Owl's Head

Yesterday Katy and I embarked on another long hike, about 19 miles in total, to reach the peak of Owl's Head. It was the 47th 4000 footer for us on our quest to hike all 48 of New Hampshire's 4000 footers and leaves just Mount Carrigain between us and eternal glory! Owl's Head is one of those peaks that requires maximum effort for minimal reward and is rarely collected early on a peakbagger's list. The trail is long and monotonous with tricky river crossings and very few views. In addition, there is no officially maintained trail that goes all the way to the summit, with the final mile or so of the hike following an unmaintained herd path up an old rock slide. Despite these challenges, we were ready to make this hike a good one, and arrived early at the trailhead at Lincoln Woods yesterday at 7:30AM. We had been tracking the forecast all week long and the weather looked perfect with sunny skies predicted and a 0% chance of rain. As we geared up for the hike, though, it was overcast with rain showers spitting at us. Oops!

We began our journey down the Lincoln Woods Trail and settled in for a long, flat walk. Fortunately, the rain showers ended quickly, and the tree canopy pretty much kept us dry in the meantime. The Lincoln Woods Trail is about 3 miles in length, is very wide, and is almost completely flat as it follows a former logging road. As an access point to the Pemigewasset Wilderness, you'll find more than just Owl's Head goers on it. Early in the morning we saw some trail runners go by, we saw some backpackers hiking out, and we saw a couple bicycles pass us as well. We cruised along and made good time down the trail. As the monotony pounded on our feet, I began to feel my plantar fasciitis start to flare up. A few years back I battled plantar fasciitis off and on for a long time but had discovered an effective strategy to manage it by using tape to support my arches. This allowed me to continue playing ultimate without degeneratively aggravating my heals and arches in the process. Well, after a pain free year, I think my summer league ultimate frisbee tournament from a couple weeks ago put my heals over the edge and I've had minor plantar issues since. I've been back to taping my feet before ultimate games and this time decided to stop and tape up my feet for the remainder of the hike. Katy makes fun of me and my self prescribed injury management "programs" but hey, they do work! I taped up my feet and while I still had some discomfort, it helped a lot with arch support the rest of the hike.

Once we reached the end of the Lincoln Woods Trail, we took a left turn onto the much less heavily traveled Lincoln Brook Trail. After summitting 47 4000 footers, Katy explained that she finally made the connection that if a trail name has "Brook", "Stream", "River", or "Falls" in it, then you should probably expect to do some river crossing. True! We made our way down about 3.5 miles of this trail which brought us back and forth over Lincoln Brook 4 different times. The water levels were not significantly high but they were still a challenge to keep your boots dry. Fortunately, I wasn't too concerned about that and kind of just blasted right through the rivers. Katy did her best to rock hop and kept her feet mostly dry on the way in. After the final stream crossing that put the river on our left, we kept an eye out for the trail junction with Owl's Head Path. Since this is an unofficial trail, there would be no sign. It was obvious when we reached it, though; there was a large cairn built up in the middle of the trail with logs marking the route to our right.

After over 8 miles of long, flat trail, we had reached the steeps! While not an official trail, the path up the slide was well beaten with mini cairns built as trail markers along the way. It was a bit of a free for all, though, as the path often diverged into multiple routes which rejoined each other later down the trail. This was especially true once up past the slide and navigating the ridge line. Since no real trail maintenance work is done, it seems as though rather than clear blow downs people naturally just beat out more herd paths. Nevertheless, we did finally manage to find the summit and found a crowd of 7 or 8 people already there! For such a remote, viewless peak, it was a popular destination yesterday as we saw at least a couple dozen more people heading up once we were on our way down.

With number 47 in the bag, we began the long trek back out the way we came. There were tired muscles, achy joints, and sore feet by the time we were down but that made it that much more rewarding when we ate everything off the menu at the Common Man post-hike. And then there was one! Mount Carrigain, we'll see you soon!

Mount Zealand and The Bonds

The Bonds! Ever since we started peakbagging and hiking all of New Hampshire's 4000 footers, "The Bonds" have been looming as the most difficult peaks to conquer. The Bonds are actually a collection of three different peaks, Mount Bond, West Bond, and Bondcliff, all nestled deep in the middle of the Pemigewasset Wilderness. Since they are all near eachother, they are often bagged together on one single trip, but all of the options are at least 20 miles in length. Should we do it as a backpacking trip camping at Guyot Campsite? Should we make use of the Galehead or Zealand Falls AMC Huts which are nearby? These were open questions for a while but as we continued to hike and continued to bag peaks, we decided that we could take on the Bonds in a single day. The next question was what will our route be? A traverse from Zealand Road to Lincoln Woods is the shortest route and has the least amount of elevation gain. The only drawback is that it requires two cars and a fairly long car spot. An out-and-back from Zealand Road is about the same distance but with 1000 feet more of elevation gain. We invited a few different people to come along on the hike with us and potentially help with a car spot, but we had no takers (I wonder why?). In the end it was settled that Katy and I would be on our own on an out-and-back from Zealand Road: 20 miles in length and 5000 feet of elevation gain to bag The Bonds and a bonus Mount Zealand along the way!

In order to simplify things for ourselves, we decided to check in to the Above the Notch Motor Inn down the road from the Zealand trailhead on Friday night. I estimated it would take us about 12 hours to complete the hike, but an early start on the trail would be much easier if we don't have a three hour drive in the morning first. We woke up early yesterday morning and were at the trailhead at 5:30AM. Surprisingly, the parking lot at the end of Zealand Road was already about half full with cars. No doubt many of these were of people staying overnight at the Zealand Falls Hut, an easy two and a half mile hike from the trailhead. We snapped some photos and headed off right as the morning sun was rising. The first section of the trail was mostly flat and easy, and although possibly sleepwalking at times, we made it to the hut in about an hour.

We didn't stop long at the hut, maybe a minute or two, but wanted to push on as it was still early and we had only been on flat trail so far. It was about three miles from the hut to our first peak of the day, Mount Zealand, and once we left the hut, we started to climb. I'm not sure what it was, maybe the early hours, or maybe this section really was pretty steep, but this early part of the hike seemed tough. We quickly settled into a groove where we were concentrating on climbing and the conversation died down for a bit. After a couple miles of climbing up, the trail finally began to level off and we both settled enjoyed the reprieve from the steeps. Before long, we were at the spur trail to Mount Zealand and hiked the 0.1 miles in from there to bag the viewless summit. Number 43 done!

At this point the only other people we had seen on the trail were at the Zealand Hut. After coming back out from Zealand's summit we finally bumped into another hiker on the trail. Civilization! We continued on towards Guyot, now on a section of the Appalachian Trail and bumped into a few more hikers on the way. One such hiker greeted us with a cheerful good morning and then:

• "Hey I just want to double check, am I still on the AT?"


• "Yes you are!"


• "Oh good I wasn't sure since I haven't seen any white blazes in a while"


• "Where are you coming from?"


• "Georgia, happy to still be alive!"

A through-hiker! We've seen a few through-hikers before but this guy was definitely the most cheerful and least ragged looking. Good luck to him the rest of the way! We continued on the rolling trail towards the summit of Guyot, not an official 4000 foot peak but one with expansive views and a grand destination all by itself. We were seven miles into our hike and it wasn't even 10 in the morning! We hit the trail junction of Bondcliff Trail near Guyot, took a left turn, now off the AT, and pressed on towards the Bonds.

It was a great day out, but the temperature really began to heat up at this point. The forecast for the valley was for a humid day close to 90 degrees, and even at elevation it likely made it nearly to this level. We quickly made it to the spur trail to go up West Bond and then made the half mile ascent to the summit. The trail up to West Bond is wooded but has a fantastic exposed summit with great views all around.

After stopping for a while on West Bond for some snacks and a break, we made the half mile descent back out to the main trail, and were only another half mile from the summit of Mount Bond at that point. We quickly made it up to Mount Bond where we were treated with more fantastic panoramic views. We met another couple of hikers on this summit who were on a backpacking trip starting from the Kancamagus Highway. We saw very few people on Bondcliff trail on this fine day, and even fewer who were on just a single day journey. We soaked in some more views and then pushed on towards Bondcliff.

We arrived at the peak of Bondcliff at around 11:30AM. Six hours into our hike and we were over halfway done. Now just time to turn around and go back! We hung out at Bondcliff for a while, ate some lunch, and rested up for the return trip. The hike back up Bond was a bit of a challenge as we were already 11 miles into our hike and faced a nice uphill climb in front of us. Katy was also developing a pounding headache at this point likely from the hot sun and maybe a bit of dehydration. We found some shade to stop, she took in some extra water, gatorade, and ibuprofen, and continued on. Fortunately that seemed to help and her headache eventually went away. Once we re-bagged the summit of Mount Bond, we coasted back to Guyot, past Zealand, and down to the Zealand Falls Hut. On the way back we passed a group of two hikers, one of whom was blind! We were also hoping to pass Ryan who was attempting the NH 48 speed record and whose itinerary appeared to bring him right by us on our hike out. We never saw anyone who looked like he was about 150 miles into a three day trip and alas it appears as though the trip was aborted before the Pemi traverse was attempted. In any case, when we reached the hut, there was a bustle of activity with kids and families arriving and the croo starting to prepare dinner for that evening's meal. We stopped to refill our water and eat some more snacks before continuing on.

We arrived back at the trailhead on Zealand Road at about 4:30PM, 11 hours after we had started so early in the morning. Our legs were tired, some joints were sore, a few blisters had formed, but really I would say we were both feeling pretty good. On paper the Bonds may look daunting, but get out there on a beautiful day and they are mostly just rewarding. Granted Katy and I have been working our way up to this trek with our summer hiking blitz, but for any peakbaggers wondering how they're going to tackle the Bonds, fear not. There are many options, and with the fairly tame elevation gain, a single day trip is easier than it looks. With the Bonds done we are now at 46 out of 48 NH 4k footers complete!

Mount Cabot (plus Bulge and Horn)

After our trip up Mount Washington last weekend, Katy and I had been planning all week long to finish off our vacation by hiking Owl's Head and checking off one of the most elusive peaks on the NH 4000 footer list. Which day we would go would all depend on the most agreeable weather forecast of the latter half of the week. Unfortunately, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday all had similar forecasts -- cloudy, showers, thunderstorms, unsettled weather. After some debate, we finally decided we would modify our plans and hike Mount Cabot on Saturday. Mount Cabot is the northernmost 4000 footer in New Hampshire, and is off the beaten path of the typical hiking crowds in the Presidentials and Franconia Ridge. As we made the drive up early yesterday morning, the skies were cloudy but clearing, and I was anticipating this would be a simple, pleasant hike. The route we were taking was a loop hike over the top of Mount Cabot and also two lesser peaks, Bulge and Horn, which are not 4000 footers but are on the New England Hundred Highest list. I mistakenly thought that this route was about 10 miles in length, but upon closer inspection I later realized that it was about 11.5 miles instead. Given the scale and size of recent hikes that we've done, though, this miscalculation seemed to make little difference.

We arrived at the trailhead at the end of York Pond Road in Berlin, NH at about 8:15AM. The gate to the hatchery was wide open (even though the sign said it opens at 8:30AM). I had read recent reports that the gate was being left open 24 hours for the time being, but that was not too relevant for us since we would easily finish before the posted 4:00PM closing time. We geared up and headed off up the Bunnell Notch Trail under partly sunny skies with no real signs of rain. It was at this point that we quickly encountered the weeds. The first mile or so of Bunnell Notch Trail was very narrow and overgrown with three to five foot tall weeds on either side. It appeared to follow some type of old logging road that has been overtaken by the vegetation in the area. Somebody with a free afternoon and a machete could do wonders to this part of the trail. The bugs were also swarming something fierce even after we doused ourselves in bug spray. My anticipation of a simple and pleasant hike appeared to be dashed! We moved along at a quick pace until we finally reached a reprieve where the trail makes a left turn off the old logging road and into a nicely maintained trail in the woods.

At this point the trail began to really climb. We were so happy to be out of the weeds, though, that we didn't really notice. The upper sections of this trail were a much nicer walk in the woods and we made good time to the Cabot Cabin and then past it to the summit at around 10:40AM. The clouds were a little darker at this point, but still no rain. We took the requisite summit photos on the wooded peak and then continued on towards the Bulge. We seemed to reach the cairn marking the summit of the Bulge in no time at all and then pressed on to the trail junction of the spur path to the peak of the Horn where we took a right to climb this peak as well. The hike up Horn was quick but required a very tricky scramble up the final boulder to the official summit. Of all the views we got all day, the views on the Horn were definitely the best albeit under some now darker clouds in the sky. In addition, we finally encountered another hiking group on this peak who we talked to for a few minutes. They were on the same loop as us except coming from the other direction. We told them of the overgrown sections of Bunnell Notch Trail and they seemed to suggest that the lower elevations of the other side on the Unknown Pond Trail were not that bad. Hopeful news! We headed back down eager to complete the loop.

The hike down the rest of the Kilkenny Ridge Trail to the Unknown Pond was fairly uneventful. We took a right turn at the Unknown Pond to trek the final 3.3 miles back to the car. As we descended, we began to encounter short sections of overgrown trail similar to the way we started the day. I don't believe any of these sections were as bad as the first part of the Bunnell Notch Trail but the final two miles or so of the trail was definitely a walk in the weeds which made things a bit less pleasant. To make matters worse, Katy twisted her ankle in a fall and was concerned that she had sprained it. Fortunately, though, she was able to walk it off and appears to have escaped without a serious injury. We powered through this final section of the loop and actually were surprised when we arrived back at the car at 2:20PM, about 20 minutes earlier than I was estimating. We packed up and headed home, with Mount Cabot complete and in our rear view mirrors.

Most of our hikes in this 4000 footer journey have been fun adventures. I don't think that Mount Cabot left an impression on either of us as one of our favorites. It wasn't particularly strenuous, and even offered some good views and vistas; I guess it just wasn't our day. We both noted that a winter ascent may have been really nice, with some wide trail corridors (the weeds packed down by snow of course), gradual grades, and sheltered trails. Alas, though, we made it up the peak on this day and took solace in the fact that not 10 minutes after we got off the trail and began the ride home it started raining. And not only did it rain, but it rained buckets all the way home. It's probably a good thing that we decided to forego the much longer Owl's Head in favor of Mount Cabot for number 42 out of 48!

Washington and Monroe

It's been almost a month since I last reported additional progress on our 4000 footer goal. In that month, though, a lot has happened. First, in early July, Katy and I decided to plan a "hiking free weekend" for ourselves and take a trip up to Acadia National Park in Maine. We hiked up Dorr Mountain while we were there (oops!). The following weekend, my sister Megan got married to her long time boyfriend/fiance Chris, and we partied hard to celebrate their day (and a great day it was!). Finally, this past week my family took their annual trip up to Suissevale at Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. Just like last year, we targeted this Suissevale trip as an opportunity to get not only some beach-going and relaxation in, but also to continue tackling the 4000 footers. With the weather looking good for last Saturday, the 21st, we decided it was finally time to have a go at the daddy of them all -- Mount Washington. We were also super excited about this hike because for the first time in about a year, my sister Mo had decided to join us. The rag-tag team of Owen and Katy "plus Mo" was reunited and with our plan to hike up the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail and looping back down the Jewell Trail, we would be bagging the summits of Washington "plus Monroe."

I had not realized until the night before that last Saturday was actually the annual Seek the Peak event on Mount Washington. For Seek the Peak, volunteers raise money for the Mount Washington Observatory and then all hike up Mount Washington on this single day. It appeared as though the main festivities kicked off from the Pinkham Notch side of the mountain, but Mount Washington is always busy on summer weekends, so clearly there would be high traffic on all trails leading to the top on this day. I suggested that we try and get there as early as possible, and since we were all heading over to Lake Winnepesaukee after our hike, we decided to meet Mo way up at the Park-And-Ride lot off 93 in New Hampton, NH at 7:00AM. After a quick pit stop at Dunkin Donuts and the gas station, we all continued on together to the Ammonoosuc Ravine trailhead near the cog base station and arrived to a nearly full parking lot before 8:30AM. The sun was out, the temperature was comfortable and warming, and the summit forecast called for partly sunny skies with temperatures rising into the 50's and nearly calm conditions -- an ideal day. We geared up and headed up.

Personally I've hiked up Mount Washington at least three times in the past and have been up Tuckerman's Ravine Trail, Lion's Head Trail, and the Jewell Trail. However, I had never hiked the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail. The trail starts out quite easy with smooth grades and is predictably well maintained. With our faster than average pace we quickly started encountering trail traffic with some large groups and some undoubtedly seek-the-peakers. After an easy mile or two we finally reached the base of the headwall of the ravine and begin climbing. There are some decent scrambling sections on this trail but it was very dry and so we didn't have much trouble navigating at all. The irony, though, is that just as we were discussing how nice and dry the trail was, Mo slipped on one of the few wet rocks and scraped her knee! A minor mishap, though, and so we continued on. We went right past the Lake of the Clouds Hut on our ascent in order to head over and bag Mount Monroe before returning back to the hut for a break. Monroe is a stone's throw away from the hut and offered neat views of the southern Presi's and Mount Washington from its perch. After a snack at the hut, we motored up the Crawford Path, passing several groups of hikers on the way to the summit of Mount Washington. The Crawford Path is a really nicely maintained trail and is like a paved sidewalk in comparison to some of the other bouldery trails that you will encounter at the summit cones of the other Presidentials. When we reached the top, we joined the swarms of other hikers, seek-the-peakers, cog rail go-ers, auto road drivers, and observatory staff that were up there.

We were very surprised to discover that the high volume of people on the mountain meant we had to wait in line to get to the true top and get our summit picture! We waited for probably about 10 minutes to get to the top and then another friendly hiker in line snapped a few photos of the three of us at the top. We then wandered around the summit sites for a while, stopped in at the Observatory building and ate our snacks, and just generally took in the views. It's always busy on the top of Mount Washington, but the beautiful day and the Seek the Peak event made it a real zoo up there. After we finally decided we'd had our fill, we began the trek back down towards the Jewell Trail. Hiking down the Gulfside Trail and then the Jewell Trail was a real treat. We were treated to clear views of the northern Presidentials for the first mile or two and also hiked over and alongside the Cog Railroad tracks for ways as well. Continuing down the Jewell Trail we could see into the valley with the Mount Washington Hotel and the Cog Base Station far below. On a clear, calm, warm day, it was great to be above treeline for so long. We finally dipped back down into the trees and continued the several miles to complete the loop and arrive back at the car.

Mount Washington is the clear king of the Whites and the summit that gets all of the attention. I've hiked it from several angles, and it's a challenge from all sides. As far as hikes go, though, it's not the toughest mountain to bag. Our previous hike up Madison and Adams was more grueling and had more elevation gain; peaks like the Bonds, Owls Head, and Isolation are more elusive; but you've got to respect the lure and might of the tallest. We checked this one off which sits at the top of our list -- 41 out of 48 now complete!