Bombadil
Active member
Last weekend (10-26-12) I set out with a buddy to attempt to finish off my 4 seasons list with a brutal 'day-hike' to finish: LW-->franconia ridge-->garfield-->owl's head-->galehead/twins-->FWT up hale-->zealand-->bonds to LW. On paper it would be 56+ miles, with ~18,000 feet vertical gain.
Aaron and I met up at lincoln woods a little after 11 pm friday night after driving up after work. We talked about the forecast and what kind of layering to bring for the anticipated night(s) we'd be out. We set off at midnight at a brisk pace but decided against running. Both of us felt a little off heading up Osseo, maybe from a few too many slices of buffalo chicken pizza in the parking lot (the sierra nevada's looked good too but those were for later). We topped out on Flume at 2 am and were on top of Liberty just after 2:30 am. After a long conversation on climbing and skiing we found ourselves on top of Lafayette a little before 4:30 wondering where the last 2 hours had gone. Aaron sent off a couple of texts to let Alan and Cory know how we were pacing for they were hoping to meet us by the bottom of FWT and then reconnect with us for the hike out the Bonds.
Descending Lafayette on a damp night was a bit tedious as the wet slabs were trying their best to seduce us. We made decent time over to Garfield but starting stalling on the climb, perhaps not eating quite enough. We got to the summit around 6:15 and made some excuses about needing to adjust stuff in our packs since we were a good 15 minutes too early to catch the sunrise.
Dawn from Garfield
Then things got fun. I'm not sure why I thought the 13-peak pemi loop variant wasn't enough and needed Owl's Head to round it off. This was probably the most debated segment of the hike, to have OH at the start, finish, or middle of the hike and I was determined I only wanted it in the middle and even contemplated a bushwhack up the NW ridge. But the topo map looked oh so inviting. So we got to experience Lincoln Brook. I knew it would be a sh*tty trail, a bit wet and muddy but OH always is right? Sorry flume slide, there's a new #1 trail on top of my least favorite trails list. Miles of moss and slime covered rock with trickling water between knee deep mudpits with no water bars to be seen? They weren't the kind of make up for lost time miles we had hoped they'd be. Anyways we were slow as molasses getting over there and back to 13 falls, and we were standing on the summit of OH when we should have met our friends by N Twin.
Appreciating good trail we made much better time up to the hut where our friends were very patiently waiting for us. We red-lined up S Twin in 20 mins (~4pm) where Alan and Cory would head out the Twinway to Zealand then double-back to the Bonds to LW. Our plan was to descend N Twin, head up Hale, then catch them before LW--pretty tall order. Descending N twin we slowed again hardcore, for me with my feet and right ankle throbbing. Aaron was leaning towards bailing after Hale. Ascending Hale at dusk seemed way more taxing than it should have been and our pace concerned me as I silently estimated the mileage left in front of us and the pace we were moving at. We made a judgement call that we didn't want to finish at 4-5 am. I was equally concerned that I would injure myself if we kept on going (if I hadn't already). So we called it quits after 10 summits, ~41 miles, and ~15,000 ft vertical gain in <21 hours with only about 3k of elevation left. Lighters packs would have helped a little but mostly I chalk the failure up to a few too many rolled ankles over wet, muddy miles. Well that and being a wimp and wanting a cold beer next to a fire. Thanks Aaron for taking the bait and joining me & also thanks Cory and Alan for agreeing to meet up with us and waiting around for the lolly-gaggers to show up. The 48 x 4 season finish would have to wait...
...flash forward a week later and I was heading up Hale Brook a little before 10 pm on Saturday night (11/3/12) in a steady snow, hiking most of the miles I had cheated myself out of but with a twist in that I wanted to do a gear test on a bivy sack and down bag so I hiked until a little after 12:30 am and found a flat spot in some open woods off the Twinway. After not seeing any tracks the whole route up to this point I was pretty surprised to see a headlamp approach around 2 am. They were probably more surprised to see someone lying in the snow head-bobbing to their ipod, polishing off some Beam at 2 am on such a fine windy, snowy night. I chatted with Jason whom I had met on a Moosilauke-Canon hike a couple months back and he tried to get me to rally for finishing the Bonds at night. I told him that was my original plan but my ankle had acted up (and the weather was garbage) so I'd save that for the next day and he set off.
I got a late start the next morning and was pretty hobbled heading along Twinway but thankfully a pair of hikers passed shortly into my hike and I asked them for an ace bandage since a contact point in my boot was giving me some grief. Thanks guys! It felt a lot better and I wasn't 100% but at least I could move at an OK clip. Guyot was cold and slow. Pretty stiff winds to go with the temps in the low to mid 20s and knee deep post-holing. Quite a difference from a week ago.
A brief lapse in the snow squalls by Guyot
Anyways I made it to Bondcliff, snapped a few pics and reflected on the journey for a bit as I moved along. The finale was a bit anti-climatic but really the goal of the 48 x 4 seasons was only something to motivate me to get out and experience the outdoors so it never was about the endpoint. Just a vehicle to experience, grow, and set bigger challenges.
Pat
pcushing21 at yahoo dot com
late fall by the Zealand bog bridge
Aaron and I met up at lincoln woods a little after 11 pm friday night after driving up after work. We talked about the forecast and what kind of layering to bring for the anticipated night(s) we'd be out. We set off at midnight at a brisk pace but decided against running. Both of us felt a little off heading up Osseo, maybe from a few too many slices of buffalo chicken pizza in the parking lot (the sierra nevada's looked good too but those were for later). We topped out on Flume at 2 am and were on top of Liberty just after 2:30 am. After a long conversation on climbing and skiing we found ourselves on top of Lafayette a little before 4:30 wondering where the last 2 hours had gone. Aaron sent off a couple of texts to let Alan and Cory know how we were pacing for they were hoping to meet us by the bottom of FWT and then reconnect with us for the hike out the Bonds.
Descending Lafayette on a damp night was a bit tedious as the wet slabs were trying their best to seduce us. We made decent time over to Garfield but starting stalling on the climb, perhaps not eating quite enough. We got to the summit around 6:15 and made some excuses about needing to adjust stuff in our packs since we were a good 15 minutes too early to catch the sunrise.
Dawn from Garfield
Then things got fun. I'm not sure why I thought the 13-peak pemi loop variant wasn't enough and needed Owl's Head to round it off. This was probably the most debated segment of the hike, to have OH at the start, finish, or middle of the hike and I was determined I only wanted it in the middle and even contemplated a bushwhack up the NW ridge. But the topo map looked oh so inviting. So we got to experience Lincoln Brook. I knew it would be a sh*tty trail, a bit wet and muddy but OH always is right? Sorry flume slide, there's a new #1 trail on top of my least favorite trails list. Miles of moss and slime covered rock with trickling water between knee deep mudpits with no water bars to be seen? They weren't the kind of make up for lost time miles we had hoped they'd be. Anyways we were slow as molasses getting over there and back to 13 falls, and we were standing on the summit of OH when we should have met our friends by N Twin.
Appreciating good trail we made much better time up to the hut where our friends were very patiently waiting for us. We red-lined up S Twin in 20 mins (~4pm) where Alan and Cory would head out the Twinway to Zealand then double-back to the Bonds to LW. Our plan was to descend N Twin, head up Hale, then catch them before LW--pretty tall order. Descending N twin we slowed again hardcore, for me with my feet and right ankle throbbing. Aaron was leaning towards bailing after Hale. Ascending Hale at dusk seemed way more taxing than it should have been and our pace concerned me as I silently estimated the mileage left in front of us and the pace we were moving at. We made a judgement call that we didn't want to finish at 4-5 am. I was equally concerned that I would injure myself if we kept on going (if I hadn't already). So we called it quits after 10 summits, ~41 miles, and ~15,000 ft vertical gain in <21 hours with only about 3k of elevation left. Lighters packs would have helped a little but mostly I chalk the failure up to a few too many rolled ankles over wet, muddy miles. Well that and being a wimp and wanting a cold beer next to a fire. Thanks Aaron for taking the bait and joining me & also thanks Cory and Alan for agreeing to meet up with us and waiting around for the lolly-gaggers to show up. The 48 x 4 season finish would have to wait...
...flash forward a week later and I was heading up Hale Brook a little before 10 pm on Saturday night (11/3/12) in a steady snow, hiking most of the miles I had cheated myself out of but with a twist in that I wanted to do a gear test on a bivy sack and down bag so I hiked until a little after 12:30 am and found a flat spot in some open woods off the Twinway. After not seeing any tracks the whole route up to this point I was pretty surprised to see a headlamp approach around 2 am. They were probably more surprised to see someone lying in the snow head-bobbing to their ipod, polishing off some Beam at 2 am on such a fine windy, snowy night. I chatted with Jason whom I had met on a Moosilauke-Canon hike a couple months back and he tried to get me to rally for finishing the Bonds at night. I told him that was my original plan but my ankle had acted up (and the weather was garbage) so I'd save that for the next day and he set off.
I got a late start the next morning and was pretty hobbled heading along Twinway but thankfully a pair of hikers passed shortly into my hike and I asked them for an ace bandage since a contact point in my boot was giving me some grief. Thanks guys! It felt a lot better and I wasn't 100% but at least I could move at an OK clip. Guyot was cold and slow. Pretty stiff winds to go with the temps in the low to mid 20s and knee deep post-holing. Quite a difference from a week ago.
A brief lapse in the snow squalls by Guyot
Anyways I made it to Bondcliff, snapped a few pics and reflected on the journey for a bit as I moved along. The finale was a bit anti-climatic but really the goal of the 48 x 4 seasons was only something to motivate me to get out and experience the outdoors so it never was about the endpoint. Just a vehicle to experience, grow, and set bigger challenges.
Pat
pcushing21 at yahoo dot com
late fall by the Zealand bog bridge
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