Bonds/Zealand Traverse - 05/22/09

[OldMan]

Sorry for a belated trip report, it was a busy week and I just got around to uploading my pictures tonight. Jeremy invited me to do a Bonds/Zealand traverse with him on the Memorial Day weekend and we would pick the nice weather day. I jumped at the chance. Friday looked great so I took the day off work and we met at the Zealand summer trailhead for 6:00am to drop a car. On the way back out Zealand road we spotted a moose heading in at the Hale Brook Trailhead. There are sure a lot of moose around this year. I been fortunate enough to see them several weekends in a row now. We made good time to Lincoln Woods and were gearing up just after 6:30am and by 6:40 we were heading down long flat the Lincoln Woods/Wilderness Trail. I had a real kodak moment on the Wilderness Trail, unfortunately Jeremy didn't have his camera ready. I'm 6'1" and Jeremy is 5' something... anyway I was just strolling down the trail behind Jeremy, looking at my feet, when WHAM... I get clocked square in the forehead by a tree crossing the trail. Apparently Jeremy fit right under the tree without ducking. Well I've banged my head plenty of times hiking but I hit this one so hard it knocked me off my feet. So there I am laying on the ground with my feet in the air. Well no harm done as I have a pretty hard head. After getting back on my feet we both had a good laugh and continued down the trail.

Bondcliff has to be one of my favorite places to hike. We had a great day for it and the views were incredible. Here are a few of my favorite shots.









After a short rest on Bondcliff we headed up Mt Bond.





From there we were off to West Bond which has a great view of Bondcliff.



And finally off to Zealand Mountain and down to the hut.



We took another short break at the hut before heading off to our car spot.



The day went by quickly and we lucked out with the weather. Although the afternoon clouded up the rain did not materalize. We made great time on the hike, finishing at 4:20pm.

Thanks for a great day of hiking Jeremy!

 

[Dave Bear]

Ed, Very nice TR and pictures! Really like the one over toward Owl's Head where you can see the "Green Wave" of spring climbing the sides of the mountains. A pleasure to run into you up at York Pond on Saturday as well.

 

[rocket21]

Paul Harvey presents "The Rest of the Story"


Starting at Lincoln Woods, Ed decided to take a photo of the suspension bridge, as we figure it'll probably be the next one to be removed to preserve our wilderness experience.

Ed hitting his head was, once knowing he was okay, quite funny. It was one of those moments in which I *wanted* to take a photo, but figured it wouldn't be the right thing. Being 5" shorter than Ed, I walked right under a log whilst he *smacked* it. I looked back as soon as I heard the clunk and saw both of his feet fly up in the air - absolute classic fall!

Needless to say, he acted a bit out of sorts for the rest of the hike. Five minutes later, he stopped and pulled his GPS, as he thought we had become lost on the Wilderness Trail.

Bondcliff was epic, as is usually the case.

Alpine flowers were popping.

Dropping down from Bond, we were confronted by an attack chicken.

Not only did he refuse to clear out of the way, but he decided to hop onto a branch roughly at head level.

Needless to say, we decided to bushwhack around him.


Ed decided to bring a big clunky camera with him for some reason. On the short hike to West Bond, we dropped our packs - thus, he looked like a random tourist who had just stepped out of his car to take some photos. Had we encountered anyone on the trail, we were going to say something like, "is this the way to Sabbaday Falls?"

On the Twinway, we were able to see why this trail is so much easier in winter:

Nearing the hut, Ed decided to do a karate chop in celebration of adding 4 peaks to his spring list:

Thank you for a great hike, Ed!