roaring brook. Soaked up above my knees (pocket content stayed dry thankfully) I was not happy. I had to take numerous breaks to wring out my wool socks (every hour or so). Every time I wrung out my socks my wet boots would gradually re-soak them and I would have to wring them out again. I made the slow groggy trip back to the Franconia falls trestle site for my last sock wringing. This whole area was a veritable cash cow of old logging rail grades (icing on the cake!). Finally I traveled the last 3 miles back to my car on a flat surface. It started to rain 3 minutes before I got to my car which made me very happy because I had basically beaten the rain (it rained for hours after that). I changed my clothes and drove home a very satisfied hiker!
Trails(s) Hiked: Wilderness Trail, Bondcliff, West Bond Spur, Twinway, Zealand Spur, North Twin Spur, Frost, Twin Brook.
Total Distance: 35 Miles
Difficulty: Strenous
Conditions: (trail)Outside wilderness: Excellent, inside wilderness: Often very poor. (weather) PERFECT, clear, 65 degrees nice!
Special Required Equipment: Boots!!!! Comfy socks, food, tent sleeping bag etc
Pictures http://hoosactunnel.net/nonhoosac/NH/Bonds060918/
Map http://hoosactunnel.net/adventure/images/bondtrip.jpg
Trip Report:
Long two day hike with amazing views I copied my report from my pcitures page and am pasting it here:
My longest hike yet. A 2 day event. I planned on reaching 10 summits: Bond Cliff, Bond, West bond, Guyot, Zealand, South Twin, North Twin, Galehead, Garfield, and Owl's Head. In the end I was unable to get Garfield AGAIN! (I knew it was a really long shot if I could bag that one anyways, it wasn't in my original plan anyways cause I was supposed to bag it on the E Franconia hike). All are in the 4000 footer list except Guyot. I started on 9-18-06 at 3:54AM at the Lincoln Woods trailhead on the Kanc. I did not have a flashlight so I sued my cell phone for light. Not a big deal because the first 5 miles are wide rail grade. I reached the Bond cliff trail just as twilight came in. I ascended the fairly easy trail which was largely built on logging roads. I reached the summit after 4 hours of walking. I was greeted with perfectly clear views which were probably the best I have encountered in the Whites. I proceeded up to Bond where I encountered another hiker. We swapped stories and he informed me of the locations of water sources which I took into account with great interest. I snapped some more nice clear pictures and proceeded to the West Bond trail junction. I left my heavy backpack at the spur head and bagged the peak, on my way back I saw a partridge which seemed not afraid of me. I was hungry at the time and thought of how good the partridge would taste
But I left the fearless partridge alone and proceeded back to my backpack.Next stop was Guyot camp. I met some hikers who I would see off an on for the rest of the day (they were as I later learned from Lowell) I dropped my bag off at the spur head and descended 300 feet to Guyot camp to fill my bottle at the spring. I conversed quickly with the caretaker and went back uphill to my pack. I then proceeded to Guyot summit which was not far off. I caught up to those hikers at the twin way/bond cliff trail intersection I took twin way East they took West. I bagged Guyot peak, left my backpack on the trailside and traveled a mile to the Viewless Zealand peak (there was a nice sign though). Then I unhappily walked back to Guyot and proceeded West on the twin way to south twin. This part seemed agonizingly slow, but at least it was mostly flat. I finally made the steep final grind to South Twin where I took my first break of the day. Five minutes later I was on my way to North Twin which was only a mile north of South Twin. I left my pack on South twin and did the spur hike to North Twin. Not many views on North Twin unfortunately. I ascended back up South twin (which was BTW the tallest peak of the day at 4902'). I took another short break on the rocks and started the slow painful descent down to galehead hut. I could see Garfield far off to the west. I knew I would not make it there. I stopped at the hut and got some water. I met my friends from Guyot camp and we spoke briefly. I rested a bit then walked the mile to the boring Galehead summit and back. I rested again briefly and saw my Lowell friends off (they were heading to 13 falls camp just like I was). I left for the camp about 10 minutes after they did but I caught up to them about 10 minutes before we got to the camp. We arrived at around 6:15. I ate my meal of canned spaghetti-o's and promptly fell asleep. I did hear them tell me good night at one point later on in a half conscious daze.
I woke up at 6:15 or so (don't be fooled into thinking I got 12 hours of sleep, I definitely woke up a lot that night from the uncomfortable gravel I was sleeping on). I heated up some water on my improvised candle stove and made some soup. I started hiking at 7:30. My goal: Owl's head. I crossed the river and began a gradual logging road ascent up to about 3200' It was then that I entered the most miserably swamp infested muddy trail hell hole. I was not a fan of this section at all. When the trail crossed over to the east side of the newly formed river I bushwhacked to the slide trail up owls head rather than descending then ascending a wasteful 500 feet. I had to be careful where I stepped out here because of the fragile moss growing on rocks. I could see others had bushwhacked here and had done damage. Eventually I merged with the trail at 3775' (I planned to do a more modest 3300). I dropped off my pack and swiftly reached the summit. My last 4000 footer of the trip! I descended the trail with my VERY UNCOMFORTABLE pack (down a slide no less!). I was relieved to get back to the valley trail (even though I still had hours of walking left). I filled my bottle and added iodine tablets in the stream (I did not trust this water due to the swampy hell hole upstream (the water did taste fine however)). The trail eventually turned into a nice railgrade which crisscrossed the river a few times (but the trail stayed on one side). Near one of the larger trestle sites at a river crossing and at almost exactly noon tragedy struck. I fell into a roaring brook. Soaked up above my knees (pocket content stayed dry thankfully) I was not happy. I had to take numerous breaks to wring out my wool socks (every hour or so). Every time I wrung out my socks my wet boots would gradually re-soak them and I would have to wring them out again. I made the slow groggy trip back to the Franconia falls trestle site for my last sock wringing. This whole area was a veritable cash cow of old logging rail grades (icing on the cake!). Finally I traveled the last 3 miles back to my car on a flat surface. It started to rain 3 minutes before I got to my car which made me very happy because I had basically beaten the rain (it rained for hours after that). I changed my clothes and drove home a very satisfied hiker!
