The “Dynamic Duo”, a.k.a. Dan Ferreira and Amber Ferreira-Cullen, graciously agreed to join me for Day 2 of this trip which was scheduled to include Zealand Mountain as well as the eastern half of the Pemi Loop - 25 miles and 8 four thousand footers in total. In my mind, it was an “easy run” kind of day compared to the 35 miles I had done the day before and the 18,000 feet of elevation (gain & loss) I’d be doing the following day on the Presi-Traverse! Unfortunately, with the unusually warm weather, the day turned out to be anything but easy!
The best panorama of the day came just after cresting Guyot and arriving at the Bondcliff Trail.The weather was just gorgeous and the visibility was nearly 80 miles! But, it was really starting to heat up. The run into and out of Bondcliff was incredible and the 360 degree views from West Bond were totally sweet! It was my first time to either one of those two summits without fog messing them up! Just about the time we “re-summitted” Mount Bond, Amber let us know she was already out of water. Uh-Oh!
After “lunch”, Amber decided to chill (literally) on the top of South Twin (before eventually heading down to Galehead Hut) as Danny and I made a bee-line to its northern sibling. The 1.3 mile out and back to North Twin with Danny was super-quick (at around 22 minutes each way) and the .8 mile harrowing decent from South Twin to the Hut took us just 20 minutes. We were flying! I guess Snickers really does satisfy!
Danny and Amber both decided to “sit-out” the Galehead
summit trip – a trip which was a complete waste of time, as usual. You see,
Galehead, while being pretty easy to reach from the hut, has absolutely no
redeeming qualities whatsoever. At 4024 feet high, it barely qualifies for the
4k club. And its summit is completely treed, so the only way you know you’ve
reached the top is when you trip over the pile of rocks in the middle of the
woods. Nice! If there was any justice in this world, Mount Clay
(5333 feet high with phenomenal views of the Presi Ridge) would be on the 4k
list and mountains like Galehead would be booted off!
Anyway, just after Galehead, “Dan-ber” and I parted ways as they headed down the Gale River Trail and I headed up, and down, and up and down the Garfield Ridge Trail. Along the way I ran into a group of teens being lead by a tired and cranky older gentleman who gruffly demanded to know how far it was to the Hut. I reacted the way I usually do when I’m tired, by replying “I dunno” how fast can you hike”? I don’t think he liked my answer too much.
Anyway, just after Galehead, “Dan-ber” and I parted ways as they headed down the Gale River Trail and I headed up, and down, and up and down the Garfield Ridge Trail. Along the way I ran into a group of teens being lead by a tired and cranky older gentleman who gruffly demanded to know how far it was to the Hut. I reacted the way I usually do when I’m tired, by replying “I dunno” how fast can you hike”? I don’t think he liked my answer too much.
Anyway, the hike up to Garfield was tough, as usual. But the run out on the Garfield Trail was nice. LONG, but nice. After finishing, we met up and drove back to Danny’s car at Zealand Road and by the end of the trip, I was feeling nauseous AND hungry at the same time. Unfortunately, the pizza and french-fries I inhaled for dinner later on didn’t help the situation much. In the end it didn’t matter, as I was asleep by 9:00pm, with my 3:00am Presi wake-up call looming the next day!
The totals for the Day 2 ended up being about 25.5 miles in
9 ¾ hours. So, despite the heat we still averaged 2.6 miles per hour. It was awesome
having Dan and Amber’s company for this trip as we must have averaged at least
2.6 laughs per mile - throughout what turned out to be a great day on the
trail. However, the word of the day was “Chaffing”.
Note to Self: For the love of God, wear bike shorts next time!
Note to Self: For the love of God, wear bike shorts next time!
Haha! Laughs per mile! That IS how we should always measure hikes
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