The timing of this fell on a day that still holds a lot of sadness and meaning 20 years later, and we appreciated the "flags on the 48" remembrance.
Evan joined in for this adventure (he was there when we did our first of the 48 back in 2018, which was Jefferson. And this was going before we had any idea that there were "lists!")
The whole day began early and with several doses of absurdity. Somehow, in the car at 4AM Eric began to invent a mountain race called "hamboned hiking." If I remember correctly, the intent and purpose of this race was to get your blood alcohol level as high as possibly and to also get as high as possible on the said mountain before puking or passing out. (like I said- ridiculous!) At 4AM the thought of getting wasted made me want to puke (and heavy drinking is really not our thing. A beer, yes. wasted- I can't even remember the last time!) So: I would NOT win hamboned hiking.
THEN we got to the Zealand Trailhead and met Marlene. She was our shuttle driver to Lincoln woods and was LITERALLY everything we could have imagined. The weirdest part- we had talked about what sort of person she would be on the ride over. And somehow NAILED it. Off on the right foot!!
Anyway. It promised to be a gorgeous day and we set a brisk pace on the flats of Lincoln Woods.
It's a long walk to Bondcliff, but a nice walk with breaks between the steep areas, and plenty of beautiful woods too admire.
Bondcliff- and the Bonds in general rank very high on my list. Save them for a beautiful day, because they are truly stunning. Seeing the flags was special, and the views were astonishing.
We made short work between Bondcliff and Bond, even though it's a decent uphill grind. And then it felt like just a short walk (with a few downs and ups, and a big up the final ascent) to West Bond.
We took a few minutes to soak up the views and celebrate our 48th peak.
We were so happy that we saved these for last, there was something special about the solitude and the space that made for a unique experience.
Most people chose the Zealand-Bondcliff route, but we did it the other way for a very specific reason.
And that reason was to begin the list for a second time, on the same day.
It was. pretty hefty walk from West Bond to Zealand, traveling over Guyote which is an unlisted and underrated peak (views for MILES!!)
The trail was often very rocky (as trails often are in these parts.) Overall, it is a long and challenging hike, and also an awesome one to do on strong legs on a beautiful day. (I can pretty much 10/10 NOT recommend this one for weak legs or a gross day, haha.)
Finally, we made it to Zealand and celebrated A NEW START!!!!
We hiked briskly to the Zealand Hut to refill our waters, and once we got there I managed to fall down like a tree in front of about 50 people, Ellie decided to fight a dog, and it was basically a mess. And we were too tired to deal with it!!!
Somehow (don't ask me how) we managed too run a little on the pretty flat final few miles. We must have been in amazing shape.....
We celebrated the return to our car with some jet boil quesadillas and lots of recapping of an amazing day. We had some SUPER hikes in 2021- but this one was the top dog.
Stats:
Peaks: 4
Number 46,47,48/48 AND 1/48
Distance: 19.24 miles
Elevation: 4817
Fun level: 10
No comments:
Post a Comment