Mt. Moriah (#12) November 13, 2010

Trail: Carter - Moriah

Total Distance: 9.0 miles Vertical Gain: 3400'


It was a brisk 30F at 7:30am as we got ready to hike at the trailhead. Call us silly, but we start off w/ hunter orange hats during hunting season. Never know, right? And, the hats put a smile on the day.

I had talked to 2 different people about this hike. The re-occurring themes were beautiful views and plenty of false summits. The trail starts off with a moderate grade for the first 1.5 miles.

The trail is easy to follow, and so are the hats!

The trail starts in Gorham, NH, and is NW of Moriah. The sun won't hit us for a little bit. Here it's starting to peek through the trees.

We came across this tree with many fungi shelves. Thought they were pretty cool.

Looks like the Starship Enterprise from the bottom.

After hiking about 1.5 hrs., we came upon this little island oasis of green. Seemed out of place, and very noticeable in its contrast with the bare trees and brown leaves.

2 hours into the hike, we hit some open ledges, which is a minor summit named Mt. Surprise. We couldn't decide if it was named for the views that hit you suddenly, or as you keep going to Moriah, each false summit you reach says "Surprise" to you when you realize that you're not there yet. So let the views begin. Here, looking L to R, are Mts. Washington, Clay, Jefferson, Adams, and Madison. The northern Presidentials.

And up ahead, we see a high knob. Is it the top of Moriah? When we get there, we see the answer is NO. But, more good views. You can tell by the pics that there's not a cloud in the sky. Temps have climbed into the upper 40s, and there's absolutely no wind. What a beautiful, rare hiking day for November. The northern Pressies, from higher up on the trail.

And looking NW past Gorham, NH towards the Pliny and Pilot ranges.

Time for a break and a snack. Not a bad seat in the house.

After a nice break, we continue on through the thickening woods.

Thomas spotted this weird circle etched into a rock, looking like an eye. After staring at it a bit, we decided it looked very much like the head of a dinosaur or bird.

A little further up the trail, we found a fallen tree whose base used to be across the trail. Literally picked up every piece of dirt off the trail, leaving only bedrock.

After another false summit or two, we came across a bog section approx. 50' or so long that had some very rough wooden bridges. They were old and rotted in most places. Even down to 1 broken piece in some places. Also, the bog had frozen around the logs. I'll let the video tell the rest of the story.

And for those without video capabilities, here's a still pic.

All in all, cold, wet, and squishy. But what are you going to do? Continue on, of course. And we can see (hopefully) the true summit through the trees.

Upwards we go, as we cross the snow line.

Again, each knob was approached from the north, so anything steep was shaded and cooler. Finally, no more false summits. Here's the short spur path to the top.

And we're here!! Already on top is a very nice fellow by the name of Bob, and his dog, Chelsea.

We made it at 11:30am, about 4 hours. Not the quickest of times, but a great day to enjoy a hike. On top, still no clouds, no wind, and the temps have climbed into the low 50s. Bob offers to take our picture. Absolutely, and Thank You.

We get a full 360 degrees of views. Here are a few of them.

We eat and rest for a half hour, then it's time to head down. We get more of the same awesome views going down, but decided to descend faster than we'd come up, with few stops. Made it down by 2:30pm, for a total trip time of 7 hours, counting lunch and breaks. Just a great day to be in the mountains, and couldn't ask for better weather for the time of year.

We saw the sun rise, and we saw the sun set as we rolled home for supper. The time change makes for early starts as it gets dark by 4-4:40pm in the woods. We're learning to plan accordingly.

Also, #12 for us means we are a quarter of the way through. Woo-Hoo!! Maybe we CAN finish this by Thomas's graduation in 2015.

One last note. It was nice to have daypacks on again after our hike of the Bonds a few weeks ago. But even going lighter, the mountains will always throw you a few curves.

'Til next time........................ PL

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Zealand (#8), West Bond (#9), Bond (#10), Bondcliff (#11) October 23-24, 2010

Trails: Zealand, Twinway, Bondcliff, West Bond Spur


Total Distance: 20.9 miles Vertical Gain: 5500'



Well, I knew this was going to be one big undertaking, so I enlisted the help of a friend of ours, Jack Shirley, to accompany Thomas and I on this trek. This trip was one that warranted having 3 people vs 2. We knew we'd be trying some big mileage, just didn't know we'd be getting full winter conditions up high. Planning to overnight, the packs grew by quite a bit, also. And away we go............

Here's Thomas and Jack as we're leaving the Zealand Falls trailhead at 8:50 am.



The opening 2.5 miles are relatively flat, as we see our first dusting of the year on one of the many bridges enroute to Zealand Falls Hut.

We are definitely feeling the weight on our backs as we arrive at Zealand Falls and the hut. Thomas, taking a break at the lower falls.

Now the real climbing begins. The Twinway gains roughly 1000' of vertical in 1.2 miles, plateauing out at Zeacliff. It was quite cool on Sat., with a stiff breeze all around.

Here's Thomas, looking every bit the mountain man.

And coming out on the point at Zeacliff.

The cliffs of Whitewall Mtn. with Mt. Willey behind them.

After taking a snack break, and donning traction aides, we continue up at a more moderate angletowards the top of Zealand Mtn. Finally, the spur sign.

We follow the trail to a little hollow with a small cairn. No views to admire, but #8 in the books at 1:30 pm. Summit pic for Thomas and I.

And Jack.

Continuing on, we drop sharply from Zealand and begin a gradual ascent to Mt. Guyot, an unofficial 4Ker. As we crest Guyot, we get hit with a wind like you read about. Our estimates were a constant 50 mph, and gusting to 60-70 mph. It was hard to keep your balance, and we were all blown off the trail a few times.But we were also struck by the beauty of being in the high alpine with full winter conditions in effect.

Looking NW towards South Twin Mtn.

And continuing towards the Bonds on the way to the Guyot campsite.

Once we made it to the cover of the trees, we basically put our heads down and bulled our way to the campsite. Arriving at 3:45pm, we were spent. It took us almost 7 hours to reach the shelter, and we were concerned about daylight remaining and the wind. After resting and discussing options, we decided to attempt West Bond.

From the shelter, it would be roughly a 2 mile out and back, without the weight of the big packs on our backs. Jack and I assembled 2 light packs, and the 3 of us headed out, feeling better after the rest. Just below the summit of West Bond, we start to get views through the treetops.

This is looking back at the summit snowfields of Guyot, with a very white Mt. Washington peeking through in the distance.

Thomas on the summit of West Bond.

Looking over to Bondcliff.

And Mt. Bond.

This gave us some perspective on what we were going to try in the morning. With that knowledge, we headed back to camp for a well deserved rest and some hot food. Yeah!

We made the shelter by 6pm, just as the sun was setting, and we were sharing the smallish shelter with 4 other people. While eating, we chatted for a while, but as darkness and cold settled in, we decided to, also.

Thomas, Jack, and I had the lower level, with the other 4 taking the upper level. Here we are getting nestled in.

One thing that made the night a bit more pleasant was a tarp the others had brought. We were able to (roughly) seal up the front of the open air shelter with said tarp, and the temp actually stayed steady in the 29-32F range most of the night. I must say I was proud of Thomas, who had never done any cold weather camping before. He said more than once, "This is so cool". We also had a mouse or two running around the shelter. They seemed to know the place better than we did.

All in all, we slept OK. I was cramping in my legs off and on, and Jack was cold most of the night. Thomas slept peacefully with a slight grin on his face. Go figure.

And night turns to morning. Sunrise at the Guyot campsite.

Our abobe for the night.

We packed up camp, and headed back up to the Bondcliff trail, where we dropped our big packs and again went with 2 light packs. Our plan was to summit Bond, and continue down to Bondcliff, where, after summiting, we would reverse direction and re-hike up Mt. Bond and down to the campsite spur.

Once on the trail, we noticed immediately that it was warmer than yesterday, with much less wind overall. Getting to Mt. Bond through the trees was a beautiful walk, and we were on top before we knew it. Thomas on Mt. Bond, with Mt. Washington in the background.

Thomas and I on top, with Bondcliff's rocky ridgeline in the background.

As we drop off the backside, we get a closer view of the ridge we have to traverse over.

I didn't spend a lot of time on pics between the summits. All of the Bond summits have spectacular views, so most pics are from there. Thomas on Bondcliff, with Franconia Ridge behind him.

Jack and I on Top. Who needs a shave more?

And now for the money shots!!! Thomas, with the scars of West Bond behind him.

And yours truly, with same.

With Bondcliff under our belts, we started back on the long journey home. Thomas caught Jack and I coming off the summit.

And Thomas, heading back up Mt. Bond.

We climbed up and over Mt. Bond again, and made it back to our big packs around 11:15am. Time for lunch. This little loop was roughly 4 miles and took 3 hours. Not fast, but savouring the views. Now it was time to load up and try to beat the 7 hours it took us to get to the shelter. We decided on the way back to take summit photos on Mt. Guyot. At 4580', it's high enough, but doesn't drop enough vertically before going up towards Bond. Hence, it's not on the list; an unofficial 4Ker.

Top of Guyot for Jack...

And Thomas.

From Guyot, we go back over Zealand Mtn. towards Zeacliff. On the way down, this rock formation struck us as very prehistoric looking.

Finally, we make it to the Zealand Falls Hut. Thomas taking a well deserved break on a bench.

From the hut, it's 2.5 flat miles back to the road. We're tired, hungry, thirsty, and oddly excited. I think this video says it all.

We made it down at 5pm. Campsite to lot was 5.5 hours, but it was 9 hours hiking for the day, same as yesterday.Let me state again how big a weekend it was. 21 miles, 18 hours of hiking, with 5500' of vertical gain. WWOOWW!!

So many thoughts on this hike.

I'm so proud of Thomas for doing this. There were alot of unknowns for him, and he carried a much bigger load than he was used to. We were all hurting at times, but chins were held high. He was a real trooper along with being a great hiker, and a great son!

A very big thank you to Jack Shirley for taking on the challenge and helping us out. Jack, we loved having you with us, and hope you can join us again.

The Bonds are one of the most remote spots in the White Mountains. There is no sign of civilization from any of the summits. You are looking at and into pure wilderness. Quite a feeling to be out there in it. I hope Thomas can look back on this trip as fondly as I do.

Thomas has asked to take a little break from hiking. Don't blame him as we're both sore after this. But the real reason is that winter is back in the mountains, and he'd rather spend his weekends snowboarding than hiking. (So would I. Skiing, that is. :-) He's promised he'll do more backcountry with me this winter, and maybe a day or two will be peaks on the list, like Moosilauke or Washington. Can't wait to see what we do next. "Til next time.................

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