Pemi Loop with big moose encounter

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Mats Roing

New member
Joined
Feb 15, 2007
Messages
732
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220
Location
Brighton, MA
Cast:

Ferrisjrf (Jason)
Unfrozen Caveman (UFC)
Sasquatch (Rob)
Mats Roing (Mats)

After a delayed start we were off a little after 7am from Lincoln Woods. Jason and UFC had a pressie traverse in their legs from the previous day so they were doing something unbelievable :eek: Jason took off into the horizon and Rob and I soon followed suit chasing the vanishing point. We looked back after 10 minutes and couldn't see UFC......we never saw him again the rest of the loop. Wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do but we had some discussions about it before we started what to do if we hiked in different paces. Shortly before the Bondcliff Trail Rob and I caught up with Jason. Took the left turn 51 minutes after leaving the parking lot....about 11 min/mile so pretty descent start. What we didn't know was that UFC had a great bull moose encounter at the Osseo Trail cut-off.

Up towards Bondcliff I took off and then I stopped at the creek crossing at 3,000' to refill water and eat some. Rob caught up with me then and we continued over Bondcliff towards Bond. We saw Jason behind us on our way up Bond so we waited on the windy summit until he arrive before continuing. The clock showed we had been about 3 hrs on the trail and we were off toward Guyot and South Twin. No snow on Twinway until we saw some ice patches on the way up South Twin. Spent some time on the summit which we had to ourselves which was a bit odd on a sunny Sunday. I had started to feel a bit of cramps in my legs going up South Twin also so at Galehead Hut I asked for some salt which seemed to help out. I just should have taken more of it with me. Always learning :D

Beautiful day so far and I took off ahead of Rob and Jason since I thought I might need more time to deal with leg cramps......and I soon found myself standing in a down hill section with cramps.....drank some salt water and other water and then was able to move reasonably well. Rob and Jason caught up with me shortly before the steep section up to Garfield campsite. Stopped and rehydrated by the spring. Drank the rest of my salt water bottle and I kept without cramps up Garfield and all the way up Lafayette. At Skokumchuck Trail intersection Farmer caught up with us and said he hiked with UFC the last portion up to Garfield so we figured he can't be too far behind us! After Lafayette farmer bounced off into the horizon aiming at breaking 9 hrs :eek: A strong man he is (Yoda voice).....

At this point we saw rainclouds to the south and it looked like just a matter of time before we would get drenched so we hurried down hoping to get into the woods before the rain started. On Lincoln it started to sprinkle a bit then not much at all so we considered ourselves lucky punks :)

We ran a good portion between Little Haystack and Liberty but on the uphill my legs started to feel crampy so I Rob and Jason took off ahead. They graciously waited on the summit for me and off we were to peak nr 8 for the day.....same thing on the uphill.....Rob and Jason headed up ahead of me.........always a great feeling to head up the last peak.....5.5 miles left now.....took it easy on the lightly wet stairs and then the beautiful trail made it easy to head down....when we were almost at the Lincoln Woods trail Rob started to run and took off.......for some reason a big bull mosse had decided to lay claim on the trail so there he stood when Rob saw him 20 feet away...... Jason and I caught up and the moose slowly moved to the left until we felt comfortable to pass him. It must have been the same moose UFC saw earlier in the morning since almost at the same spot!

Then we walked the remaining 1.4 miles back to LW talking about moose and every other conceivable and inceivable subject we came up with. 12hrs31min after we started we came back to the parking lot again.....still smiling.....We took off since we knew UFC knows what he is doing out in the woods. He actually wasn't too far behind and came 1/2 hr later but we didn't know until later. Subway in Lincoln got some more business from the three of us and UFC later went to the Common man for celebration.

A great time in the woods we had......and the giant bull moose encounter will remain in memory a long time :)

UFC and Jason bagged a lot of peaks over the two days and I doubt there are many who pulled off a back-to-back Pressie Traverse and Pemi-loop. Hats off to them!
 
I ran out of breath reading you post Mats so I had to do it as an interval training workout.


Do moose commonly do Pemi loops?
 
We just missed seeing you guys except for maybe one of you who we didn't know. We did OH yesterday and a trailrunner passed us just past the Osseo trail turnoff about 7'ish and told us about the moose he saw there and asked if we heard him yelling at it. Was that Sasquatch?

We got to the parking lot about 7:15 and were gone in five minutes. Would have been nice to see you UFC and Mats. Great job guys!
 
Shake N Bake indeed.

Awesome day, awesome trip.I've done 25+ mile days but 31.5 on the Pemi loop was definitely the longest.
Amazing to sit on Liberty and look back on the loop,what a feeling of accomplishment.
Lots of fun with Mats and Jason,wish Steve was there as well.
Seemed to feel stronger as the day progressed,however I was comfortable at work the previous day,not on the presi traverse,although that's where I was in my mind.
Feet(arches) did get sore though,not used to so many miles in trail runners.
Need to invest in some stiffer insoles.


Best feeling in the world.
 
Do moose commonly do Pemi loops?

I think so.....on a Pemi loop in 2007 there was one on top of Bondcliff.

Had another encounter on top of Cabot so they are probably working on regular peak bagging lists as well.
 
Wicked awesome! I'm happy that I was able to take part in the Presi Traverse component with JF and UFC! Wish I coulda done the Pemi Loop too. Sounds like a great hike. Never doubted for a second that you guys could do it but I am astounded by the times. Pretty freakin' nice.

-Dr. Wu
 
Good stuff this weekend. Nice to get in a couple long back to back hikes, punctuated by this sweet loop. Figures, though, that the first time I run into a moose on the trail, no one has a freakin' camera.

Gotta thank Ma and Pa for the gracious hospitality Sunday night, too. It was exceptionally cool to have a shower and a bed, as opposed to spending another filthy night at Barnes.

Jason
 
impressive!!! - these days a traverse and loop is no big deal anymore it seems as it seems like half this board does them. :D


...................but to bang them out back to back and the loop on the 2nd day, I was impressed to hear it - but I never doubted the dudes invloved. I actually would have been more shocked to hear they didn't do it to be honest.

the time on the loop was really impressive. Can I still call you guys my freinds?
 
Nice job on the double guys! You, too, single'ers. :D
 
I think so.....on a Pemi loop in 2007 there was one on top of Bondcliff.

Had another encounter on top of Cabot so they are probably working on regular peak bagging lists as well.


I agree; moose are also working on the wNHHH list, based on our encounter on the summit of Middle Weeks this past January. :)

Excellent result on the Pemi Loop, Mats!
 
It was me that ran into that bull moose. He was in the trail and wouldn't move so i crossed the brook to get by him. Couldnt waste any time that close to the end of the loop. :D it was great sharing some trail with you guys, hope to do it again sometime.
 
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