bintrepidhiker
New member
Couldn't have asked for a better day. Got it all started about quarter to 6 in the morning after a restful night's sleep in the car and a hot bowl of oatmeal with banana bread to wake up to. The Lincoln Woods Trail is exactly how its described: FLAT. Never have i seen a straighter trail than this one. Not exactly the best way to get warmed up for a long day but it was relaxing hearing the flowing water of the Pemi River nearby. Temps were in the 50's so I had to start with the long sleeve shirt. Trail was in great shape with just a few places that had mudd. About an hour later I crossed into the Wilderness and the trail closed in briefly but then expanded back out again and continued the flat journey. Right around 7:15 I reached the Bondcliff Trail. At least here the trail started going up some even if it was gradual. That didn't last too long though as it got steep soon thereafter for a brief period then kind of flattened out. By now I warmed up pretty good and was down to just my short-sleeve. After the steep section, the trail appeared to level off unless you looked behind you and saw it descend. The stream crossing were not bad. Rocks were dry enough to land on and not slip off and evenly spaced enough to not worry about missing a jump, at least for my long legs. Finally around 8:45 I broke through the trees into the Alpine area and first major views of the day. Not a cloud anywhere to be seen and a warm sun breathing down on me. Could see West Bond in front of me , Franconia Ridge to my left, Hancocks behind me. 9 on the dot is when i arrived at the summit (#35) and met a couple of guys that had just finished their 48th 4k with this mountain. We chatted breifly then i took some shots with the camera and proceded to tackle the next mountain looming: Mt Bond.
Its walks like this I enjoy the most; walking above tree-line. Views are everywhere you look and it takes your mind off the climb ahead and thats what it did. I did pass a couple of guys heading towards Bondcliff and a couple of girls with a dog. Mt Bond's climb was a little on the steep side but felt good after a short downhill and not really climbing too hard up Bondcliff. At 9:50, I had my second summit of the day (#36). Again I took in some views with the camera in hand and had a snack before departing for West Bond.
The trail down starts gradual then gets steep just before reaching the West Bond Path. The trail continues down for the first hlaf then climbs a little steeply up tio the top of this small summit. I'm not positive now if that was the top of not as it looked like it kept going further south-west but it also looked like the tallest spot, so i called it a summit unless i hear differently (#37) at 10:30. I was joined by a man and his dog and we chatted for a few minutes or so before I started my return trip. Along the way I met a few more people heading up and a few more at the junction with Bondcliff. Seemed like there were quite a few people out this early which surprised me in a way, but not really having seen the parking lot at Lincoln Woods being half full when I left. I climbed briefly before re-summiting Mt Bond then rather than staying here I opted to continue down then climb back up Bondcliff before settling for lunch. Figured by then I was down with the climbing part of my day so it was a good idea, plus I liked the view better here. There were only a couple of other people there at the time so I pretty much had the place to myself to enjoy. The sun felt really good and with there being no wind really it was so comfortable. I had to catch myself from dozing off. Surprisingly for having covered over 10 miles already i didn't feel tired. After taking my lunch and enjoying the views a bit I started down around 11:50.
The trip down took a little longer than I expected but it was easy-going and towards the end I started jogging where there wasn't a lot of obsticles. Was about 1:30 when i reached the Wilderness Trail. From there it was a full out run to the end. Again I was quite surprised at not being more tired than i was. I passed a lot of people as this is unquestionably a heavily used trail due to the flat aspect of it. In the end I was at my car by 2:20 fully invigorated by the day and feeling quite proud of myself at covering that much ground in the time it took me. In retrospect, I probably should have tacked on Zealand as well since it was less than 2 miles away from the West Bond path. Oh well, that'll be a fun trip to do on its own when i get to it.
Grand total for this one: 21.6 miles, 3 4k's in 8.5 hours.
Its walks like this I enjoy the most; walking above tree-line. Views are everywhere you look and it takes your mind off the climb ahead and thats what it did. I did pass a couple of guys heading towards Bondcliff and a couple of girls with a dog. Mt Bond's climb was a little on the steep side but felt good after a short downhill and not really climbing too hard up Bondcliff. At 9:50, I had my second summit of the day (#36). Again I took in some views with the camera in hand and had a snack before departing for West Bond.
The trail down starts gradual then gets steep just before reaching the West Bond Path. The trail continues down for the first hlaf then climbs a little steeply up tio the top of this small summit. I'm not positive now if that was the top of not as it looked like it kept going further south-west but it also looked like the tallest spot, so i called it a summit unless i hear differently (#37) at 10:30. I was joined by a man and his dog and we chatted for a few minutes or so before I started my return trip. Along the way I met a few more people heading up and a few more at the junction with Bondcliff. Seemed like there were quite a few people out this early which surprised me in a way, but not really having seen the parking lot at Lincoln Woods being half full when I left. I climbed briefly before re-summiting Mt Bond then rather than staying here I opted to continue down then climb back up Bondcliff before settling for lunch. Figured by then I was down with the climbing part of my day so it was a good idea, plus I liked the view better here. There were only a couple of other people there at the time so I pretty much had the place to myself to enjoy. The sun felt really good and with there being no wind really it was so comfortable. I had to catch myself from dozing off. Surprisingly for having covered over 10 miles already i didn't feel tired. After taking my lunch and enjoying the views a bit I started down around 11:50.
The trip down took a little longer than I expected but it was easy-going and towards the end I started jogging where there wasn't a lot of obsticles. Was about 1:30 when i reached the Wilderness Trail. From there it was a full out run to the end. Again I was quite surprised at not being more tired than i was. I passed a lot of people as this is unquestionably a heavily used trail due to the flat aspect of it. In the end I was at my car by 2:20 fully invigorated by the day and feeling quite proud of myself at covering that much ground in the time it took me. In retrospect, I probably should have tacked on Zealand as well since it was less than 2 miles away from the West Bond path. Oh well, that'll be a fun trip to do on its own when i get to it.
Grand total for this one: 21.6 miles, 3 4k's in 8.5 hours.
