Copy/Repost Hike

What a week leading up to this trek.  We started on Monday with negative temps and heated up to a balmy 50 degrees and a massive amount of rain on Thursday right before the weekend overnight at Zealand Hut.  Sound familiar?  It does to me – the near exact weather pattern emerged as I was preparing to dash off to Zealand for Christmas.  And so…. history is destined to repeat itself.

The high water warnings were fewer than before and after checking trail conditions – the plan to Zealand was still on.  Trail conditions were packed granular below the hut with snowshoes or spikes recommended above the hut.  Undaunted, David and I met up on Friday afternoon and by 4pm we were casually hiking up Zealand road for the big adventure.

Soon enough it got dark and as we arrived at the formal trail head it was time to sport headlamps – we were night hiking – and it was AWESOME.  What a great trail be on for an evening walk through the woods.  It was partly cloudy with no moon light and it was dark.  The path was beautifully cut and with minor effort it was a straight shot to the hut.  We had sported microspikes and crampons but I would have preferred my snow shoes.  Parts of the trail were still soft and hadn’t frozen and we post holed several times.  I post holed in some deep water but luckily my gaiters and boots kept me dry – I was super lucky.  I had a frozen pant leg the rest of the short hike but I was dry!

On arrival we were greeted by Crush, the caretaker, and a couple who hiked in before us – that was it – we were to be 5 this evening at Zealand Hut.  Trail conditions above the hut were unknown to Crush – she arrived that day as she was told not to hike in on Thursday.  We’d have to wait till morning to sort out the possibilities.  We claimed our bunks, made dinner, chatted by the woodstove and by 9pm were in the bunks.

We got up at 6am and by 7:15 or so we were on the trail.  Out of the gate we sported snowshoes which turned out to be a wise decision.  I immediately realized I forgot my lunch so I scooted back to the hut to retrieve it and rejoined David on the trail.  The first water crossing was a non-event, the second proved to be more effort.  The beautiful snow bridges were swept away – all gone – and what remained was a deep trench into cold water – none of which we wanted to try and cross.  Not to be deterred I pulled a play from the Shep5 handbook of hiking – we bushwhacked upstream to see what we could find.  After a short – but somewhat arduous slice through the open forest we found a sweet spot – it was almost shocking how simple it was when just downstream it was a guarantee of getting wet.  We skittled across and began the ascent.

The going was easy.  The trail was still in good form and David and I repacked what little snow had fallen overnight giving the trail that distinguished linear snowshoe path.  Loved it.  We reached the view to Whitewall, snapped a few photos and resumed the hike upward.  Most of the trail was easy to follow with occasional snow drifts and just a few more trees to crawl around or over than at Christmas.  I love this trail – it’s so beautiful.  We soon found ourselves at Zealand Mountain where it became obvious the path beyond hadn’t been hiked in a bit.  A lot of snow has fallen since Christmas and now it had gotten wet from the rain and was possibly frozen.  A moment of reflection and then we carried on.  Plowing through a modest mess of bent over trees we emerged onto a clear path – but that was short lived.  We began the descent into the col but were met with frozen snow drifts, some post holing in soft sections (with our snow shoes!) and lots of skirting under, over and around bent trees, downed trees and tree branches.  It may have rained a lot but the snow was frozen and more often than not we were hiking with our heads in the tree branches.  David and I are both 6 feet tall – we had to go slow and be mindful – we didn’t want any injuries from errant tree branches.  We snapped a lot of branches this day.  We soon reached the bottom where the trail meanders a bit but begins the ascent up to Guyot.  A few times we thought we lost the trail but we double backed and re-oriented ourselves and found the path.  I can’t say there existed a noticeable path – but I’ve hiked it a lot and we did find a few blazes along the way.  By noon we were cresting over Mt. Guyot taking in the expansive view of Franconia Ridge and its surrounding peaks.  It was amazing – I just love this spot – it rewards on so many levels.

We were, however, a bit tired.  Crouching, crawling, and detouring takes a bit of energy from you.  We felt the effort of the day to this point.  A brief check in and we decided to call this our destination.  To carry on meant we would finish after sunset and neither Dave nor I had an appetite for night hiking so remote in the wilderness.  We were 99% confident were the sole hikers on the ridge this day and by turning back we could enjoy a more leisurely hike back to the hut.  We had to cut through all we did to get up here – we were going to work just as hard on the return trek.   Shortly after the noon hour we began the return trek.  We lunched at the bottom of Zealand Mountain, hydrated and made the short, but steep climb back up.  We tagged Zealand and carried on.  At Zealand I noticed someone with a dog had come by after we first passed, but we never encountered the hiker or the pup.  A little bit later a mother and daughter were hiking up to Zealand but that was it – no one else was on the ridge this day.  Turns out – they had followed the path Dave and I made going upstream to find a crossing.

I’m underestimating this hike just a bit.  I’m not giving up – I’ll try again – the Bonds in the winter are a robust achievement and I love a good challenge.  It’s pretty obvious to finish in daylight we have to start in the dark.  You can’t score daylight on both ends.  The next time I’ll be super disciplined, rise early, pray for blue sky, no rain and modest snowfall.  With a little luck – the path will have been cut and all I’ll have to do is whistle my way through the hike, lol.  It is winter – we get what we get – but I’m guessing I won’t be that lucky with trail conditions.

When we got back to the hut most of the evenings guests had arrived.  We were to be 32 this evening and it turned out to be raucous bunch.  A large group of 16 just happened to have a guitarist who strummed into the early evening hours.  His buddy – who had perhaps a drink or two too much – had found his singing voice.  We all had a good laugh.  David and I played board games with a sweet couple from Groton, MA.  They recently moved back from California and were rediscovering the White Mountains. We shared tales of outdoor adventures and backcountry experiences.  Dave and I were sacked out by 9pm – we were tired!  We enjoyed a meal of white wine, roasted chicken and vegetables with chocolate cream pie for desert – yum!

The next morning we had a simple breakfast and began packing up.  By 9am we were on the trail and by 11:30am we were back at the cars.  It was – a super sweet weekend.  A massive THANK YOU to Dave for joining this trek and putting his faith and trust in my leadership.  A trail by two is always more fun than by one and fun it was.  Pictures are by Dave and Rob.  My camera stopped recording photos shortly into the hike, turns out the internal memory was full and the memory card was in backwards.  Me and technology – enough said.

Happy trails gents – looking forward to the next trek!

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