Loading…
21
Warning: a ranger in the Whites told me to skip the Bonds on my loop and I didn't listen
Two summers back I was planning a 4 day loop through the Pemigewasset Wilderness and a ranger at the Lincoln Woods trailhead looked at my route and said flat out that doing the Bonds as a side trip on day 2 would wreck me. I had 22 miles planned that day with a full pack and she said the stretch past Guyot back over West Bond is where people bonk. I figured she was being careful because of all the day hikers she deals with, and honestly I felt strong after doing Katahdin earlier that season. So I went anyway. Got to Bondcliff around 1pm, took the side trail out to West Bond, and by the time I was climbing back up toward Guyot my legs were toast. I ended up night hiking the last 4 miles down to the shelter with my headlamp and rolled in at 10:45pm, way past when I wanted to be eating dinner. The next day I was so beat I cut the whole loop short and bailed out via Lincoln Brook. Should I have just trusted the ranger's local read on that section, or do you all factor in your own fitness and push through anyway?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
the_lucas25d ago
Wait, the side trail to West Bond branches off from the summit of Bond, not from Bondcliff... unless you dropped down to the Bondcliff Trail and walked it over, which nobody does. Small thing but it changes the mileage math a bit. Either way though, yeah, that ranger knew what she was talking about.
3