Owl's Head, South Twin, Bond, and Bondcliff Loop

Date of Hike: 8/28/09

Lincoln Woods/Wilderness Trail: 2.9 miles
Franconia Brook Trail: 1.7 miles
Lincoln Brook Trail: 3.4 miles
Owl's Head Path: 1.2 miles
Bushwhack (West and North West) to Lincoln Brook Trail: 1.0 miles
Lincoln Brook Trail: 2.5 miles
Twin Brook Trail: 2.7 miles
Twinway: 2.8 miles
Bondcliff Trail: 6.9 miles
Lincoln Woods/Wilderness Trail: 4.7 miles
Total Miles: Around 29.8 (6,700 elevation gain)

Trip Report:
- Overnight at Lincoln Woods, solo hike, on trail at 5:15am finished 6:15pm
- Weather was around 45 degrees in the morning and warmed up to lows 60's the rest of the day
- Clear skies, unlimited awesome views, no wind, no bugs!
- Saw trail runner on Lincoln Woods trail at 5:45 am, and only two other people until Galehead Hut
- Headlamp died out 30 minutes into hike, new batteries were in it to, time for a new headlamp!
- All Lincoln Brook Trail crossings were easy, Owl's Head Path has a cairn on Lincoln Woods trail for now
- Moose carcass all but gone, just a few bones remaining, a few clumps of fur, very faint smell lingers
- Bushwhacked down from Owl's Head summit to rejoin Lincoln Brook trail. Bushwhack was somewhat dense in places at first but opened up with lots of tall evergreen trees and lots of smaller rotted trees that would fall over very easily. Avoided all booby traps! (mossy covered holes between rocks and hidden overturned old tree trunks)
- last 2.5 miles of Lincoln Brook trail was a wet mess with boot-sucking mud in lots of places
- Met AT through-hiker at Galehead Hut who was hiking with his dog. He had been off the trail for the past 8 days in Lincoln because he has Lyme disease. Gave him some "trail magic"
- Forgot to fill up my camel pack with water at hut
- View from South Twin Summit is one of the best views in all of the White Mountains
- On the Twinway I ran into a playful family of grouse's hanging around on the trail
- Ran out of water about a half mile before West Bond Spur
- Walk from Mount Bond summit down to Bondcliff summit ranks right up their with some of the best
- Ran out of Gatorade on Bondcliff Summit, hiked last 9.1 miles without hydration, no big deal because it was downhill and flat the rest of the way
- At the Bondcliff Lincoln Woods/Wilderness Trail junction I walked around in the woods a little bit looking at some of the railroad pieces, most of it isn't appealing to look at as it's basically all rusted old pieces of metal, buckets, cans, RR scraps, etc etc.  Maybe next time I'll take some of these awesome "souvenirs" home with me...I kid I kid!
- Last 2.6 miles on Lincoln Woods/Wilderness Trail was a battle of the wills
- Only stubbed my toes 4 times on the old railroad ties hiking back on LW/W trail!

Pictures: Click here to view all pictures

View of Franconia Ridge from Owl's Head SlideGalehead, Garfield, and Mount Lafayette from Twinway Presidential Range from South Twin SummitOwl's Head and Fraconia Ridge Hiking down from Mount Bond to Bondcliff

Video:

Grouse Family having some fun on the Twinway!

Great Gulf Wilderness/Mount Washington/Mount Isolation Loop

Date of Hike: 8/16/09

Old Jackson Road: 1.9 miles
Madison Gulf Trail: 2.1 miles
Great Gulf Trail: 5.0 miles
Tuckerman Ravine Trail: .6 miles
Lawn Cutoff: .4 miles
Davis Path (Isolation and back to Glen Boulder): 6.9 miles
Glen Boulder Trail: 2.8 miles
Direttissma: 1.0 miles
Total Miles: 20.7 (6,900 elevation gain)

Trip Report:
- Solo hike, overnight at PNVC, left RI at 8:15pm arrived at 12am
- On trail at 6am finished at 4:15pm
- Sunny, humid, no wind, temps 70-80 degrees, excellent views
- Spooked by fast moving WMNF ranger on Great Gulf Trail, he was on his way to Six Husbands Trail to check on a campfire report
- Spaulding Lake was alot smaller and unimpressive than what I thought it would be
- Trail work recently done on Great Gulf trail from Sphinx Trail junction. All fern branches have been clipped back to no longer hang over trail.
- Lost yellow trail blazers last .5 on Great Gulf headwall, they just seemed to disappear, plus no cairns to be found anywhere as well. ended up coming up over the headwall .10 miles to the left of trail.
- Walked along and on tracks last .5 mile to summit
- Lawn cutoff and Davis Path to treeline going toward Mount Isolation is picturesque
- Mount Isolation is really out in the middle of nowhere
- Glenn Boulder trail looking into the Gulf of Slides is pretty awesome and the Glenn Boulder is pretty cool itself!

Pictures: Click here to view all pictures

Hiking on the Great Gulf Trail

Mount Washington from Davis Path Davis Path near Boot Spur Trail
Mount Isolation Summit

Glen Boulder

One Day Presidential Range Traverse (South to North)

Date of Hike: 8/8/09

Webster-Jackson Trail: 2.4 miles
Webster Cliff Trail: 4.1 miles
Crawford Path: 1.2 miles
Mount Eisenhower Loop: .8 miles
Crawford Path: 1.4 miles
Mount Monroe Loop: .7 miles
Crawford Path: 1.7 miles
Gulfside Trail: 1.1 miles
Mount Clay Loop: 1.2 miles
Gulfside Trail: .7 miles
Mount Jefferson Loop: .8 miles
Gulfside Trail: .9 miles
Israel Ridge Path/Lowe's Path: .4 miles
Airline Trail: .6 miles
Gulfside Trail: .4 miles
Osgood Trail: .5 miles
Watson Path: 1.5 miles
The Brookside: 1.7 miles
Valley Way: .9 miles
Total Miles: Around 23 miles (Whole lotta elevation gain!!)

Trip Report:
- Solo hike, Started at 5am finished at 6pm (13 hours). Dad dropped me off at Webster-Jackson Trail and picked me up at Appalachia, thanks old man!
- Incredible day, 45-65 degrees, 20-45 mph wind, clear skies, fantastic views
- Summited Mount Washington just after 11am, had some lunch, relaxed, back on trail at noon
- Ran into a group doing one day traverse in opposite direction around 1:30 between Mount Clay and Mount Jefferson. They started at 5am from Appalachia parking area.
- Met AT through-hiker coming up Watson Path who took a wrong turn at Mount Madison summit. Got out my map and showed him where to go (Osgood Trail). He was going to the Osgood tent site for the night.
- Much more enjoyable than last years traverse because of the views, plus only the last 3 miles is below treeline compared to the majority of the last 6.5 miles going south.

Pictures: Click here to view all pictures

Heading North on the Crawford Path

Mount Monroe and Mount Washington
Lakes of the Clouds Hut and Mount Monroe
Great Gulf Wilderness and Northern Presidential Range
Cog crawling up to the summit

On the Gulfside Trail

Star Lake and Mount Madison from Adams Summit

Video:

365 degree view from Mount Eisenhower