Neil
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Semi-Pemi
I met up with Glen on Thursday in Lincoln Woods parking area and we grabbed a campsite at the Hancock campground across the Kanc. Pizza, beer and fire all made for a great traditional pre-hike ritual before crawling into our cars for a late winter’s nap.
At 4:50am Wu’s vehicle with Wu himself behind the wheel pulled in to LW. At 5:15 we were cruising with microspikes up the Wilderness “trail” and made the turn towards Bondcliff 20 minutes ahead of schedule. We kept leapfrogging with 2 other guys who later turned out to be Blaze and hiking partner from VFTT.
Glen produced a blue piece of cardboard upon which he had worked out the distances, elevation changes and estimated times to each junction and peak. He promised me it was based on my pace, not his, and he was right on the money. When we got to Bondcliff we were 10 minutes ahead. There were lots and lots of pokey branches that tore at the flesh on our heads so I kept my Kevlar hood up, which created a constant stream of interconnected rivulets of sweat that ran down my neck into my thoracic, abdominal and pelvic regions, fully wetting out my inner sartorial trappings.
Microspikes gave way to snowshoes fairly low down and this did not bode well for a rock hard path all the way around the loop. The Bonds and Guyot were amazing (never been there before). Just as with the Presie traverse you can see the entire loop in front of you and numerous other peaks. That will either encourage you or discourage you, it all depends.
Getting over to S. Twin (we missed the turn to W. Bond, now I have to go back-dang!) was a little tougher as the snow softened up. We didn’t use my gps at all. Instead, 48 hours after the fact, we vultured Jason’s, which helped him and his troop of record breakers blaze a bushwhack trail 2 days earlier over to S. Twin. We were feeling very strong but were aware that now we burning through our energy supplies a lot faster on that lengthy traverse. We got to S. Twin 20 minutes behind schedule so we ran down the hill to Galehead hut in soggy snow in 10 minutes. Down in the valley it was very hot and the snow was sloppy. Oh-Oh.
I was out of water (ran out at the slides off of the S. Twin ridge) and had been stuffing my face with snow, which kept me just ahead of dehydration and required a lot of discipline. There was no water to be had anywhere and Glen had opted at the last minute not to bring his stove. He fell prey to rumors of water running freely down the trail. Haha! We had an ace up our sleeve and he was headed straight for us from Garfield.
After a 20 minute break and a change of socks (and footbeds for Glen – smart move) we started to slog and cross-slope towards Garfield. Luckily we were in the shade for much of the 350 foot drop to the next low point. Then we lost Jason’s trail and floundered around stepping deeply from time to time into very deep snow. I whipped out my gps (which had the same tracklog as the one Jason had been using) and got the answer we needed: “the trail is to your right.”. We picked it up quickly, climbed the couple hundred feet (felt like a thousand) to the bump and ran into our ace of spades: Paradox met up with us with a major water and gator aid delivery. That was so beautiful! After drinking deeply I headed off with more than 2 liters in my pack. The weight of it felt re-assuring. Thank you John!
At this point Wu decide to bale, he wasn’t feeling it and had been kind of subdued since Guyot. He and Paradox headed out together via the Gale River trail to Paradox’s car. We had a long discussion about what Glen and I would do and how Wu and Paradox might get one of our cars over to below Lafayette but it was getting complicated and the clock was ticking so we said we’d deal on our own with whatever we had to.
I still harboured the notion that we’d complete the entire loop anyway, math not being my strong suit. The final 1000-foot climb up Garfield was fairly brutal. We admired some beauty spruce traps and full-body post-holes that Paradox had made for our viewing pleasure as he descended GF. Then we spied our second ace: the humongous pit that Jason had dug for Ryan and Sue down to Garfield Spring. But, we moved right past it, and did the same on the summit, didn’t even break stride. 3.5 miles to Lafayette felt like it was going to take 3 hours and now it was 3:30. Galehead Hut to GF took us 3 hours and had sucked up tons of energy.
The math was becoming a lot easier for my non-mathematical mind. We would be putting headlamps on at L. Haystack with 8 miles still to go over terrain we didn’t know. The correct answer was looking more and more like a bailout off of Lafayette.
The 800 foot drop towards the afternoon sun was an energizer and when Glen said, “hey we’re making good time again” I said, “Ya sure! It’s all downhill!”
I think the climb up to Lafayette is about 1600 feet, give or take. We were still following the footsteps of the record-breakers and noticed the AT blazes just above snowline. Now it was a real grind but we just kept on grinding up those steep sections to treeline. As if there was anything else we could do. Since the water delivery we were now totally focussed and in tune with each other on getting at least to Lafayette. There was a synergy there that one rarely gets to experience. It was like we were one hiker, just keeping on moving, making jokes that kept getting funnier as the hiking got harder.
At tree line we layered up and the wind was moderate, no staggering like drunks, unless it was due to the fatigue. Glen took over the lead and it was if there was an elastic band pulling me up behind him. The views kept expanding but I was in no mood to take pictures, not until we made the first false summit and the pitch eased off. The light was incredible. Eventually we could see the line of cairns towards Greenleaf and we knew we were there. Now the camera came out.
We made the summit at exactly 6:30. Mr. Sun had bestowed the gift of meltwater in a pool right on the summit and we partook heartily, not knowing how much was left in our hydration units.
After flying down to the hut we took a long break and then we slowly walked out to the highway and easily bummed a lift back to Lincoln Woods and town for more pizza and beer.
Geln repeated often in order to encourage me (or discourage me, I’m not sure) that the Pemi Loop was the 2nd hardest named day-hike in the USA. After only doing 2/3 of it I have no difficulty believing him.
I get 7500 hundred feet of elly gain and about 25 miles for our day.
PICTURES
Remember to hit F11 after opening the first thumbnail.
I met up with Glen on Thursday in Lincoln Woods parking area and we grabbed a campsite at the Hancock campground across the Kanc. Pizza, beer and fire all made for a great traditional pre-hike ritual before crawling into our cars for a late winter’s nap.
At 4:50am Wu’s vehicle with Wu himself behind the wheel pulled in to LW. At 5:15 we were cruising with microspikes up the Wilderness “trail” and made the turn towards Bondcliff 20 minutes ahead of schedule. We kept leapfrogging with 2 other guys who later turned out to be Blaze and hiking partner from VFTT.
Glen produced a blue piece of cardboard upon which he had worked out the distances, elevation changes and estimated times to each junction and peak. He promised me it was based on my pace, not his, and he was right on the money. When we got to Bondcliff we were 10 minutes ahead. There were lots and lots of pokey branches that tore at the flesh on our heads so I kept my Kevlar hood up, which created a constant stream of interconnected rivulets of sweat that ran down my neck into my thoracic, abdominal and pelvic regions, fully wetting out my inner sartorial trappings.
Microspikes gave way to snowshoes fairly low down and this did not bode well for a rock hard path all the way around the loop. The Bonds and Guyot were amazing (never been there before). Just as with the Presie traverse you can see the entire loop in front of you and numerous other peaks. That will either encourage you or discourage you, it all depends.
Getting over to S. Twin (we missed the turn to W. Bond, now I have to go back-dang!) was a little tougher as the snow softened up. We didn’t use my gps at all. Instead, 48 hours after the fact, we vultured Jason’s, which helped him and his troop of record breakers blaze a bushwhack trail 2 days earlier over to S. Twin. We were feeling very strong but were aware that now we burning through our energy supplies a lot faster on that lengthy traverse. We got to S. Twin 20 minutes behind schedule so we ran down the hill to Galehead hut in soggy snow in 10 minutes. Down in the valley it was very hot and the snow was sloppy. Oh-Oh.
I was out of water (ran out at the slides off of the S. Twin ridge) and had been stuffing my face with snow, which kept me just ahead of dehydration and required a lot of discipline. There was no water to be had anywhere and Glen had opted at the last minute not to bring his stove. He fell prey to rumors of water running freely down the trail. Haha! We had an ace up our sleeve and he was headed straight for us from Garfield.
After a 20 minute break and a change of socks (and footbeds for Glen – smart move) we started to slog and cross-slope towards Garfield. Luckily we were in the shade for much of the 350 foot drop to the next low point. Then we lost Jason’s trail and floundered around stepping deeply from time to time into very deep snow. I whipped out my gps (which had the same tracklog as the one Jason had been using) and got the answer we needed: “the trail is to your right.”. We picked it up quickly, climbed the couple hundred feet (felt like a thousand) to the bump and ran into our ace of spades: Paradox met up with us with a major water and gator aid delivery. That was so beautiful! After drinking deeply I headed off with more than 2 liters in my pack. The weight of it felt re-assuring. Thank you John!
At this point Wu decide to bale, he wasn’t feeling it and had been kind of subdued since Guyot. He and Paradox headed out together via the Gale River trail to Paradox’s car. We had a long discussion about what Glen and I would do and how Wu and Paradox might get one of our cars over to below Lafayette but it was getting complicated and the clock was ticking so we said we’d deal on our own with whatever we had to.
I still harboured the notion that we’d complete the entire loop anyway, math not being my strong suit. The final 1000-foot climb up Garfield was fairly brutal. We admired some beauty spruce traps and full-body post-holes that Paradox had made for our viewing pleasure as he descended GF. Then we spied our second ace: the humongous pit that Jason had dug for Ryan and Sue down to Garfield Spring. But, we moved right past it, and did the same on the summit, didn’t even break stride. 3.5 miles to Lafayette felt like it was going to take 3 hours and now it was 3:30. Galehead Hut to GF took us 3 hours and had sucked up tons of energy.
The math was becoming a lot easier for my non-mathematical mind. We would be putting headlamps on at L. Haystack with 8 miles still to go over terrain we didn’t know. The correct answer was looking more and more like a bailout off of Lafayette.
The 800 foot drop towards the afternoon sun was an energizer and when Glen said, “hey we’re making good time again” I said, “Ya sure! It’s all downhill!”
I think the climb up to Lafayette is about 1600 feet, give or take. We were still following the footsteps of the record-breakers and noticed the AT blazes just above snowline. Now it was a real grind but we just kept on grinding up those steep sections to treeline. As if there was anything else we could do. Since the water delivery we were now totally focussed and in tune with each other on getting at least to Lafayette. There was a synergy there that one rarely gets to experience. It was like we were one hiker, just keeping on moving, making jokes that kept getting funnier as the hiking got harder.
At tree line we layered up and the wind was moderate, no staggering like drunks, unless it was due to the fatigue. Glen took over the lead and it was if there was an elastic band pulling me up behind him. The views kept expanding but I was in no mood to take pictures, not until we made the first false summit and the pitch eased off. The light was incredible. Eventually we could see the line of cairns towards Greenleaf and we knew we were there. Now the camera came out.
We made the summit at exactly 6:30. Mr. Sun had bestowed the gift of meltwater in a pool right on the summit and we partook heartily, not knowing how much was left in our hydration units.
After flying down to the hut we took a long break and then we slowly walked out to the highway and easily bummed a lift back to Lincoln Woods and town for more pizza and beer.
Geln repeated often in order to encourage me (or discourage me, I’m not sure) that the Pemi Loop was the 2nd hardest named day-hike in the USA. After only doing 2/3 of it I have no difficulty believing him.
I get 7500 hundred feet of elly gain and about 25 miles for our day.
PICTURES
Remember to hit F11 after opening the first thumbnail.
Last edited:
Love your photos. Two days earlier we were in too much of a "hurry" to take many. 
