Date: September 10th, 2016
Total Distance: 32.31 mi (via Trimble Outdoors Navigator Pro on iPhone 4S. This is maybe a 1/4 mile off as it froze a short distance before the bridge back to the Lincoln Woods Trailhead.)
Total Time: 13 hours 57 minutes (again off a bit to compensate for that 1/4 mile missing)
Total Elevation: 8716 ft gained Click for more details.
Well here is the big one ladies and gentlemen! It has all come down to this (well unless I ever decide to try the 24 hour and 50 mile hut-to-hut traverse)! The infamous Pemi Loop! The challenge is to complete the ride loop the essentially surrounds Owls Head in one day, which includes over 30 miles of hiking and eight 4000 footers. To make it more difficult there is only one hut to refill your water at and that is around the halfway point. Things like pack weight, not having enough water, my knee, the dreaded Garfield Ridge and the stair climb from hell up South Twin are all things that made me quite anxious. BishopX talked to me earlier in the summer about seriously wanting to attempt this and I agreed as long as we pulled off a Presidential Traverse first to make sure he was up for the endurance hike. He destroyed it, so we set our sights on the Pemi Loop!
Since it was the weekend after Labor Day and leaf peeping season has yet to start, we were able to get a really cheap (it had a bed that is all we needed) hotel room in Lincoln to avoid sleeping in our cars. 0315 came too quick. We got up and ready though and arrived at Lincoln Woods Trailhead around 0400. We were not the only ones hiking at this point as about a dozen cars also pulled in at this time. Though we only saw one other person all day doing the loop so maybe they were spotting a car for the a Bond traverse or something. Around 0420, with headlamps strapped to our heads we headed over the suspension bridge over the East Branch. We then jogged to the Osseo Trail junction. At that point we continued at a nice pace up to Osseo Trail. Hiking in the dark is interesting. The woods are generally open and you can see through a lot of the trees during the day, but at night you almost feel boxed in as you cannot see much past the beam of light coming off your headlamp. After some switchbacks and some terrifying ladders (they are not scary, but are the reason this trail is included on the Terrifying Twenty-Five), we arrived at the "downlook".
Looking towards the Bonds.
Looking into the Pemigewasset Wilderness (Owls Head is in the center).
Looking out towards Carrigain.
Once the sun started to rise, it did not take long for the sun to cut through the trees and by the time we were up the ladders my headlamp was off. By 0615 we were on our first peak, Mt. Flume.
Mt. Washington in the distance.
Undercast in the valley.
A short trip over to Mt. Liberty.
I like a good lens flare!
Looks like a nice day over on Mt. Washington.
The cliffs of Cannon.
Looking at the Franconia Ridge heading towards Mt. Lincoln.
BishopX making his way up Mt. Liberty.
The next part of the trail was new to me. I knew there was some distance before we would get to Little Haystack, but I did not realize how much of a drop there is. Thankfully, it was really quick and the drop was not that noticeable.
The Franconia Ridge heading towards Mt. Lincoln.
Looking back to Flume and Liberty.
Mt. Washington and the Presidentials.
Greenleaf Hut
Franconia Notch with an undercast in the valleys behind it.
Cannon Mt. summit and cafe.
Lonesome Lake Hut
A few minutes later we were on Mt. Lincoln.
Fresh roses on the summit cairn. Wish I knew why they were there.
Franconia Notch
The Kinsmans
The Twins and Bonds
The Franconia Ridge heading towards Mt. Lafayette.
Still looking good over on Mt. Washington.
Who is Lilly?
What is nice about this ridge is that it is very easy. About 15 minutes later we were at its northern terminus on Mt. Lafayette. We were also 1/3 of the way done with the hike and it had been just over four hours. The trail from Lincoln Woods to here was also relatively gentle. Rocks that were present on the trail felt overly weathered, but for the most part it was just hiking on dirt. Things change almost instantly when you leave this summit.
Summit markers
The classic photo!
Another classic photo.
Clouds engulfing the lower peaks fast.
The cliffs of Cannon are still visible to some extent...
Beautiful undercast!
...and Cannon is gone.
Owls Head
Galehead and the Twins
Garfield
Mt. Washington still looks good.
Old summit foundation.
Looking north.
A closer look at the trail ahead.
The Garfield Ridge Trail starts at the northern terminus of the Franconia Ridge Trail and the trail changes almost instantly. The footing turns into the standard White Mountain rocky type of trail. This part also has some significant ledges that you have to go down that I would imagine are quite nasty when wet. Today they were bone dry. After a hefty drop there is one up-and-down before you finally start climbing up Mt. Garfield.
Mt. Lafayette is now in the clouds.
South Twin Mt. is now in the clouds...dammit!
Galehead Hut
Continuing along the Garfield Ridge Trail, it just continues to get quite rough. There are two major up-and-downs and then a few minor ones before you make your climb up to Galehead Hut.
Look at this fun trail...
Galehead Hut
South Twin Mt. is back in the clear!
We were now halfway through with this beast, but had one of the hardest parts to go. The stair climb from hell up the Twinway. In only 0.8 miles we were to gain about 1200 ft of elevation. Just to kick you in the teeth a bit more, the trail makes a nice large descent before starting the climb.
Look at that fun descent! It hurts so much more knowing what is coming next.
About 3/4 of a mile of this...
The nice part about it only lasting for 0.8 miles, is that it does not take long to get to the summit.
That is the true summit of South Twin Mt.
Looking at what is left in our journey.
After this the trail gets flat, and what I mean is there is minimal elevation change until after the south summit of Mt. Guyot. It is still rather rocky at times too and once you arrive at the Bondcliff Trail the trail turns into a Presidential Range trail of just boulders.
South summit of Mt. Guyot.
After the south summit of Mt. Guyot, the trail dips back into the woods and passes the junctions for the Guyot Campsite and West Bond. We passed both of those and made our way to the summit of Mt. Bond.
The weather was getting kind of crappy at this point.
The Bondcliff Trail making its way to Bondcliff.
West Bond
One summit left to go! We scrambled off the summit of Mt. Bond to then climb the loose gravel Bondcliff Trail up to the summit of Bondcliff.
The cliff!
Weather is not looking too good.
Mt. Bond
BishopX climbing to the summit.
It is looking really dark over the Hancocks and Carrigain.
The Bondcliff summit
So as predicted, at 1500 rain started except it was not a light shower and more of a heavy rain. Instead of wasting time putting our rain gear we just motored into the trees where we were generally protected. The Bondcliff Trail then meanders back into Lincoln Woods. About 90 minutes later we finally got to the railroad grade where it stays flat until you reach the trailhead in about five additional miles. We thought about jogging, but were pretty beat so we just chatted and kept walking at a brisk pace.
The start of the railroad grade. This was a welcome sight.
Old logging junk.
14 hours and 31.6 miles later...we completed the Pemi Loop!
The mileage is approximately off by just over a mile (if you account for the missing 1/4 mile due to the app freezing). Trimble Outdoors is retiring their software and service so I will have to find a new tracker shortly.
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