Just One More ...

48!

Just one more peak to finish Monica's 4000'ers.  As most people near the end of their list they start evaluating the remaining mountains to choose the right one for the final peak.  The three remaining candidates for Monica were Carrigain, Cabot, and Isolation, and she chose Isolation for a few reasons.  I think being a long hike worked a bit against it, but it's much better than Cabot for the view, and the road walk for Carrigain (Sawyer River road was closed until this weekend) dampened that choice.  She's been working on the list for 2 years as she got the hiking bug just before we met.  Until we started hiking she didn't really know about the 4000'ers and this became a serious goal for her.  The past two summers we dedicated a chunk of time to knocking off mountains on the list, including some ambitious weekends.  She and her sister did a two night Presidential Traverse saying at Madison and Lakes last year, and this year we did a Bonds Traverse on a gorgeous day to pick off a bunch more, followed five days later by Owls Head.  As the summer ended and fall started we were determined to finish up this year.

Just one more mountain to finish my 3rd round of the 4000'ers.  For years I only needed two peaks to finish my 3rd round; Owlshead and Isolation. I hiked them the first time as part of my 4000'ers.  The second round I was accompanying others on their peaks and it was the same for the third round.  Well, that's not fair to Isolation, which has a fantastic view and is wonderfully remote.  Owlshead is just a too long walk in the woods to a cairn in the trees.  Sorry everyone who loves Owlshead, but it will never be a favorite of mine.  At this point, if I do Isolation and Owlshead again I think I'll complete my 4th round, but I think I'll stop counting at this point.

Just one more weekend dedicated to finishing the list. Hiking is a great joy for both of us, and the 4000'ers list is a great way to explore and track your accomplishments.  And it is a big accomplishment; it represents a commitment of time and energy over an extended time period to achieve an end.  There are (literally) high points and low points along the way; spectacular views and knee deep mud.  But with the end in sight it sometimes feels like a chore to knock off another peak on the list each weekend.  Fortunately there always seems to be at least one memorable view, animal sighting, conversation, or just mind clearing moment of Zen along the way.  Still, not having to plan your weekends around a list is extremely liberating and we're both looking forward to having no constraints.

Just one more day, the forecast on Saturday was for rain all afternoon.  I don't know if it really fell up there since we drove up that afternoon but the Sunday forecast looked good and we woke up to a beautiful sunrise in Jackson.  I'm not really good at delaying plans but I finished my first round of the 4000'ers on Isolation, alone and in the rain, and I didn't want Monica's finish to suffer a similar fate.  It would be colder on Sunday, but had the right gear and we could sense the start of Fall with some possible snow in the forecast for the next day.

Just one more mile from the junction of the Isolation (East) trail and the Davis Path to the summit.  We've been rock hopping, negotiating waterlogged trails, and leaping across stream crossings for 3.5 hours and the end is in sight.  It's a simple goal, but it also represents the end of a major goal and the two thoughts are intertwined.  Of course, the trail along the ridge is a muddy mess (how does this happen on a ridgetop?) and we navigate with care.  I knew that the sign to the summit spur trail was gone, but the two other signs remained on the Davis Path so finding the way wasn't difficult.  Just a few more steps and there we were!  Oops, the true summit is 20 feet further over the scrub; OK, now we're really there!


Just one more stream crossing, one more mile of mud, one more encounter with hikers headed in, one more stumble on a rock hidden under a pile of colorful fallen leaves.  After feeling a bit grumbly on the way in the return trip was surprising quick and painless.  Yes, it went on for a while but the rock hopping and mud were a minor inconvenience rather than the mind numbing chore we thought it would be.  Hiking out is always easier than the trip in and with the realization that this goal had been completed we started discussing other hiking goals, like a one day Presidential Traverse, backpacking the Adirondacks, some longer dayhikes next summer and the upcoming ski season.  But no new lists for a bit.

Just one more person accompanied me on this trip up Isolation than did on my first time; but if it's the right person one is enough.

Owl's Head dayhike

Another of the long hikes remaining for Monica's 48 was Owl's Head, the much maligned and often lamented walk in the woods.  We had just done a 20 miler 5 days ago but the weather was too good to pass up and, frankly, we were in a groove.  I was a bit worried about the blister on my heel, but I had run the day before and it survived so we decided to go for it.

Early morning start

Owl's Head, by the standard route, is 8 miles of flat, 1 mile up, 1 miles down, and 8 more miles of flat.  Unless you miss the turnoff to the slide path, but more on that later.  We left Boston early and managed to arrive at the trail head and get on the trail before 8:00 AM.  We decided to start off by running the Wilderness Trail and get some miles under our belt quickly.  After a few minutes finding the start of the Franconia Brook trail (don't ask) we alternated running/walking until we got to the Lincoln Brook trail junction.  Aside from a few muddy sections the footing was fine and the ground level.

On the slide

The Lincoln Brook trail isn't as easy to run so we hiked along at a good pace until we reached the first stream crossing.  It's the biggest one of the trip and we spend a good 15 minutes scouting out the best crossing point.  Even with that Monica slipped on a wet rock and got her shoes and socks wet.  We dried them as best we could and kept an eye on any potential blisters but it wasn't going to change our plans.  We ran into our first other hikers of the day, coming out from 13 Falls, as they were crossing the opposite direction by wading across.  The second crossing is short way away, and we made it across this one after another 15 minutes of searching but without significant incident.

On the summit

There are two more stream crossings along the way but they're a bit smaller so we didn't spend any time scouting those. After the 4th crossing the Owl's Head slide path takes off to the right, but we managed to walk right past it.  I got a feeling that we had done so but we wanted to make sure before reversing course so we went 25 minutes past the crossing before deciding to turn around and look again.  Sure enough we spotted the path easily on the way back and only lost 45 minutes or so.  Up we went, picking our path through the rocks and scree.  We got some nice view from the slide and tried to keep a steady pace while climbing.

The next step wasn't a good one

Once at the top of the slide followed the well worn but too long trail to the old summit, where a rock arrow pointed us to the new summit.  I'd never been there before, my previous two trips were to the old summit so this was new terrain for me.  There are several herd paths but they all generally lead to the right place.  We had a nice lunch of prosciutto and provolone wraps and a well earned apple and a bit of a rest before heading back down.  The slide wasn't bad on the way down, and we ran into a guy with two big loveable black labs heading up for the night.

Once down we filled up water at the first stream crossing and added iodine purifier.  The trip out was pretty uneventful except for me falling off a rock on the third crossing and getting a wet foot.  We both used our water shoes for the final crossing and the cold water on our feet and legs felt great.  From the Franconia Brook trail junction we ran most of the way, walking a few times but keeping up a good pace. The last 2 miles on the Wilderness trail always suck, but knowing there was a cold beer in the car waiting for us helped.  The trip took just under 10 hours, surprisingly a few minutes longer than the Bonds traverse but I think a lot of that was the water crossings.  Only 5 left for Monica's 48; only 1 left for my 3rd round.

Bonding

Monica is working on her 4000'ers and a Bonds traverse would give her 4 peaks in one big day hike.  We've been working on longer hikes and this trip is close to 20 miles so it would be a great test of our stamina and fitness. The forecast looked OK, with some possible thunderstorms in the afternoon that we'd have to look out for.  On the drive up Friday night we witnessed a car right in front of us veer off the left lane, hit the end of the guardrail, and explode in a fluffy of car parts before coming to halt on the shoulder.  As we approached the car to render aid a second car pulled up with an EMT and a nurse so we backed out and continued on our way as the police arrived.  Good way to start the weekend.

Tracy, Randy, and Quinn at Zealand Hut

Our plan was to get an early start so we could avoid the heat of the day for our climb.  We parked at the Zealand trailhead and were on the trail by 6:20 AM.  There was another group heading for the Bonds as well, and we quickly caught up with them and left them as we started to mix some easy jogging on the flat sections before the hut.  When we arrived we ran into Randy and Tracy (with Quinn) who were also headed for the Bonds.  Quinn was so happy to see us he followed us right into the hut, leading Randy where he wasn't headed.  Sorry about that. :)  We each drank two large glasses of water because water was going to be a concern all day and continued on.

Monica on Zeacliff

Up the Twinway towards Zeacliff in the cool of the morning.  We didn't see anyone  the whole way up, and had the views to ourselves.  I'd forgotten how flat the terrain is above the cliffs and we had some great discussions and enjoyed the quiet as well. Fairly quickly we found ourselves at the spur trail to Zealand, and then at the summit, our first of 4 for the day.  We took a break, had a snack, applied sunscreen, and got ready for the climb down and up to Guyot.  There were a few other hikers coming through now, either from the shelter or Galehead hut and it was beginning to get warm.

Crossing Guyot

At treeline by the summit of North Guyot we spotted a large group on South Guyot so we gave them a few minutes to pack up and move on.  They were a camp group that had stayed at Guyot Shelter and were headed for Ethan Pond, part of a large crowd (over 60 people) at the shelter/campsite Friday night.  We paused again briefly at the summit of South Guyot, pointed out our next destination of West Bond, and talked about whether we wanted to drop down to the water source.  We elected to conserve water and save the elevation and headed to West Bond.  We had the peak to ourselves again and took a well deserved rest.  The views were spectacular and the breeze felt great.  After a few minutes and some photos we headed back to the ridge.

Blueberries!

The trip up to Bond went quicker then we expected and we had another time to rest and take a bunch more photos of Bondcliff, and then the final push of the day.  The trip down to the col is the roughest rock of the trip, but the reward was lots and lots of blueberries along the way.  Monica went into summit fever mode and I followed along eventually, my hands stained blue.  After the full set of photos from Bondcliff we attempted to eat our very unappetizing lunch and failed.  We weren't very hungry but knew we needed some food so we ate what we could and finally packed up for the trip out.

The classic pose

From Bondcliff it's 9 miles out, mostly easy downhill and flat but 9 miles is still 9 miles.  There was no water at the first two stream crossings as expected, and we filled the extra bottle we had at the third crossing, but our purification tablets were the wrong ones that take 4 hours.  Oh well.  We ran the bottom of the Bondcliff trail, then started running out the Wilderness trail.  After the crossing at Franconia Brook Monica decided to run the rest of the way, I alternated walking and running due to a blister on my left heel.  About a mile remaining I ran out of water but grunted it out, arriving at the parking lot about 5 minutes behind Monica.

Running out on the Wilderness trail

After a wait for our car we hitched into Lincoln and grabbed a booth at the Common Man for beer, bad food, and good company.  It was a big successful day, setting the tone for future big trips.