Dates: 12/1 - 12/2/2012
Trails: North Twin Trail, North Twin Spur, Twinway, Boncliff Trail, West Bond Spur, Lend-a-Hand Trail, Bushwack via Old Fire Warden's Trail
Companions: Ted and Sonsie
The Hike:
We had been planning a Bonds trip, w/ a couple variations still up in the air, for some time. Even though the summit forecast was for minimal views, we weren't excited about plan b (Waumbek/Cabot) so we stuck with the Bonds.
Day 1 (8.6 mi; 7:00) - Hit the trail around 8:15 am on Saturday, an hour+ after we had planned because our watch alarm failed us. Glad to see that Haystack Rd. was still open, albeit sketchy. Blazed up North Twin Trail w/o incident. Three main river crossings were technical but relatively easily passable, even for Sonsie.
A few inches of snow along the way making it a tough call about whether to throw on micros or not - eventually when North Twin got nasty we threw them on to help with the slipping. I always worry about damaging them on rocks and I'm sure it's not good for them, but man those things don't seem to show wear no matter what I step on.
Made it to North Twin in 3:35 (0:10 under book) - views were non-existent. Still lightly snowing the whole time. Passed back and forth with a few other groups along the way. Made it on to South Twin and lost a lot to book times because of a few snack stops. Again no views at the summit.
Shortly after South Twin had a little scramble down a rock ledge that another couple with a dog had turned around at, and progressed to Twinway w/o incident. Took off the micros on Twinway when rocks became bare because the wind was blowing away all the snow and kept them off all the way to Guyot. Got to Guyot spur around 3:15 and decided to camp there rather than use the twin sisters tent we'd brought. Had planned to hit the Bonds that day but w/ the late start, stops after North Twin, and devastating hike back up Guyot Spur, we decided to leave it for Sunday. A couple small blowdowns during the day and one that is making a tent platform at Guyot unusable.
Had Guyot all to ourselves. Big morale boost to have running water. Always love the personal touches shelters develop over the years, like the chairs, hooks, knobs, etc. Attempted trail pizza from Backpacker Magazine recipe and it didn't come out like a traditional pizza but we were starving and it was tasty enough.
Day 2 (14 mi; 10:00) - Alarm failed us again on Sunday so we didn't hit the trail until 8, at least an hour after our planned start time. Snow was warm and stick and/or crusty. Ditched our packs at the top of Guyot (hiking up that spur was a miserable way to start the day) and tagged all three Bonds w/o incident in about 10 min under book time. Again no views. This was our first time at the Bonds so I took a pic out on Bondcliff. Not a question of whether that thing is going to fall - only a question of when. Yeesh.
Headed on over to Zealand (my second time tagging it) and Zeacliff where, at last, the clouds cleared for a great view of Zealand Notch and Whitewall. Unfortunately also got a great view of Hale which we were about to climb, which looked must worse in person than the map's topo lines suggested. Knew time and sunlight were precious so we kept moving, not bothering to see the pond.
Heading up and up and up Hale eventually I sped off ahead to assure I could get to the peak with some sunlight to assess the bushwack situation. Massive stroke of luck, there were already tracks from earlier in the day for us to follow (though the trail itself is nice enough I wouldn't even call it a bushwack. That said, w/ the sun setting/gone, staying on the trail would have been a challenge w/o tracks to follow. As we hiked, snow turned more and more to slush and then to dirt so we took off the micros quickly, then w/ lower elevation and more rain falling the tracks began to dwindle until I lost the fire trail briefly just before we linked back up w/ North Twin Trail. Also lost that trail briefly at what we thought was another river crossing where I slipped and dunked both my boots (not that it mattered - they were soaked from the rain anyways). Finally made it back to the car at 6 pm (1:40 from summit of Hale to the car). Beast of a day.
What I Didn't Bring But Wish I Did: Poncho
What I Brought But Didn't Need: Chair
Lesson Learned: Never schedule a bushwack for late in the day
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