Pemigewasset Wilderness Day 4

Day 4 was my "easy day."  All I had to do was hike down to my car, drive home, and shower.  I woke up at 6:30 ish (funny how easy that is to do while hiking, and how hard it is on a typical work day) ready for my delicious hut breakfast. There was coffee, hot chocolate, oatmeal, a breakfast bread, eggs and bacon. This group of four women came in late the night before, and this one woman, we'll call her Bacon Girl, took like a quarter of the bacon and eggs, WTF? Who does that at a community table?  By the time it got to me I only got one slice! She later went back and asked for more, and took more! I could tell I was getting a little crabby.

When I went back to my bunk, I also realized that Bacon Girl had hung her sweaty shirt on top of my sweaty skort at night. Ewww. Bacon Girl, total millennial. I had no choice but to wear it, even though it had bacon sweat on it. Though, who was I kidding, after 3 days of hiking, it was pretty disgusting.

I was considering doing Garfield on the way down. Instead of going straight to my car, I would go to Garfield, then down, then have to walk for over a mile on the access road to my car.  I realized, though, that I was pretty much out of food, so I ditched that idea - hiking without food is a bad idea. Also, it was pretty cloudy - it had rained the night before (one of the bachelor party guys left his boots out, he was sad), and I thought there was only about a 50% chance of a view. So, I decided to head right down, and I was so glad I did!

The last 4.6 miles of the hike were the hardest. Maybe it was just knowing that my car, civilization, food, and a shower were waiting. Or, maybe it was that my body was killing me - I had blisters on both my little toes, and the pads of my right foot. The top going down was steep and rocky, I tried to practice trusting my feet and planning one step ahead, but it was hard when I was so tired.  When I finally got to the flatter ground, I was so happy!  It took me a little longer than the last time I descended, but not much longer - about two hours and 45 minutes. But, the rocks were wet, so I think that's reasonable.  I was so happy when I saw my car sitting waiting!  I had a change of clothes in the back, and went in the woods to clean up a little, pee, and change. It was so nice to be in something clean, even if I wasn't!

I drove home and showered and collapsed on the couch. Later I developed a migraine, which was kind of bad, though not horrible. That left me all conflicted, because if I can't hike for 4 days without a migraine, how could I do the entire AT? Having a headache out there would just be awful. Maybe I got dehydrated going down?  I didn't drink that much. Or, maybe it was the cumulative lack of sleep, and my body knowing it was OK now to get sick?

Mistakes I made:

1. Not bringing enough water in my day pack to the Bonds
2. Trying so hard to be light weight that I didn't bring a stove and wound up with an awful dinner and no hot coffee
3. Getting dehydrated or sleep deprived(?) on the last day
4. Too thin socks that left me with blisters - I should have worn sock liners with them

Peaks climbed: 8

Official 4000 footers: 7

New Peaks Bagged: 5

Total distance: 24.6 miles!

Pemigewasset Wilderness Day 3

I woke up in the shelter at Guyot feeling pretty good!  I had done my hardest day, day 3 was much shorter and I got to have hut food for dinner.  I didn't have my stove, so I was able to pack up pretty quickly, except that it took a little while to filter enough water.  But, I was "on the road" by about 7. I decided that rather than eating at the rather dull camp, I would go back up to Guyot mountain, and eat in the view. Also, there were a ton of people around, and you aren't supposed to pee in the outhouse, and I wanted to get out of camp to pee!

I was glad that I hiked out of camp to eat - maybe not always the right choice, but there it definitely was. There were a ton of people in the eating area at Guyot, and you have to be so much more careful with food due to the traffic level and people sleeping there. On top of the mountain, I found that the cairn had one of those built-in chairs, so I sat down for a delicious breakfast. Sadly, that wasn't what I had - I had these squeeze packs that were supposedly "smoothies" but were not that good - they did have a lot of protein and other energy. I did bring my coffee beans, which were delicious, so there was that. From my cairn-chair I only had a little over two miles to my next peek, South Twin, so I was in no rush. Still, after about a half hour I headed off.

The hike to South Twin was quite nice. It wasn't very steep, but lots of rocks, so I practiced trusting my feet and planning one step ahead as a way to go faster. I'm getting a little better at it, I think. The area around there was above tree line, and I love the little scrub pines and grasses. It dipped down to pine forest, and then back up to South Twin, which I had been on before the previous year.  Once again, the view was amazing, and I sat for a little bit and chatted with and listened to some AT through hikers, Mouse, Moose and Red.

It's so interesting to listen to the through hikers, and hear about their trips. At this point, they are pretty close to being done, most of them seem pretty eager finish. One of the hikers had flip flopped and was finishing at Harper's Ferry, so it was really cool to hear the hiker grapevine, and listen to them telling each other about places to stay, and how easy/hard the hiking was coming up. They all use the guthook app to find out about trails and water, I have to check it out.

My objective for the day was North Twin, the peak that I didn't get the previous year.  There was a sign on South Twin that said it was a mile away, the map said 1.3 miles, and there was a sign on North Twin that said 1.0 miles. Hm.  I took my water, a sandwich, my phone and a snack in my daypack and hid my big pack on South Twin (OK, I didn't hide it that well, I figured no one would steel it because they would then have to carry it), and did the hike over there with the smaller pack. There was a lot of downhill on the way there, which made me a little nervous, but actually it wasn't so bad on the way back. The view on North Twin was really nice, you could see the hut! It wasn't as nice as South Twin, but nothing to complain about for sure.  I ate and enjoyed for a bit before going back to South, where I sat for about 45 minutes, eating, people watching, and enjoying the 360 view. Finally I decided to head out for the hut.

The hike down from South Twin is brutal - I remembered that from the last trip. I did this hike in this direction so I wouldn't need to hike up it again :)  The hike down wasn't easy either, it took me 45 minutes to go down .8 miles!  At the bottom I was psyched to see the hut, check in, and get a bottom bunk. There was a brand new fall cru, they only had two people up there so far - they were so cute! There was this totally neurotic woman who said that she just took the MCAT and I was like yup, she's going be terrific, and this adorable kid named Max who is taking a gap year before college and will be studying documentary film making. The neurotic woman had everything running ship shape, and Max was smiling along, like his life was just beginning.

I sat out on the porch and talked to this nice guy from NYC who was there with three friends - he was the fastest of the group and was sent ahead to reserve bottom bunks. His friends came soon after, one guy who started being interesting until I realized that he was one of those people who never stops talking, and two women. We sat for a while, and I looked at Galehead. There was no reason to climb it. It's not a particularly interesting mountain, and I'd already done it. The top is a pile of rocks with no view, though there is a viewpoint part way up. In the end, though, I had the energy and that guy was just talking talking, so I decided why not?  So, I did peak #8, and was glad I did. It wasn't at all hard - it's just a mile total, out and back, and it took me 45 minutes with a stop at the viewpoint in each direction.  After, I read my book, people watched, and talked with some through hikers.

The through hikers on Galehead were an interesting crowd. First, there was a woman who hadn't washed her socks in 12 days, and accidentally put them on the wrong feet, and could tell because of how they fit. Yuck. There was a guy who hike with a foam roller (smart!) but it was blown away during a storm that night. There was a guy who was "platinum lining" meaning that he had spent about $20,000 on his hike! And a guy who had just graduated college and wanted to walk across America until his dad (who probably didn't want his son walking down random roads) told him about the AT. They talked to us for a while about their experiences including lowest moments (putting on wet and cold clothes, snakes in the shelter), bears (oversized raccoons, but scary when with their cubs), and luxury items (foam roller).  Most of them eat junk, though one guy said he eats real food, and takes an hour for lunch every day. None of them hike 30 mile days - they said that when it becomes a slog that they stop. Interesting. They had all lost weight, there was one woman who was saying that she didn't have much weight to loose to begin with, so it becomes a balancing act, because if you are too small you can't carry everything.

Anyhow, dinner was delicious, lasagne, bread (of course), salad, and tomato rice soup with beans. For dessert there was ginger bread. I sat at a table with the group of four and two couples who were nice. There were two other tables, one a group of high school students who were in some kind of program that involved sitting in circles and talking about their "rose" and "thorn" for the day and such. And, a bachelor party. I was scared about the bachelor party because, well, bachelor party. And I was pooped. But, they weren't too noisy.  At least, I put my book down at 9:30, and fell asleep, and didn't wake up until morning.

Pemigewasset Wilderness Day 2

I knew day 2 would be the hardest of my hike, and I was a little nervous. The plan was to hike up Zealand, take a break on Zeacliff for snack, tag Zealand (which is viewless), and go to Guyot for lunch. Guyot is actually higher than Zealand, but it's a sub peak of something; no 200 foot decent. After Guyot, I would go to the campground, snag a spot in the shelter, and then hike with my daypack  at least to Bond and Bondcliff and maybe to West Bond as well. Then I would return for dinner and go to bed early. And that's exactly what I did!

I had built up the hike from the hut to Zeacliff in my mind as a Big Hard Deal because it was the big elevation climb and I would have a pretty full pack still. What I didn't count on was having fresh legs from sleeping in the hut, and a huge and delicious breakfast featuring oatmeal, coffee, and this egg thing that was quite yummy!  I was so full and had so much energy, the hike was totally fine. Yes, it was uphill, but the pack was actually well distributed in terms of weight, and I was excited about my day! Before I knew it, I was at Zeacliff, which had amazing views!  I had the place to myself for about 10 minutes before these two guys showed up, and I sat and had a snack and enjoyed the view. Soon I was off, though, because I had a lot more to do - it was 5 miles with the heavy pack, and I wanted to get going.

Zealand is one of those peaks where there is no view, just a pile of rocks, there's a spur off the path that's about .2 miles, but it's almost flat. I went and tapped the top - there were two people there eating, and we joked about the silliness of it all. I moved on to Guyot which I saw had a view.  It was amazing!  I sat on some rocks and enjoyed the scenery, and knowing that I was just .8 miles from the campground.  I was getting a little nervous about the campground because I didn't bring my tent and was planning to stay in the Guyot shelter - some people who I talked to on the trail said that there had been a group there the night before.  That  night, though, I was the first one!  I tried lying in all the spots to see which made me least claustrophobic, and eventually decided on the side on the bottom. I spent a few minutes resting my feet, eating, and moving things to my day pack, then I was off to the Bonds!

The Bonds are super remote - from the top of Bond you can only see two manmade things - the tower on Mt. Washington, and the Loon Mt ski trails.  It's beautiful.  The way the path works, you go to the top of Bond, over and down the other side to get to Bondcliff.  Getting to the top of Bond was pretty easy, but it was a long way down to Bondcliff!  There was a long ridgeline between Bond and Bondcliff, and I thought it would be a nice hike, but it was super rocky.  Bondcliff was beautiful (but buggy). There was a guy on the mountain doing Tae Chi, and I thought what a perfect place it was for it! It was serene and completely away from civilization. The bugs drove me back to Bond after only about 15 minutes, though.

The hike back up was killer!  That was definitely the hardest hike I did during the trip, it was long, rocky, and above the tree line - so exposed to the sun.  I was so happy to get to the top of Bond again.  I borrowed bug spray from some guy up there, and had a good rest and ate a peanut butter sandwich.  On the way up Bond, I actually passed someone!  I was a little nervous for him, because I don't pass people, but he soon made it to the top. Once he got there, he came next to me and just lay down. It was a little unconventional, but we had a nice chat - he was hiking the Pemi Loop with a friend, he retired 10 years ago, and he prefers retirement to working. I hope when I'm retired I'm still out hiking the Pemi!  I spent about 30 minutes on top of Bond, but eventually had to head out.

I wasn't sure if I should do West Bond that day too, I stupidly didn't bring enough water. But, as I got close I thought it didn't look that hard, and it would be good to get done on the first day. And, I was right.  West Bond was so nice with a wonderful view of the other Bonds, and not very difficult at all!  I was so glad that I went up there that day. I sat around and ate for a bit, before a group came up - there was one woman who was finishing her 48 the next day on the Bonds.  I was getting hungry and thirsty, so I headed down.

I had an MRE that I got from my visit to USU, and the ravioli was supposed to heat with a chemical reaction. but at the last minute I got nervous, because I wasn't sure how I would cool the heater down way out there, and you have to pack everything out.  So, I ate the ravioli cold, and it was so disgusting. Then I read for about 15 minutes and went to bed at like 9:00!

Pemigewasset Wilderness Day 1

I've been putting off The Bonds because there was no way for me to do them without camping out at Guyot backcountry campground by myself (OK, or I guess with someone else, but then it wouldn't be solo), but it was time. I was down to just seven hikes, no more putting it off. So, I for my vacation I went for an overnight in the Pemigewasset Wilderness (also called The Pemi). I decided that since I was going there overnight I might as well get North Twin as well, and stay at a couple of the huts. So, I parked at Gale trail, took the AMC hiker shuttle to Zealand, and stayed at Zealand falls for the first night.

I have to say that I was nervous as I waited for the shuttle. It was my first solo camping, it was a long hike, and the area was very remote. My pack weighted in at about 30 pounds with food and water - I knew it would get lighter as I ate, but the big uphill from Zealand was going to be heavy. I was the only one on the hiker shuttle and the driver was super chatty. Usually I'm not the chatty type, but it was good to have someone to talk to and calm my nerves, and by the time I got to the trailhead, I was feeling a little better.

There was no reason that I needed to stay at Zealand Falls at all, it's just three miles in, pretty much all of which is flat.  But, I was so glad I did!  The hiker shuttle was at 12:20, so it gave me a chance to sleep a little (not too much, I was so paranoid I would get caught in traffic I was an hour early for the shuttle), and it gave me a chance to stay at the hut which was beautiful and amazing!  The waterfalls were wonderful. One of the naturalists told me that if you hike upstream there are some slightly bigger pools, so I went up there, stripped down to my undies, and took a dip. It was so cold, it lasted about 30 seconds, but it felt great!

I slept on the third bunk up, which is really high, and I was a little nervous that I would fall out of bed, but I reasoned that I never have before. Also, I put my left hand on the side of the bed as I was falling asleep, to remind me that there was an edge. It was kind of fun being up in a perch!

Zealand Hut is home to some creatures, like a snake colony and a wasps nest.  The snakes they are keeping, the wasps are living under the front porch, and I think it's headed out! One woman told me that as she was going up to the hut and me a little kid who told her "there are snakes and wasps and spiders." And there were. There was also an almost full moon. For dinner we had "Mexican Lasagne" which is to say that there were lasagne noodles and corn and veggies but no pasta sauce or cheese, so the cru made due. It was a different cru than usual - the summer one had just gone back to school and the fall one wasn't out yet, so it was all regular people, none of them under 40 I bet! They were good cooks though - there was also a delicious brown bread and tomato rice soup (this will sound very much like the menu at Galehead, but I didn't care).

Rowing

Today I went for the third time to this rowing place in Brookline. It's so good - so much better than the one in Arlington that I will drive across the city for it. The owner is clearly passionate about rowing and he's really into technique and cheering people on and pushing you to do your best. Which I often find annoying, but he's super genuine, and like the crossfit coaches who used to call me an athlete.  Anyhow, I had to write about it because at the end of the workout I kind of felt like throwing up, a sign of a good aerobic workout!

The class was abs and rowing - you do 5 sets of rowing and then abs, with three different ab exercises for each set. They start with a medicine ball, and this time I didn't use the smallest! After the "warm up" of 5 sets, you choose a rowing program, I usually pick the middle of 5 choices which this time was 400 meters/45 sec rest/600 meters/1 min rest/300 meters/35 sec rest/200 meters/15 sec rest/100 meters.  It was somewhere around 200 meters that I wanted to puke. But I didn't.

I booked a hike in the White Mountains - I'm going to stay at Zealand Falls Hut, then hike to Guyot campground, set up my tent, and then hike the Bonds. There are 3 Bonds, I'm hoping I can do 2 one day and then 1 the next, then head to South Twin and North Twin, and then I'm staying at Galehead Hut. Then down the next day and home. I've done South Twin already, but that's five of my remaining seven 4000 footers :)  I hope it doesn't rain.  It seems kind of silly to stay at the huts when I have my tent, but then I don't have to carry food, and it's easier if it does rain, and also I just like the huts, so there. And, it will be my first solo night sleeping out in the tent, so I decided one night was good for starters.  If I like it, I may do some more next year, since I will hopefully be done with lists.  Super excited, and a little nervous! It's a lot to do.

PS. Don't try to rob the house when I'm gone, there's nothing to take.

Cabot

Another good hike! Two thumbs up for sure on this one. Cabot is the northern-most mountain in the 48, it seems very far away. And it's down this long road that has a fish hatchery on it, with a gate. That's supposedly only unlocked 8-4, limiting your hiking time.

I stayed at my friend's in NH again. Just me this time, no surprise guests. The sun woke me up at dawn, and I was thinking about going back to sleep, but I had a long day ahead, and 5:45 was a good time to start!  I left the cabin at about 6:15 - it's over an hour to the trail even from N. Conway. I had to stop for coffee on the way there, and I ate a huge jar of oatmeal that I made on Wed night - awesome morning food for hiking (also, I ate coffee beans from Trader Joes that are the bomb! That store knows how to make good products.)  Anyhow, I got to the Fish Gate at 7:40 ish, and it wasn't locked, plus there was a summer camp inside the gate, so I thought it might be opened after 4. Trailhead at just before 8.

There are two ways to do Cabot - out and back or a loop that goes up two more 4000 foot mountains (not official 4000 footers because they don't go up and down enough - they are considered sub peaks.) It's 4.7 miles to the top of Cabot, so 9.4 if you do an out and back. The loop goes down the other side of Cabot, over "The Buldge," up and down "The Horn," then to Unknown Pond, and then back to a different trailhead - it's 6.9 miles after the summit, totaling 11.6 for the loop (The Horn is an out an back .3 mile extension, but it's the only place with a good view.) I wasn't sure if I would be up for 11.6 miles, so I parked at the trailhead for the out and back, but it turned out that Cabot had switchbacks on the way up, plus there was a view rock about 3.5 miles in where I stopped to take a rest, so I was feeling pretty good at the top and decided to do the whole thing!

Cabot is a nice little mountain - for all its 4000+ feet, it didn't seem that tough. I mean it was hard going up, but not exhausting. About 3/4 mile after the viewpoint, there is this little cabin that I stopped at - there used to be a fire tower, and I guess that's where the fire tower people lived, now hikers can just stay there! And, there's an outhouse!  It's so weird to get almost to the top of a mountain and find an outhouse :)  I was a little sad because I didn't need it at the moment.  The top of Cabot is viewless, and there's a little trick because there's a trail junction, but the top is probably 10 feet away at a cairn - I'd read up on it so I knew to tag the cairn.

The way down Cabot was surprisingly steep. No switchbacks on the other side. I practiced using gravity and trusting my feet. The tail then went over The Buldge, which had no view. I got to the sign for The Horn faster than expected, and decided I had to go up, otherwise it would be 11 miles with only the one partial view at 3.5 miles.  I was so glad I did!  It wasn't that hard a mountain to climb, and the view was amazing. I ate two cheese sandwiches on challah (so good) and basked in the sun (no helicopter came to rescue me, phew). The top of The Buldge is a big rock which was pretty fun to climb up!

Next was Unknown Pond.  It was really woodsy and remote feeling heading over. Tons of moose droppings, but I didn't see any moose. I bumped into a woman (OK, she passed me) who was a little freaked out by the remoteness - she was chatty. mmm. The pond was so nice!  At first, the woman was eating carrots behind me and it was so annoying, because I walked all this way to this remote pond - and it was all crunch crunch. And so I was rude and just sat by myself, and I was so glad I did because the spot I found was so much nicer. I counted 8 frogs around me. Imagine living your entire life at that perfect, serene pond? There's a camp ground there, I bet it would be amazing to stay.

After the pond it was 3.3 miles out. It was mostly downhill, not too exciting. For a little while I had dark thoughts. But it actually only took me like two hours, and that was partly because it was so overgrown.  I got back to the other parking lot, and fortunately it was only a short walk to my car. There was no one around, one car in the lot and I was sure that it belonged to this guy I bumped into who was camping by the pond. I've never done this before, but I changed outside, next to my car! I had some wipes to clean off, it felt amazing!

In the entire hike I saw about a dozen people. Almost everyone was hiking solo, just one group of three running. I scared a guy because he thought I was a moose. It is Friday - summer hiking Friday, I love it!