September 15, 2023 - Zealand - Bonds Pemi Traverse

Amazingly, there were seven of us OTHH, a large group for this one, a north-south traverse of the Pemigewasset Willderness, passing over five 4000+ peaks. Included are Zealand, Guyot (even at 4,580 ft, not on the 4K list for lack of prominence), West Bond, Bond, and Bondcliff. This is a 20-mile hike with 3,700 to 3,900 ft of elevation gain (depending on source). "Book Time" for this hike is just under 12 hours, but it took over 14 for the last of us to get to the car left at Lincoln Woods. A large group always takes more time than a small one. It matters, too, that one of us is getting up there in years!

We were on the trail at the end of Zealand Road at 6:10am. You can guess what time we had arisen, had breakfast, and first driven to Lincoln Woods and then up and around to Zealand Rd! It was just starting to get light, and in the woods we needed headlamps for perhaps 15 minutes. The first 2.6 miles is fairly easy walking, a nice way to begin an early hike.

After a short, steep climb, we were at the Zealand Falls AMC hut, which has a nice view of the "back side of the Willey Range and southward to Carrigain Notch. Then the real climb began, 1.3 miles and 1150 ft up the Twinway to where things level out a bit. A few hundred feet off the Twinway at that point is the wonderful Zeacliff viewpoint. Pictured below are Sandy, Deb, Andy, Sue, and Larry. Just above Larry's head is Mt Carrigain.

After a mile and a half or so further along the Twinway, we came to the short spur trail to Mt Zealand, with no view at all, but which we bagged because "its right there" and on the 4K list.

Sue, Deb, Pam, and Sandy

 

 

 

Another mile along the Twinway, down off Zealand and up the eastern flank of Mt Guyot, we broke out into the open for an expansive view of the western part of the Pemi. Just past the top of Guyot, the northern end of the Bondcliff Trail begins. We passed over the "south summit" of Guyot, headed south now. Shown right are Sue and Larry, with West Bond right beyond them. 

After dropping down past the spur to the Guyot Shelter area, then back part way up Mt Bond, we came to the half mile spur trail to West Bond. We dropped our packs there to lighten the load for that side trip. The view from West Bond is just as spectacular, but unique. We now had a different view over to Owls Head, beyond that to the eastern flank of the Franconia Ridge, north of that Mt Garfield, southeast to Bond, and south to Bondcliff and more southerly peaks. Pictured below, atop West Bond, are Dick, Deb, Andy, and Pam.

Back on the Bondcliff Trail, we finished the ascent to Mt Bond, the highest elevation on the hike, at about 4700 ft. Shown below are Pam, Sandy, Dick, Sue, Andy, Larry, and Deb.

Continuing southward, we made our way over to Bondcliff. It seems that when hikers have their picture taken on Bondcliff, the iconic "photo op" spot is with the hikers atop the cliff and the photographer shooting from the actual top of Bondcliff a few hundred feet away. The shot is a really one to treasure. Shown below are Sue, near the edge of the cliff, Sandy, moving away, and then Andy and Deb awaiting their own "glory shot." Behind them are West Bond, and, to the right, the slope to the top of Bond.

Having been to the top of Bondcliff, around nine miles from where we began at dawn, it was time (way past time) to "go home." That meant another nine miles and roughly five hours to go. The first four miles of that is a typical descent from one of our hike peaks. The last five miles is along the old railroad bed of what was called the Wilderness Trail, and this is about the flattest, easiest to walk trail out in the woods. The first two of that is either still part of the Bondcliff Trail or, on some maps, the lower part of the Wilderness Trail. That ends at the bridge over the Lincoln Brook. From there it's nearly three miles further along the Lincoln Woods Trail to the parking lot. While the walking on this last five miles of the hike is flat and easy enough in principle, coming at the end of a very long (20 mile) hike over a very long day, most of us are beyond exhausted. This two-hour stretch of the hike seems to go on forever. We were later than expected, and we had headlamps on for the last hour and a half.

If it weren't for the exhaustion of such a long hike, we would have had a tailgate celebration. Sue and Sandy finished their first round of the 48 4K on Bondcliff, while Pam and Dick both finished round seven. It's unusual for such a number of hikers to hit milestones on the same trip. [But wait for the blog entry for a trip to North Percy, yet to come!]

We owe a special, well-deserved thanks is to Katherine, who wasn't hiking with us, but who volunteered to come up to Lincoln Woods to drive two of our group back up to Zealand Road after the hike, well into the evening, to retrieve their cars. Doing the Bonds as a traverse saves two miles and a fair amount of vertical gain, compared to an in-and-out hike, but it certainly does complicate the transportation logistics.