Hancocks,Bonds,Zeal,Hale,Twins,Gale,Gar,Owls,Flume ,Lib,Linc,Laf

[Jeff List]

This was a solo traverse from Hancock Notch Trailhead on the Kanc to Greenleaf Trailhead in Franconia Notch, including 16 of the White Mountain 4000 footers.

Start: Friday, 22Jun2012 at 8:15 pm; Hancock Notch Trailhead
End: Sunday, 24June2012 at 11:54 pm; Greenleaf Trailhead

4000 footers: S. Hancock, Hancock, Bondcliff, Bond, W. Bond, Zealand, Hale, N. Twin, S. Twin, Galehead, Garfield, Owl’s Head, Flume, Liberty, Lincoln, Lafayette

Distance: 66.9 miles
Elevation gain: 23,356’

Time on trail: 2d3h39m
Time hiking (including short stops): 34h34m
Time stopped to cook/camp: 17h5m

Route/Trails: Hancock Notch Tr., Cedar Brk Tr., Hancock Loop, Cedar Brk Tr., E. Side Trail, bushwack and ford Pemi, Bondcliff Tr. (incl. W. Bond Spur), Twinway (incl. Zealand Mt. Spur), Lend-a-hand Tr ., Fire Warden's Trail, N. Twin Tr., N. Twin Spur, Twinway, Frost Tr., Garfield Ridge Tr., Franconia Brk Tr., Lincoln Brk Tr., aborted bushwack attempt up n. ridge of Owls, Lincoln Brk Tr.,, AMC Owls Head Path, Owls Head herd path to real summit, AMC Owls Head Path, Lincoln Brk Tr., Black Pond Bushwack, Black Pond Tr., Lincoln Woods Tr., Osseo Tr., Franconia Ridge Tr., Greenleaf Tr.

Starting logistics: I left Cape Cod at about 1 pm on Friday, drove to the Hancock Notch Trailhead on the Kanc, stashed my pack, drove to the Cannon Mt. Tramway hiker’s parking lot, left the car, biked 21 miles back to the Hancock Notch Trailhead, stashed the bike, retrieved the pack, and was finally hiking about 7 hours after leaving home.

Friday:

The bike ride from the Cannon Mt. hiker’s parking lot to the Hancock Notch Trailhead on the Kanc took 1:46. I was again impressed by how pretty the Franconia Notch bikepath is as it passes through mature hardwood forests – just lush extravagant greeeeeen.

I hiked a couple miles up the Hancock Notch Tr. on Friday night and backcountry camped at about 9:30 a couple hundred feet off the trail not far from the junction with the Cedar Brook Tr. Expecting to be swarmed with biting flies the second I stopped, I was instead pleasantly surprised when there simply were no bugs. The whole night. What a luxury compared to last weekend sleeping near Sawyer River Road.

Saturday:

Got started Saturday at around 3:30 am, and did the Hancock Loop counterclockwise, which reduces vertical gain on the continuous climbing just a bit. Still quite a tough way to wake up, but the sunrise on the Hancocks was worth it.

Back on the Cedar Brook trail, my bug-free honeymoon was over, and on the height of land before the trail drops down into the pemi valley, the mosquitos were rotten. I hate bug spray, or covering up when I’m hiking hard, so just tried to hike faster and get it over with.

When I reached the E. Side Tr. along the E. Branch of the Pemi, I headed down river just a bit and then forded the river to hit the start of the Bondcliff Tr (or at least where it used to officially start). The river was running quite low, only about 150 CFS at the Lincoln gauging station, and the ford was easy. But this wouldn’t be a good spot to ford in higher water, because the channels were a bit concentrated.

I started up the Bondcliff Tr. at about 8 am., just in time to get up high before the fairly warm and humid day got brutal down low. Bondcliff, Bond, and West Bond went smoothly, before I dropped down to the Guyot campsite to refill on water. Quite a bit of water would have to be carried to skip that detour, as there’s no other reliable sources of water between ½ way up the Bondcliff Tr. and just before Zealand Hut.

Somewhere after the Zealand Mt. Spur, it started thundering toward the north, and I stopped to get the raingear handy. The only problem was that my rainjacket was simply missing. What??!! How, when, and where did I leave that behind? I’ll never know, but now I was lacking one of, perhaps THE most, critical piece of gear you need in the Whites. I was carrying an umbrella, which works well for me below treeline, but this hike was supposed to end with a full traverse of Franconia Ridge and now I was way more at the mercy of White Mountains weather than I needed to be.

The thunder never amounted to anything where I was, and I made my way to the summit of Hale. A couple of guys were getting going while I sat for a snack, warning me that they had just heard that a serious storm line was approaching. They started down an inconspicuous break in the trees and said that if I might be wondering, they were taking the Fire Warden’s trail. I told them it just so happens that I was looking for that myself, so I quickly tagged along to catch the start of the trail. This trail was, by Whites standards, virtually rock-free and a joy to scuttle down.

Got down to Little River at about 4:30 pm, and although it was a bit early, I decided to make dinner by the river before the possible storm. Not long after I started cooking the thunder started up again, and wanting to make camp before the rain started, I accelerated the cooking/eating process and got on the N. Twin Tr. heading south, looking for a place where it looked promising to camp. I was way too picky because the rain started and now I HAD to find a place. No problem staying dry with the umbrella, but not so easy setting up a tarp HOLDING an umbrella. I haphazardly got the tarp partially deployed as it started to pour, and crawled under it only to discover that it was set up inside out and backwards. Had to go back out after the rain settled down a bit, got things squared away and got some pretty good sleep while the rain, or maybe just a heavy mist dripping out of the trees, continued all night.

 

[Jeff List]

Hancocks,Bonds,Zeal,Hale,Twins,Gale,Gar,Owls,Flume ,Lib,Linc,Laf (cont')

Sunday:

I got going Sunday morning at about 3:30 am again, had the sunrise on N. Twin and then on to S. Twin and down to Galehead Hut. It was tough passing Galehead Hut twice, on the way out and back to Galehead Mt., with the smell of a croo-cooked breakfast drifting about. I pushed on to Garfield and did an out and back to the summit before dropping down the Franconia Brook Tr. back into the Pemi Wilderness. Immediately the lower level of trail maintenance in the Wilderness was apparent. But even more so when I turned off on the upper end of the Lincoln Brk. Trail. But here one of the coolest things I saw on the hike was when I was sitting, taking a break at Franconia Brook, a spectacular boulder-filled chute running down a tunnel of overhanging hardwoods. A tiger swallowtail came flitting down the sun-dappled stream, silently bouncing around the boulders, using the river as a superhighway to a destination only it knew. If only I could move in the Whites so easily.

But now I needed to stop daydreaming about butterflies and face the hard part of the hike. At the height of land on the Lincoln Brk. Tr. I had planned, tentatively, to bushwack up the north ridge of Owl’s Head to the summit, based on a post I read, somewhere here on VFTT, that this wasn’t a hard bushwack. Well, I guess “hard” is all relative, because after 15 mins beating my way uphill I realized this wasn’t happening. It was going to take way too long and my pack, made of fragile stuff, would have been shredded. So the bushwack was aborted, I wasted half an hour, and realized at that moment that I’d be finishing this hike well after dark.

The rest of Lincoln Brk. Tr. down to the Owl’s Head Path was, in general, not so well maintained, with some very swampy areas that required several tries to get through to dry trail on the other side. The climb up the Owl’s Head Slide was easier than the bushwack, and was crawling with people out to check another 4000-footer off their list. The immediate question from the first people I met was “What number?” To which I dumbly replied, “Number of what?” Turns out that for these folks, parents and a young daughter, this was #15 just this summer, impressive enough, but they were from FLORIDA! Now that’s impressive! I love telling the story of my friends from Florida who wanted to come up to the Whites and experience the huts. They were like, Jeff, you know the huts are pretty close together so we’re going to book every other hut. I read them the riot act on that one, and told them that in the Whites they would have to carefully watch EVERY step they take. Turns out that even hut-to-hut was too much, but to this day we laugh about it and how they couldn’t believe the every step warning until they got here.

Back on the Lincoln Brk. Tr. after Owl’s Head, I had mapped out another bushwack to shortcut over to high up on the Osseo Tr. and save a LOT of miles. Didn’t even stop to check it out -- I had no time or energy to waste on another experiment. Nevertheless, it took me 2:30 to get to the other side of the intended one mile (on paper) bushwack on trails via the Lincoln Brk Tr., Black Pond bushwack, Black Pond Trail, Lincoln Woods Tr., and Osseo Tr., so I still wonder if it would have been faster. Probably not.

Getting up on Flume, around 7 pm, the issue with having no raincoat/windbreaker weighed on my thoughts. If the weather seemed good, I decided I could push on through Layfayette, but if not there was the option to drop down Liberty Springs Tr. or Falling Waters Tr. and hike back to Cannon via the Pemi Tr. or bikepath. But it was a beautiful evening, mostly high overcast but unrestricted views, moderate temps, and almost dead calm. I stopped on Liberty to enjoy a peaceful dinner and a wide east view over all the places I’d been.

All I had left was Lincoln and Layfayette as daylight faded. As I triumphantly crested the last peak of the day, Layfayette, I was immediately befuddled as to why I didn’t see the light of Greenleaf Hut down below. And why was the hump of Garfield so far away? And mostly disturbingly, what in the world was that higher mountain dead ahead??! Nice job only getting to the top of Lincoln, fool! But worse than that, in the fading light, dark clouds were building over the Cannon/Kinsman ridge. No way, it just can’t start raining now! But sure enough, as I went up the REAL summit cone of Lafayette, now by headlamp in the pitch dark, it started to rain and the wind started to blow. Great!

I try to convince all my ultraunning friends that they should NEVER go above timberline without at least a windbreaker, and here I was, 18 hours on my feet so far, solo, and going over Lafayette in a storm in the dark without one. But I knew that as long as I remained uninjured I could make the short distance to Greenleaf Hut soaking wet and be just fine, so I slowed it down a bit and took care. But as it turned out, it never got too windy for the umbrella, and the wind died soon after getting over the summit. The significant rain was perfectly timed for only the highest parts of Lafayette—couldn’t have planned it better!

Finally, it was time to head down the Greenleaf Tr. to my car. I’d been on that trail before and remembered that it was pretty rocky, but for cryin’ out loud it just never lets up right to the end! On the way down I checked out a spot I had scoped out on the map just outside the boundary of Franconia State Park (where there’s no backcountry camping allowed) that looked level enough for a campsite. Nothing but house-sized boulders! I was really glad to finally spill out onto the road at midnight. But I suddenly felt very disoriented —the wet, newly-paved asphalt was so jet black that it looked like a bottomless canyon, not a road. I had to tentatively probe it with a hiking pole before I felt bold enough to step into the void. O.K., maybe I was a little delirious at that point.

There was just no way I was going to pick up my bike stashed it the woods up the Kanc and drive three hours home at that point, so I had to crash at a hotel after finding food at the only open convenience store for miles around in North Woodstock. A can of cold spaghetti-O’s never tasted so good.

 

[Raven]

Great trip report and quite a route! I like that bushwhack idea from Lincoln Brook to high on the Osseo....I could also see doing that one in reverse after Flume...wonder what it's like in there...

Too bad about the Lafayette mixup - that had to be demoralizing.

Can of cold spaghettios? That's also demoralizing.

 

[TrishandAlex]

Jeff List,

What an amazing trip. I'm simultaneously inspired and worn-out after reading about your adventures! Very glad the lack of waterproof shell never turned out to be that much of an issue. Congrats on an amazing couple of days!!

 

[TDawg]

Now that is a trip! Cool route, you can really move, eh?

 

[Forester Jake]

Wow, great mileage quite a summit list!
There's a lot of cool country off the Osseo trail, just was curious where abouts your bushwhack was going to put you? Lots of beautiful open hardwoods below the switchbacks begin, gets a lot denser with softwoods up between the ladders & summit of Flume. Been eyeing some cool looking drainage areas & lots of unexplored log skid roads that lead to / from the Osseo up to the switchbacks which was the original gravity incline railroad back in the Henry logging era...

 

[DMOutdoors]

Jeff,

Congrats on your success of this unique trip. This is something I could see myself attempting. I particularly like the report because, again, Mt. Lafayette, one of my favorites, testing the will and determination of those who seek it. From experience, it can be daunting at night, even without pouring rain.

 

[una_dogger]

What a great read and awesome ramble in the woods. Parts of your trip remind me of my very first hike in the Whites, a three day serendipitous backpack up and down, around and about the Pemi. My husband still laughs at me for climbing up the Zeacliff trail only to walk down to Zealand Hut then back up to Zeacliff Pond to pitch my tent. I told him I just wanted to see my very first AMC hut, so why not?

Your report really inspires me to do something this summer I've been itching to do again- throw a backpack on and walk the woods all day and sleep out at night listening to the beat of the forest! It's been far too long since I've backpacked!

Looking forward to reading more of your adventures - thanks for sharing!

PS pm me if you would like to know a super sweet bushwack line to Owlie that's very seldom used ;-)

 

[bryan]

that is certainly making the most of a couple days. quite impressive. the idea of heading back up on the osseo trail after an already long day to do the ridge is more than i like to think about.
great report. thanks for sharing.

bryan

 

[Jeff List]

thanks for the feedback!

One of the things that makes this kind of a unique route is that it's 67 miles without a single road crossing. Not too many places you can do that while taking a lot of peaks. Really makes you feel like you're out there.

The planned, but not attempted, Lincoln Brk Tr. to Osseo Bushwack would have basically connected the two trails at their closest points, at about 2080' on the Linc Brk. Tr. and 2950' on the Osseo. The spruce forest at the bushwack point on the Osseo didn't look too dense, but that of course means nothing for the whole thing. The valley you would have to go through does look pretty cool (Birch islandd Brook according to AMC online guide.)

 

[Jazzbo]

That was us you met on Mt Hale!

thanks for the feedback!

One of the things that makes this kind of a unique route is that it's 67 miles without a single road crossing. Not too many places you can do that while taking a lot of peaks. Really makes you feel like you're out there.

The planned, but not attempted, Lincoln Brk Tr. to Osseo Bushwack would have basically connected the two trails at their closest points, at about 2080' on the Linc Brk. Tr. and 2950' on the Osseo. The spruce forest at the bushwack point on the Osseo didn't look too dense, but that of course means nothing for the whole thing. The valley you would have to go through does look pretty cool (Birch islandd Brook according to AMC online guide.)

That was Scott M and me who showed you the fire warden trail on Hale. We were wondering about your comments about starting over by the Hancocks. The mileage math just didn't make sense, but you were gone by the time we had enough sense to ask you. Amazing report. I got tired just reading it.

 

[NH Tramper]

Wow, Jeff. Quite the hike.

 

[Tom_Murphy]

...Immediately the lower level of trail maintenance in the Wilderness was apparent. But even more so when I turned off on the upper end of the Lincoln Brk. Trail....The rest of Lincoln Brk. Tr. down to the Owl’s Head Path was, in general, not so well maintained, with some very swampy areas that required several tries to get through to dry trail on the other side...

Great TR Jeff,

About the Lincoln Brook Trail between 13 Falls and the Owls Head’s Slide, did you have any issues with trail finding? If so, could you please let me know where, thanks.

I have been doing the Level 1 maintenance of brushing out and clearing blowdowns of that section of the trail with a very light touch over the last two years. I think of it as a bonsai tree and my hope is to let it be as “wild” as possible while still being a trail that an experienced hiker can follow.

So your TR was music to my ears.

As for the swampy areas, I have started bringing NEO Overshoes with me when I head up there; they make those parts of the trail a lot more fun to travel on. But overshoes probably do not make the cut in an ultra runner's pack

TJM

 

[PETCH]

Wow, what incredible endurance your have! Great read. I feel so inadequate. I think I'm going to give up hiking and raise boneless chickens....

killer trip!

Petch

 

[Jeff List]

That was Scott M and me who showed you the fire warden trail on Hale. We were wondering about your comments about starting over by the Hancocks. The mileage math just didn't make sense, but you were gone by the time we had enough sense to ask you. Amazing report. I got tired just reading it.

Thanks for showing me the way!
Sorry I had to head off, but your tip about the impending storm had me in a big hurry to get down.

 

[TDawg]

I have been doing the Level 1 maintenance of brushing out and clearing blowdowns of that section of the trail with a very light touch over the last two years. I think of it as a bonsai tree and my hope is to let it be as “wild” as possible while still being a trail that an experienced hiker can follow.

Hi, Tom.

I traveled the LBT through your stretch, from south to north en route to 13 Falls back in May. I found it little trouble to follow for the experienced tramper and no worse for wear than to be expected by a trail of it's nature. Only at one spot near the height-of-land did I get that, "Am I following a stream/mud pit or a trail?" question in my head.

Blowdowns? Yes. Mud? Definitely. Lightly traveled and wild? Oh yea, loved it. So, thanks for keeping it "open enough."

 

[Jeff List]

Great TR Jeff,

About the Lincoln Brook Trail between 13 Falls and the Owls Head’s Slide, did you have any issues with trail finding? If so, could you please let me know where, thanks.

I have been doing the Level 1 maintenance of brushing out and clearing blowdowns of that section of the trail with a very light touch over the last two years. I think of it as a bonsai tree and my hope is to let it be as “wild” as possible while still being a trail that an experienced hiker can follow.

TJM

I would say it was pretty easy to follow for most of it. The only slight problem was one of the swampy areas. Looking at my GPS track, I think (not 100% sure) that was at:
N44 09.447 W71 37.168
It was not big deal really, I just went off on the wrong route through the swamp for maybe 40 feet until I realized that it couldn' be the trail.
Then my track takes some more wiggles at:
N44 08.306 W71 36.958
which may indicate a spot where I was uncertain about the trail as well. Not sure.

But this is interesting--so you're an official maintainer of that trail?
First of all--thanks!!
But a few questions--
Do you work or volunteer under the Forest Service?
Is there an official Forest Service policy about how trails should be maintained within Wilderness Areas? Such as the distance that brush should, or should not, be cut back from the trail, etc.? (I realize that no power tools can be used.)
I will say that sometimes the trails in the Wilderness Areas, including in the Green Mountain National Forest, are pretty overgrown.The Shoal Pond Trail on the other side of Pemi is like that too.

 

[Tom_Murphy]

[thread drift]

But this is interesting--so you're an official maintainer of that trail?
First of all--thanks!!
But a few questions--
Do you work or volunteer under the Forest Service?
Is there an official Forest Service policy about how trails should be maintained within Wilderness Areas? Such as the distance that brush should, or should not, be cut back from the trail, etc.? (I realize that no power tools can be used.)
I will say that sometimes the trails in the Wilderness Areas, including in the Green Mountain National Forest, are pretty overgrown.The Shoal Pond Trail on the other side of Pemi is like that too.

I volunteer. I go out there twice a year as 3 day weekends. Hike in the first day, do some maintainence and exploring the second day, hike out the third day. It really is more of a camping trip than any kind of a sacrifice. The worst part is carrying the tools.

It is a USFS maintained trail which are easier to get going on than an AMC maintained trail since the USFS ssems to be a bit less strict than about the training. USFS training was a single long day of learning by doing. I believe the AMC training is more extensive and required as a prerequisite before adopting one of their trails [I might be wrong about that...].

USFS volunteers do level 1 maintainance which is clearing water bars, clearing small blow downs, brushing out, and blazing. But blazing is not allowed in a Wilderness Area so I don't have that. And I only have a few water bars and the AMC caretakers at 13 Falls seem to always get to those first. So that leaves blow downs and brushing out.

For Wilderness Areas, I was instructed to leave blowdowns that can be stepped over or scooted under. Only blowdowns that cause a person to leave the trail are removed. The standard brush out is about 4 feet wide by 8 feet high. I was told to imagine a door being swept along the trail. Although I wasn't given a different standard for Wilderness Areas, I have only been pruning branches that touch me as I am hiking so the corridor on LBT is definately not 4x8.

[/thread drift]

 

[Jeff List]

[thread drift]



I volunteer. I go out there twice a year as 3 day weekends. Hike in the first day, do some maintainence and exploring the second day, hike out the third day. It really is more of a camping trip than any kind of a sacrifice. The worst part is carrying the tools.

It is a USFS maintained trail which are easier to get going on than an AMC maintained trail since the USFS ssems to be a bit less strict than about the training. USFS training was a single long day of learning by doing. I believe the AMC training is more extensive and required as a prerequisite before adopting one of their trails [I might be wrong about that...].

USFS volunteers do level 1 maintainance which is clearing water bars, clearing small blow downs, brushing out, and blazing. But blazing is not allowed in a Wilderness Area so I don't have that. And I only have a few water bars and the AMC caretakers at 13 Falls seem to always get to those first. So that leaves blow downs and brushing out.

For Wilderness Areas, I was instructed to leave blowdowns that can be stepped over or scooted under. Only blowdowns that cause a person to leave the trail are removed. The standard brush out is about 4 feet wide by 8 feet high. I was told to imagine a door being swept along the trail. Although I wasn't given a different standard for Wilderness Areas, I have only been pruning branches that touch me as I am hiking so the corridor on LBT is definately not 4x8.

[/thread drift]

Again, thanks a bunch for your volunteer work, and thanks for the very informative details about trail maintenance in Wilderness Areas. That explains a lot. I don't, however, really understand why they would ban blazes (by blazes I assume we're talking about paint blazes, not the axe-chopped blazes of old). If there's the possibility of a accidental herd path developing, wouldn't it help maintain the wilderness if the correct path was marked?

 

[Tom_Murphy]

I don't, however, really understand why they would ban blazes (by blazes I assume we're talking about paint blazes, not the axe-chopped blazes of old). If there's the possibility of a accidental herd path developing, wouldn't it help maintain the wilderness if the correct path was marked?

Correct, paint blazing is not allowed. From my trail maintenance expereince, I am now much more aware of cut blowdowns, pruned and broken branches, rock work, boot prints in the mud, etc. They all act as blazes, telling me I am going in the right direction.

Herd paths - Going south to north you hit a bunch of herd paths just past the slide that lead to campsites [both legal and illegal] and back to the brook. Need to try to brushing those in better.