Rocks on Top

Date of Hike: Sat. Feb 6

Trails: Lincoln Woods/Wilderness Trail, Bondcliff, West Bond Spur

Trail Conditions: All trails in pretty desent shape, Bondcliff trail is broken and snowshoes are best up to Bondcliff summit and from Bond over to West Bond, microspikes between Bondcliff to just below Bond

Trip Report: Pics can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/cdailey7779/BondcliffBondWestBondFeb2010#

I originally thought about doing a Pemi Loop but hiking solo and not being 100% sure if the trails were broken between Liberty and Little Haystack and Lafayette and Garfield I played it safe and decided hike the Bonds.

I left RI at 3:30am and was on trail at 6:30 am and started the long flat walk on the LW/W trail to Bondcliff. Usually I heat up pretty fast and am never chilled but since there's no going up for the first 5 miles I was a little cold and I noticed that whenever I blinked my eyes wanted to freeze shut which was a pretty funny feeling. Luckily the hike to Boncliff trail went by fast and before long I was all warmed up when the real hiking started.

The hike up to Bondcliff summit went pretty quickly and right before that little rock scramble part I ran into a group of three doing a Bonds-Zealand traverse. One of my favorite places in the white mountains is climbing up that rock scramble part and being rewarded for hiking to one of the remotest spots with unbelievable views and Saturday was a great day for views. Looking into the Pemi Wilderness with Owl's head with Franconia Ridge and Garfield Ridge always looks pretty awesome especially in the winter.

There was very little wind early in the day which made the hike above treeline from Bondcliff to Bond really enjoyable. I next bumped into a group of eight that had spent the night at the Guyot campsite, they had actually hiked into Guyot at night and braved 70mph winds which must have been pretty challenging and fun!

Hiking over from Bond to West Bond went by fast eventhough the trail was pretty choppy but my snowshoes held up pretty good. I made it to West Bond summit at noon, the wind was starting to pick up so I got out of the wind as best as I could refueled with a tasty lunch and enjoyed the awesome views of Bondcliff Ridge with the Hancocks and Carrigain to my left, the Pemi Wilderness in front of me, and the Twinway behind me and to my right.

Now it was time for the Long hike back to Lincoln Woods which from West Bond back to Bondcliff I didn't mind. The hike from Mount Bond summit back to Bondcliff summit is one of my favorite stretches of hiking I couldn't have had a better day to enjoy it.

However, for me once I get below the ledges of Bondcliff and the views go away it becomes a battle of the wills! I just want to get back to the car and after a fast descent to the LW/W trail that feeling of 5 more miles to go is exhausting. I will say in the winter with the snow cover you don't have to worry about stubbing your toes a bazillion times on the RR ties which is comforting. The long boring walk did have some highlights, I caught up to the group of eight from Guyot, came across two guys pulling a sled of gear who were going to set up camp along the Bondcliff trail, and I ran into a lady (Miriam) who was with her giant Poodle dog who was wearing booty's and a sweater and was very hyper, very friendly, and loving every second of his walk! Miriam was meeting up with her husband who was doing a Pemi Loop!

All in All it was a great day to tackle the Bonds!

Love the Bonds, thanks for sharing. I finished my winter 48 there last year, very special place.

The Bonds are great! Looks like you had a wonderful day to enjoy them! Congrats.

I can only think of a few other places in the Whites that might compare to a day in the Pemi, on the Bonds.
It's truely an awesome place, so near home. Glad you had a great winter day for views Chris.

Nice job scaling 5 peaks in one day!