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Faline

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Planning to backpack the Pemi loop, starting tomorrow (Saturday) until Tuesday. I know it's going to be busy as the forecast is good and it's a long weekend for US and Canada.

Because of this, I'm thinking of starting from Zealand parking lot. It's less of a drive than Lincoln, and I'm thinking it might be a less busy parking lot than Lincoln?? I'm a bit worried about finding parking, as we will arrive around noon Saturday.

Is this itin reasonable? We're both fit hikers and are at NE106/115.

day one, noon: Zealand TH to Guyot campsite
day two: Guyot to Franconia
Day 3: Franconia to Garfield I guess
Day 4: Garfield to Zealand

Making use of the bear containers so we don't have to bring our barrel.

thanks
 
http://www.davidalbeck.com/hiking/pemiloop.html

https://sectionhiker.com/backpacking-a-pemigewasset-loop/

Going clockwise from Zealand is an interesting way to do this.

I assume your plan is Guyot Shelter, Liberty Springs tent site, and Garfield Shelter. You will mostly likely be in overflow parking along the road to the Zealand TH.

Similarly, I expect you will be cramped into overflow at Guyot Shelter, Liberty Springs tent site. Monday night you will probably find relatively empty Garfield shelter compared to the other two nights

If you are told no more space at Guyot, then you have a long day to camp down low off the Bondcliff trail.

You might consider parking at Garfield TH and camping at Garfield shelter the first night.

Hope you have a great trip.
 
Parking at the Zealand Falls lot on the SAT of a holiday weekend around noon will be near impossible. You may have a decent road walk up to the trail head unless you get lucky and catch a spot from someone who did a morning hike and bailed out ahead of you. It is a much smaller lot than Lincoln Woods and sees a lot of traffic on weekends. It is near popular campsites and is an AMC Hut route. You'll likely have to stuff your car into the edge of the woods along the road somewhere and hope for the best.

I like Tom's idea of starting at Garfield. Might make more sense from a parking and a camping point of view considering your start time. Another possible alternative is the Skookumchuk Trail off Rte 3. It won't add much to your drive time and is a far less traveled trail. The lot does see a lot of traffic but it is largely cyclists for the bike path so there are a lot more people coming and going and the possibility of catching a spot may be higher for that time of day. It is also a pretty interesting trail and has plenty of camping options on it close to treeline if you are running late and lends itself to either a clockwise or counterclockwise Pemi loop considering the odd starting point.

Noon on a SAT in NH right now is a horrible time to find a parking space, especially on a holiday in good weather.
 
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