October 29th was the day and the Bonds were the place to wrap up round 2 of the 48 4000 footers.
It was a fabulous day for so many reasons.
-PERFECT weather (yes, it was 27 at the start but it was well into the 60's for the majority of the hike, bluebird skies, and NOT a puff of wind!)
-Evan joined in
-We got to catch a ride with Marlene, who is a fucking legend
-We saw people dressed as those blue dudes from Avatar, and (upon seeing their costumes) we could not remember what a "loin cloth" was called, and the phrase "DICK SKIRT" was coined. We fell down laughing. Multiple times.
-Eric did not poke his eye out with a stick, but if he had, we questioned if he would be able to see, but with a different perspective. Kind of like a go pro, or selfie stick, but direct to your own brain. Since we are rational, this led to a fairly disgusting discussion of trailside first aid (Evan is an EMT)
-We had a Very Serious Competition with a couple of men in the last 5 miles of the hike. They thought they were going to beat us to the finish, and we could not allow that. So, this hike really was sponsored by Unnecessary Competitiveness: winning. at all costs.
So on to the nitty gritty.
We started from the Zealand trailhead around 7:20AM in brisk conditions. We had packed for cool weather because it was late October. While we did need our coats for the first few miles, they were then packed up, never to be seen or heard from again. But really, it was frosty for a hot minute. Basically until the Zealand hut.
We passed over Zealand just to say hello- since we started with Zealand back on September 11 of 2021 we did not technically need to summit, but we did anyway to check it off for October and for Fall season.
Once we reached Guyot we realized that it was going to be a summer day. Literally perfection. The trail was quiet, you could not have asked for a bluer sky, and the wind was ZERO. Incredible and amazing.
You just don't get perfect days like this too often. It was an amazing hike in every way from start to finish (although something in the leaves gave Ellie a terrible scare at one point- don't know what got her but she was pretty sad for a hot second.)
Other than that. Just a stunning and memorable time.
West Bond was gorgeous
Bond was pretty decent too.....
And then, just like that, we finished up on Bondcliffe. Really, one of the prettiest places out there.
Then, the long walk down.
1476598678 miles on Lincoln Woods trail is always a great way to finish!
Things got weird
BUT, eventually we finished and ate a whole bag of chips and a bunch of guacamole to recover. And we waited and watched our arch nemesis/people we HAD to beat, come in to the finish. Maybe someday we will just hike casually. Today was NOT THAT DAYYYYYY..
So we concluded Round 2 of the 48 much faster than round one. Just over a year, and we are pretty impressed with that considering that Ellie and I both had surgery within the last year. This hike obviously brought us to 48, and checked off all 4 peaks for October, and for Fall. It was an super time, possibly the best from this round.
Stats:
Miles: 19.25
Elevation: 4250
Fun: TEN, A SOLID TEN!!!!
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