The weather continued gray and occasionally drizzly. As we got closer to treeline, little gusts of wind came and went with increasing intensity. Probably pretty blustery up above treeline!
After performing several broad switchbacks and contours, the trail finally gained the crest of Bondcliff's ridge, and headed north. At a distinctive 10-foot blocky scramble, the trail climbs out of the trees and into a patch of low Krummholz (aka 'cripplebrush' around the NE). A stiff wind was blowing, and we were greeted to a blank gray-white slate of clouds. Aggh.. my worst fears realized!
Next to THE Bondcliff
The low vegetation quickly gave way to full alpine terrain. The wind, too, became fully alpine, rapidly increasing to gusts approaching what felt like 40 to 50 mph (80km/hr). Classic high-terrain weather in the Whites!
Bondcliff Cliffs
I knew that the 'big cliffs' of Bondcliffs were on our left, so I edged over that way, looking for the edge. There wasn't much to see, but I took a few photos down the cliffs - something quite difficult to do with near hurricane winds blasting up them from below!
Bondcliff's Windy Ridge
We made our way along the alpine terrain along Bondcliff's summit ridge, with the wind getting even stronger along the way. It made walking an awkward, difficult affair, sometimes half-bowling us over. The fact that I had twisted my ankle just a few hours before didn't help this situation much, and it took much care to ensure that I didn't get jostled around into a situation where it could get further injured.
Lost to the mists
There's a very scenic picture in many New Hampshire hiking guides of the White Mountains, and that picture is of a hiker on a rugged square block of granite, high above cliffs and with a forested valley far below. I'd known for some time that this was a spot on the edge of Bondcliff's ridge, and even though visibility was very limited and a 60+ mph wind was blowing sideways, I recognized the spot straight away when I came upon it. Knowing I wasn't going to get that classic shot today, I fought against the wind anyway and went near the block, just so I could say I'd been there. I couldn't bring myself to stand on the actual block in the midst of the crazy wind, since getting blown off of it may have resulted in an unpleasantly quick trip down to the rocky gullies below. From a distance, Luc took a picture of me with his camera, but I imagine I'm not much more than a vague outline against a white backdrop.
Mountain Ash Twig
It was clear that the clouds or the wind were not going to go away any time soon, and we had a schedule to follow, so we continued on north, headed towards our next peak, Mount Bond. The trail descended a bit from Bondcliff's summit, still fully in the open, until we reached the low point between it and Mt Bond, and the trail re-entered head-height conifers. We then started our ascent of Mt Bond.
Mt Bond
Ewart was having a bit of an energy crash as we ascended Mount Bond, and our pace slowed down considerably. Also of note was the trail itself -- this section that ascends the southern aspect of Mt Bond is an awkward mish-mash of angular boulders; quite tiresome. I was glad when we finally reached the little open clearing that marked Mount Bond's summit. Oh, and still no views.
Misty, Mossy Woods
After Ewart caught up, we continued on, now heading down towards the saddle between Mount Bond and Guyot. This was the location of the Guyot Campsite, and our destination for the night. According to other hikers we'd met coming the other way, the Guyot Campsite's tent platforms were already filling up fast (it was only 1pm or so), and so we felt it best to quicken our step a bit. We didn't know what would happen if/when the tent platforms were all gone.
Rough Trail
Our final objective for the day was West Bond. Strickly speaking, this peak is not directly along our south-to-north route, being about 800 yards (meters) or so to the west on a short side trail. Ewart volunteered to skip the peak and go ahead to 'reserve' our camp spot, and Jenn, myself and Luc headed off west on the side-trail to West Bond.
The trail over to West Bond was in pretty decent shape, and not too rough. Definitely in better shape than the Bondcliff trail before and after Mt Bond's summit. The summit of West Bond is a surprisingly nice little place: a steeply-sided open rocky perch. The big downside today was the continuing bad weather, which offered us another zero-view summit. So far, 0-for-3! Still, I had now done all of the Bonds, and I now had three more NE 111ers under my belt.
West Bond Summit
With nothing to see, we did not stay long, and soon we were back at the junction with the Bondcliff trail. A short walk downhill and we encountered Ewart just off the trail in a flat camping area (one of Guyot Campsite's overflow areas, apparently). His tent was already set up, as were the nearby tents of a few other backpackers. According to them, all of the tent platforms down at the 'real' Guyot Campsite were now taken.
A sign next to the trail stated that we had to register with the Guyot camp caretaker before using the overflow camp spots, something we found out Ewart had not done (apparently he hadn't noticed the sign). So, in order to avoid the possibility of getting shut out of using these overflow sites, I dropped my pack and started down towards the main camp site.
Getting to and from the 'real' Guyot Campsite is a bit of a chore, since it is off the main Bondcliff trail and down about 250 feet of elevation on a rough trail. I hiked down there, eventually running into the camp caretaker. Most unhappily, she stated that she wanted all of our group to come down here, and she would squeeze us onto already occupied tent platforms. Ugh... that would mean climbing all the way back up to the overflow site, where some of our tents had already been set up, tell everyone the bad news and that they had to collapse the tents and come down here. Plus I knew Ewart - he had been feeling extra tired and crappy since Bondcliff, he'd already set up and disappeared into this tent - I knew I wasn't going to be able to convince him to pack up and come down here. A big, grumpy tired Welshman is not an easy thing to move.
My feeble attempts at reasoning with the caretaker didn't work, so I resigned myself to it and started the trudge back up.
An Early Dinner
Once back at the overflow campspot, the inevitable debate began. There was no way in hell Ewart was moving, and Jenn had her own ideas. We argued back and forth for a while until finally Jenn decided she was going to go down and talk to the caretaker herself. At that moment, the caretaker herself showed up to assess the state of the overflow spots, sparing Jenn a trip down.
Fortunately, after an extended period of jockeying back and forth, we managed to get the caretaker to agree to let us stay here at the overflow campspot. After all, I reasoned, it looked as if many more hikers would soon arrive and fill up any spots you might have available down below, so what would be the difference if we were here or there?
In all, I was pretty annoyed with the whole state of affairs at this Campsite. It obviously regularly gets way overcrowded, and with no other backcountry campsites within a 10 km (6 mi) radius, it is clear why. The arrangement of having the campsite way down off the main trail with the overflow sites on the main trail is awkward in the extreme, especially since you aren't supposed to set up your camp until you register and pay $8 per person. My own conclusion is that the folks who manage this Pemi Wilderness should either allow a few more backcountry campsites elsewhere to relieve the pressure, or start limiting access to this wilderness. Make your pick, I say.
With the whole campsite thing finally settled, we retired into our tents for a brief rest. And, of course, now that we had settled in, what happened in the sky above? well, clearing and sunshine, of course! what else? There were now only a few puffy clouds here and there and there was much bright sun streaming into our camp site.
I was a little annoyed at being cheated of my views, so I decided that I wasn't just going to vegetate in the tent for the rest of the day. I decided that I was going to hike back to the summit of West Bond and enjoy some REAL views. Luc said he was game to come along, too.
Surveying the Twins
After cooking an early dinner and dressing up warmly (a front had obviously moved through and it was much colder now), we set off for West Bond. The summit isn't far from our campsite, so within 35 minutes we were there, and I was immediately glad that we did!
West Bond's panoramic view was fantastic. I suspected that, given it's position relative to Bondcliff's cliffs, it would have a prime view. And, In the late day light coming in from the west, this was indeed true. We had a wonderful front-row view of Bondcliff's rounded cliffline.
In fact, in all directions, the view was great. We could see north towards the Twins, with streaks of landslides scarring the slopes below; towards the open terrain on Guyot; north to the sharp little peak of Garfield, and in all directions, range after range of peaks. It is said that the view from here, deep within the Pemigewasset Wilderness area, offers the best wilderness view in the state, with almost no signs of civilization visible. This did indeed seem to be true.
