West to East Pemi traverse- to be continued

Morning started way to early for me - 2AM to meet up with Sue Biscuit, Hamtero, Frodo and NH Mtn Hiker. We started up Falling Waters trail at 4:20 and it was a lovely moonlit stroll. Was warm enough that there the rocks were not iced over till nearly the top so the going was good. Sue Biscuit abandoned ship after a while as she didnt feel just right - so we headed on without her to the top of Lincoln. The ridge afforded beautiful views of the sunrise. After Lincoln we plunged eastward down Lincoln slide. The footing was great and routes taken seemed near perfection as to ease. I did get to do a few butt slides on the snow- there wasnt much, but it was fun to get a taste of whats to come this winter. Crossing Lincoln Brook wasnt bad, and we all kept our feet dry- then headed down the trail to Owls head foot path. Once at the summit, we once again took the trailless plunge over towards the Northeast side heading downwards-Once again experience (or perhaps luck) was key as we happened on the right route of descent, making for a wonderful bushwack down to Franconia Brook. The recent rain and warm temps, made this crossing a bit more tenuous, so we shed our boots and had to wade on through the footnumbing water- thank goodness the air temp was in the 50s- contrasting with the fridgid water. Once back on a real hiking trail (Franconia Brook) - I bid adieu- with a great excuse of a dinner I had to be at and went on my merry way out to Lincoln Woods.The others headed up the trail to Redrock Brook continuing there traverse eastward. It's going to be a long night for them out there!


to be continued by one of the others tomorrow....

This is a hike I've been thinking of for 30 years, but was never quite up for - and I'm talking about in summer, with longer days and warmer temperatures!

I know on Hancock-Carrigain they brought overnight gear in case they stayed out, are they really lugging it this trip?

Niiiiiiiiiice. Sounds like a grand time, looking forward to reading the rest.

We made it!

We got to the Ethan Pond TH just after midnite.
Yes, we all had heavy packs except for Cruddytoes.

Wow - very cool! Can't wait to hear more; I'm especially curious to know if you whacked east from the Zealand/Guyot/Bond ridge and where. Congrats on a neat trip accomplished!

...Continued

After taking a few group pics at the Franconia Brook Trail and saying good-bye to Cruddy Toes, Hamtero, Frodo, and I headed north towards Redrock Brook which we reached several minutes later.

After crossing the brook, which was running a couple of inches higher than the week before, we continued up the trail for a few tenths of a mile, then started our bushwhack into Redrock Ravine. We climbed up to the railroad grade and followed it to it's end, then climbed a bit further up the slope to a logging road and continued along it to about 2,800' where we began brook-whacking (rock hopping) up to West Bond. Staying in the main branch of the brook we made our way eastward until the blowdowns in the brook pushed us up into the woods. At this time the talus slide we'd be climbing came into view.

At the base of the slide is a stand of thick spruce as well as about 18" of snow. This area was a bit difficult to get through, but it's only about a hundred feet or so. The talus slide is about 3/8 mile long and is less steep than the one on the west side of Bondcliff. From the top of the slide we bushwhacked about .2 mile to the West Bond Spur. The whack was fairly easy considering the elevation. From the packed West Bond Spur we headed for the Guyot shelter.

We arrived at Guyot shelter at 4:00 and spent 10 minutes refilling water bottles, eating, and changing socks. With 50 minutes of daylight left we started down along Jumping Brook for an expected 3 hour bushwhack. This was to be our bushiest, snowiest, and slowest bushwhack of the day, but one of the easiest to navigate. Just keep the brook on the left side and go down hill. Easy enough to do, even in the dark. It was about 7:25 when we reached the abandoned Thoreau Falls Trail on the west side of the North Fork. All 3 of us were very happy to be done with this bushwhack. We proceeded south past the site of the 1959 plane crash to the original stepping stone crossing of the North Fork. (before the trail was moved entirely to the east side)

From here we began the most difficult part of the hike, attempting to follow the Thoreau Falls Trail northward. The northern half of this trail is difficult to follow by day due mainly to the poor reroutes; throw in several dozen blowdowns and darkness and it's nearly impossible to stay on the trail. Note: I have noticed in the past it's easier to follow sobo. After losing and regaining the trail a few times we (especially me) were relieved to finally reach Thoreau Falls. This is where one of my Mountain Dew stashes was located. After I collected my Dews, we jumped on the soggy Ethan Pond Trail and headed for the parking lot. During the first couple of miles we were lightly precipitated upon, but nothing of any consequence, just enough to make the many bog bridges slippery. We reached the parking area just after midnight, nearly 20 hours after we started.

Approx. 26.2 mile hike including about 12 miles of bushwhacking and a total elevation gain of 8,600'

Pics later

Update for Pics

Pics are here.

A few more pics

here are a few more pics

Excellent... (spoken in Mr. Burns' voice)

wow, dudes are doing big things... nice report, nice adventure.

NH_Mtn_Hiker said:

...
With 50 minutes of daylight left we started down along Jumping Brook for an expected 3 hour bushwhack. This was to be our bushiest, snowiest, and slowest bushwhack of the day, but one of the easiest to navigate. Just keep the brook on the left side and go down hill. Easy enough to do, even in the dark. It was about 7:25 when we reached the abandoned Thoreau Falls Trail on the west side of the North Fork. All 3 of us were very happy to be done with this bushwhack. We proceeded south past the site of the 1959 plane crash to the original stepping stone crossing of the North Fork. (before the trail was moved entirely to the east side)
...

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Hi NH_Mtn_Hiker

Great undertaking. We had Oncoman and Albee and now you guys! Incredible!

Question: This topozone map shows the old trail on the west side of the stream where Jumping Brook enters the North Fork. Map

My question is why didn't you just ford the North Fork and get on the east side trail. It looks like you added maybe a half mile south and another half mile north by going south to the stepping stones. And what about that foot bridge shown on the map just north of Jumping Brook? I assume that's long gone, but is there a place to ford at that point?

Never been to that area so I don't know if fording is a possibility (especially at night in November), and Albee didn't mention it in his report either, but he did say they stayed on the left side of the brook down to that point so I always assumed he and Pierre just forded the North Fork there.

Albee/Oncoman? Are you out there? Did you ford the North Fork to get onto the east side?

Like a lot of folks, I'm jealous and want to do it (but not in one day) so I'm trying to understand the details.

quite impressive for sure.

I raised a glass (ok maybe more than one) for you guys on sat night.

did frodo break a sweat on this one??

Frodo rolls pretty steady all the time. He slept in his truck after for a while though. NH is happy as long as he gets his Dews.
The bridge over the North fork is gone and since it was dark and we were tired we went to the old crossing point. Even that was hard I thought. The old trail on the west side is wide, easy going. It didn't take us long to get to the "stepping stones" The east side trail is rough and hard to follow.

HAMTERO said:

The bridge over the North fork is gone and since it was dark and we were tired we went to the old crossing point. Even that was hard I thought. The old trail on the west side is wide, easy going. It didn't take us long to get to the "stepping stones" The east side trail is rough and hard to follow.

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From an XC ski trip a few years ago: the first 100 yds or so N of the crossing on the W side were easy to follow--looked like an old railbed.

On the E side, the section S of the crossing was very easy to follow--looked like railbed paralleling the river. The section N of the crossing was a bit more interesting... Very few blazes. The old railbed crossed the river several times to avoid some steep slopes. The crossings are long gone and the trail does some up-and-overs which can be easy to miss. I also had difficulty finding the final turn up the hill (parallel to the falls)--ended up bushwacking up until I found the trail. Fortunately, I (just) made it up to Ethan Pond Tr by dark.

But the river crossing was very easy... (iced over).

Also found some snowshoe tracks on the W side. Looked like a soloist had come down from Bond or the Guyot Shelter area, crossed the river, and followed the trail out to Lincoln Woods.

Doug

When we reached the N. Fork and saw how high it was, we quickly made a decision to head the 1/2 mile south and cross over the stepping stones. That extra mile (RT) was much easier and safer than us trying to ford that at night. Besides, that water was COLD!

This was a tough hike overall (especially since we all had very little sleep the night before), but was a fun adventure!

Frodo said:

When we reached the N. Fork and saw how high it was, we quickly made a decision to head the 1/2 mile south and cross over the stepping stones. That extra mile (RT) was much easier and safer than us trying to ford that at night.

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I guess I don't understand why you didn't head N on the old trail and cross at the N end, is that crossing worse than the S end? When I came down Jumping Brook the water was low enough for this not to be a problem. And I also had trouble staying on the trail to Thoreau Falls in twilight with its many careless relos, even solo

(For those not in the know, the lower part of this trail is an old RR grade which crosses the North Fork and returns .8 miles later. At one time the trail followed the whole RR, but now uses the former highwater bypass on the E. There are also random bypasses of mudholes.)

I've now done the whole traverse in sections except for the Lincoln Slide, someday I'll get to it.

In a word...

~HARD-CORE~

RoySwkr said:

I guess I don't understand why you didn't head N on the old trail and cross at the N end, is that crossing worse than the S end?...

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Where the old trail crossed back to the east side at the north end there was a bridge. No stepping stones as far as I know.

The stepping stones at the south end make for an easy crossing even when the river is running high.
The photo was taken from the east side of the North Fork.

NH_Mtn_Hiker said:

Where the old trail crossed back to the east side at the north end there was a bridge.

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There was a bridge at both ends back when the train was running

I'm not sure why the map shows a bridge as the 1966 White Mountain Guide says it is gone. Anybody here actually remember it?

That's a nice photo of the lower crossing, I gather you don't have one of the upper crossing.

RoySwkr said:

...That's a nice photo of the lower crossing, I gather you don't have one of the upper crossing.

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Nope! The trail on the east side has been rerouted away from the river where it passes the site of the old foot bridge. It didn't seem likely there was any place to cross there so we headed south and didn't even consider checking out the old north crossing.