Glastonbury Mountain, Vermont

Wow what a great hike. Perfect weather and full moon. The leaves were incredible. It was the first week in October and absolutely amazing! We set out from The Gathering and hit the trail at a good time of day. We saw the extensive damage from Irene, but I gotta give it up to the Trail Crews. The trail was in great condition. The climb up was great. Saw a few hikers, including the guy that shared Goddard Shelter with us in 2008.
Glastonbury 2010- Post ALDHA Gathering

The Gathering, Mt Greylock

Sunset from the tower

It was just an awesome weekend. The leaves were peaking and it was really warm. Spent time with awesome friends and met new ones. We saw some of the devastation to the area at the hands of Hurricane Irene and this area and north just got it so hard. The cleanup was going really well and a lot of reroutes on the rivers away from house. So many people got stranded because of all of the bridges getting wiped out. Will take Vermont a little while but if they can handle the winters like they have gotten the past few years, they can handle this.

Franconia Ridge Trail October 4, 2011

So I went through and found some of my better pictures of the past hikes in fall. Just before the ALDHA Gathering in Williamstown, Mass, I went up on Franconia for a long day hike. Made really good time going up the ridge but once I got above treeline, it was slow moving. High winds and really cold temps made for some brutal wind chill. The climb up Lafayette was hard and kicked my ass. The view north was tempting for about a second. Getting to the hut was a relief but a little later than I wanted so I had to push hard on the gradual downhill of Old Bridle Path, but the trail was awesome so I stopped a lot. Going going at a pretty good pace once in the woods, was almost at a jog in spots. The leaves were as beautiful as I have ever seen up here. Not as nice as Maine and Vermont but the hike we went on in Vermont a couple of days later was pretty magical. That comes later. Enjoy these pictures- Franconia Ridge, NH 2011

Mt Liberty, White Mountains, New Hampshire

Bondcliffs Part 2, September 2011

Went back to the Bondcliffs in mid September with my brother in law. A cold front came through and dipped the temperatures. It was a few weeks after the devastation of Hurricane Irene. This area got hit hard, knocking out some bridges and washing out some of the trail. We went to the AMC office in Lincoln to get up to date trail info and were given the go ahead that the trail was passable. We started out from Lincoln Woods Trailhead and had to deal with a little sludgy trail conditions. By the time we hit he Bondcliff Trail, it was getting cooler and the sun was peaking out a little. When we reached about the halfway point, it started to sleet. What was really cool was on our way up Bondcliff, we met a female hiker that was coming down Bondcliffs after finishing her 48 4000 footers in The Whites. It was cool seeing someone complete it. The rest of the climb was much easier than it had been a couple of months earlier in the 90 degree heat. When we came out above treelike, we could see snow and ice on Franconia Ridge and Mt Washington. Rime Ice was on the alpine trees around us and it was really cold. The winds hit 50-60 mph along the ridge. The rest of the hike to Guyot was pretty tough with the wind. We got to Guyot and set up camp on the same tent pad Wak and I had set up previously. We crashed early and slept through the night, even though the caretaker had warned their were bears in the area. We headed out in cool temps in the morning and had some ice on the rocks around the Guyot/ Twinway intersection. The ridge over to South Twin was awesome. Moose tracks were everywhere and we tracked one for a couple of miles that seemed to be walking north on the trail. We got to the top of South Twin and spent some time on top the crowded summit. We hung out at Galehead before heading down the Franconia Brook Trail to Lincoln Woods Trail and finished the hike earlier than we had wanted but the weather was going to go downhill. Great hike, much better in the cooler temps. The air was really clear from the ridge tops.

I had bought a new Sea to Summit Rain Cover and was hoping to get to use it. I used it on the ridge because of the high winds and blowing snow and ice. I eventually had to take it off because when we went over the ridge to Mt Bond, the winds peaked out at about 50-60 mph. I was using my Double Rainbow as cold I had ever used it and it went fine. It got down into the 20's. There was very little condensation left on the inside, nothing a shammy couldn't take care of. Great trip. Way too short.
The Bonds September 2011

Sean and Chaco

Bondcliff, Garfield in back

Mt Monadnock, New Hampshire

Labor Day on Monadnock

View of a crowded summit

Wak looking at the summit

Rock Climber

Crowded summit

Summit of Monadnock

Chaco Taco at the summit

Wakapak on the summit

The Bondcliffs

Bondcliffs, White Mountains, New Hampshire July 2011
Oh the Boncliffs. Our first trip up the Bonds in July was met with extreme heat. It was beautiful but really hard on the both of us. We left early out of Lincoln Woods and there was a warm wind blowing through and it just felt gross. We hit the long flat Lincoln Woods Trail and saw a bear in the ravine at the Franconia Falls Bridge. The climb was long and hard and we were out in a blaring sun. The views were awesome. The climb up Mt Bond was hot and we were exposed so it just drained our tanks. We bagged West Bind on our way down to Guyot where it was nice and cool. The tent site is really nice with great tent pads. We slept good and went back out to Guyot and had an overcast sky. The sun came out as we sumitted South Twin. There was a group of Thruhikers on top. The climb down to Galehead was good and we decided to take the Franconia Falls Trail back to the car. We were hot and tired. We got down to 13 Falls and thought about staying. It was nice and a little bit of a swimming hole. We decided to head back to the car and get out of the sun. Overall a great trip. The heat was intense, even for a southerner.

A lot farther than you would think

Wakapak Lincoln Woods Trail

Alpine Zone up Bondcliff

Franconia Ridge from Bondcliff

Above Treeline

Wak with Washington in distance

Bondcliffs, West Bond in distance

Bondcliffs

Team Chacopak

Bondcliffs 

The Ridge

Back up 

Guyot Tentsite

CHEEEEESE!

Bondcliffs from West Bond

Bondcliff Trail from West Bond

West Bond

West Bond, Bondcliffs in back

Guyot in back, West Bond

Sun going down over the Ridge

Fr 

Mt Guyot

South Twin

Twinway

Mt Garfield

South Twin Franconia in back

Presidentials in back

South Twins, Thruhikers

North Twin

Mt Garfield

Add caption

Galehead Hut

Galehead

13 Falls

Great Hike