Learned some very interesting lessons while on this hike. I met up with my buddy, Ryan (Guthook) to hike Zealand Falls to Guyot. He would continue over the Twins and I was planning on 2 nights out. The rain started on Zealand and continued off and on. We made a pretty good pace, after we climb Zeacliff's. The trail was easy and in great condition. Lots of water. The hut was over run as was the trail. We saw one group of 30 hikers, which is actually not looked upon highly, but hey, one of the lessons I learned was that there seems to be a complete lack of regard for any sort of backcountry etiquette during the peak of the season. The summits and vista's turn into public toilets and people just dont follow the simple guideline of pack it in, pack it out.
So we pushed up to West Bond with a bunch of water and found a legal spot in the woods just close to the side trail to West. We ended up setting the tent up in the pouring rain, so I did what I could to get us level, but did not do so well. The rain really did not let up til well after dark. It was a long night of sliding back up to the top of the tent. Grayson slept soundly next to me and was wrapped up in my Montbell jacket. It stayed warm and got a little breezy towards daybreak. We broke camp by 5:45am and hit the trail, in the rain, at 6 am. The walk over Guyot was fun and different with the clouds building over the ridges and falling down. There was a storm coming over Franconia so we booked it over to Zealand. There was a lot of water everywhere and the falls were beautiful. Not sure Ill be going close to any of the AMC tentsites for a while. I do not envy the caretakers with dealing with some of these folks out in the backcountry! If any of you see Morgan at Guyot Tentsite, thank her and her fella for the hospitality! There are not as many photos because of the constant rain and the fact that I have hiked this loop 4 times now.
So we pushed up to West Bond with a bunch of water and found a legal spot in the woods just close to the side trail to West. We ended up setting the tent up in the pouring rain, so I did what I could to get us level, but did not do so well. The rain really did not let up til well after dark. It was a long night of sliding back up to the top of the tent. Grayson slept soundly next to me and was wrapped up in my Montbell jacket. It stayed warm and got a little breezy towards daybreak. We broke camp by 5:45am and hit the trail, in the rain, at 6 am. The walk over Guyot was fun and different with the clouds building over the ridges and falling down. There was a storm coming over Franconia so we booked it over to Zealand. There was a lot of water everywhere and the falls were beautiful. Not sure Ill be going close to any of the AMC tentsites for a while. I do not envy the caretakers with dealing with some of these folks out in the backcountry! If any of you see Morgan at Guyot Tentsite, thank her and her fella for the hospitality! There are not as many photos because of the constant rain and the fact that I have hiked this loop 4 times now.
