NH 48 4000 footers: Bondcliff, Bond, West Bond, Galehead

Saturday, September 16, 2017
Start: Lincoln Woods Visitor Center
End: 13 Falls campsite
Miles: 17.9
Ascent/Descent: 5472'/4406'
Listened to: Nancy Podcast.
Cried from said podcast: 3

I drove up to NH after work yesterday, and stayed the night at the Notch hostel. I got up around 5:45am and was in the parking lot of Lincoln Woods by 6:30am. I paid for my parking, finished packing up, and hit the trail by 6:45am.

The first 4 miles or so of the trail was super flat and smooth sailing. 

Then the slow and steady climbing started. I climbed up to Bondcliff (4265') first, then Bond (4698'), and then out and back on the West Bond (4541') spur. 

View of Bondcliff peak, with Bond in the distance

View of West Bond and Bond, from Bondcliff

View of Bond from Bondcliff

View of Bond and Bondcliff from West Bond

View of South Twin in the center distance with Bond to the right, from West Bond

I dropped down to Guyot shelter for water and then climbed up the side of Mt Guyot and then up South Twin Mountain (4902'). From there, I descended to Galehead hut, arriving by 2:30pm, where I got water, soup, bread, and  a piece of frosted yellow cake. I had nice chats with one of the hut croo, Holly, who recently graduated from UConn, majoring in healthcare business management. From the hut, I headed to the Galehead spur, dropped my pack, and went up and back (4026').

Peak of Galehead

View of Galehead Hut, South Twin Mountain, and some of the Twin Range

View of Galehead Hut and South Twin

After that final climb of the day, I descended 2.6 miles to the 13 Falls campsite (2231'). 

I arrived at the campsite at 5pm. There were plenty of tent spaces left when I arrived; I don't think the sites are full even now, after dark. I set up my tent, treated water, cooked my dinner (which, as it turned out, sucked), checked out the falls, forced myself to eat dinner, and then packed up and headed towards bed. I'm sleeping without my rainfly tonight since it's supposed to be a nice night and only drop to 55. Tomorrow, I have a much easier day, with only 12.9 miles and only climbing Owls Head before getting to my car.

The dinner didn't turn out well. The food was stale and plastic tasting, and I neglected to add much salt at all... it was beyond bland and tasted weird. And there was a lot of it; it was an ordeal to finish the majority of my dinner. It left my jaw tired and painful. I didn't even bother to eat dessert.

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As I was hiking over Bondcliff, I met Fynn, an AMC caretaker out for a walk. We had great conversations, and we walked together from Bondcliff to West Bond spur, and then we chatted a bit more when I went to Guyot shelter for water. Once the season ends in a few weeks, Fynn will be back living in western mass, so we exchanged phone numbers and plan to keep in touch.

I've been listening to Nancy, an LGBTQ podcast from WNYC. It's a beautiful thing and I'd highly recommend it. For a 25 minute podcast, they manage to pack a lot of intersectionality into their episodes. There's some beautiful trans representation.

NH AT section hike #2, day 1

September 6, 2014
Start: I-93, Lincoln, NH
End: Galehead Hut
Mileage: 13.0

I started out at 7am where I stopped my last hike - where the AT travels underneath I-93. The folks from Mt Liberty Lodging very kindly gave me a ride to the side of the highway where I needed to be. 

And I climbed! I-93 is in Franconia Notch (1450'). 

I hiked up through Liberty Springs tentsite (3870') and chatted with the caretaker. He reported a storm coming in with rain and winds with gusts up to 70 MPH. 

I hoofed it up Little Haystack Mtn (4800'), Mt Lincoln (5089'), and Mt Lafayette (5260'). On the way up Lafayette, I chatted with Lupa, a NOBO thru hiker. 

Top of Little Haystack

You could just see Greenleaf hut along the ridge to the far right. It's a steep 1.4 miles down a side trail from Lafayette 

View of Mt Lincoln and Mt Lafayette from Little Haystack 

It seemed so close but it took me over an hour of hiking to reach the top of Lafayette from Lincoln (it's around 2 miles between the two peaks).

Greenleaf hut from Lafayette

I passed by Garfield Pond and went over Mt Garfield (4500'). 

Garfield Pond

View from Garfield Ridge

I traveled past Garfield Ridge Shelter; I stopped and chatted for 20 minutes with NOBO thru hikers Daddy Long Legs and Baby Steps. They're from TN and started their hike in the Smokey Mountains.

From there, it was 2.7 miles to Galehead Hut (3800'). 

I arrived at 2:15pm. I got settled in my bunk (they had triple bunks and a quad bunk!). The storm held out until about 3pm and then it began to downpour. Looks like the hut will be full tonight;  a lot of folks who were going to camp out have changed their minds! Daddy Long Legs and Baby Steps found bunks to stay the night. :) Thus far, the hoards of loud children are in the bunk room across the hall and not in mine; I hope it will stay that way.

Throughout my hike today, I saw a lot of day, section, and thru hikers. The majority of thru hikers I saw were going north, hoping to make it to Katahdin early enough to fully finish. I did see a few SOBOs. Everyone here at the hut seems to be inexperienced day hikers. They were very impressed with my 13 mile day.