We met at Kimberly Farone’s house in East Calais taking 2 cars and headed to Haystack Rd in NH. We dropped a car off at the North Twin Trailhead. Then we headed over to the Lincoln wood Trailhead off the Kancamagus Highway and started our 2 day adventure. It was a beautiful clear and sunny Autumn morning.

We hiked a very flat and long Lincoln Woods Trail to the Bondcliff Trail. This trail traverses along the Pemigewasset River. As we approached the Bondcliff Trail the Black Brook forked off of the Pemi River and we followed that for most of the way scrambling across various sections of that. The grade at this point becomes moderate and the footing is rocky in places. We got to a section where we climbed a rock staircase and then the trail becomes steeper. We continued to do a bit of scrambling until we could see the cliffy flat-topped summit of Bondcliff. After about 10 miles, we reached the summit.

The Fall foliage was breath-taking and Heather commented on how it looks like a massive bowl of Fruity Pebbles. I think we all felt like kids at Christmas time with such a beautiful sight. There is a 360 degree view on Bondcliff. Standing on the cliff atop Bondcliff can bring on a bit of an adrenaline rush. It’s like standing on top of a skyscraper looking down into a bowl of brilliant Fall colors with the wind blowing through you. We stood there a while taking in this beauty then headed onward towards Bond Mtn. which was a little over a mile further away. On summiting Bond, at now about 5:30 in the evening, the wind started blowing a bit stronger and we decided it was time to start thinking about making camp below treeline.

We camped just above the Guyot Tent site, for it was full of over 100 people that evening. We set camp and had dinner. It rained through the night but we all managed to stay dry.

The next morning Wes got up early and summited West Bond. Nancy and Kimberly followed shortly after. Wes and Nancy are working towards their 48 4,000 footers of the Whites and West Bond is one of them. The views on West Bond that morning were stunning with fog settling in the mountains. We all regrouped at camp, packed up and headed onward towards the Twins. It was a cooler morning, foggy and no clear views the rest of the day, unfortunately.

We summited South Twin where it was spitting some sleet and continued toward North Twin, summited, again with no clear views, and then continued on the North Twin Trail where we had to traverse over several large brook sections. We all managed to stay dry for the most part. Even though we didn’t have summit views the second day, the colors all around us and along the brook was absolutely beautiful and refreshing.

This was a really great group of people that made for a wonderful weekend hike trip in the Whites. We ended about 4:30 Sunday evening. Three of us decided to head over the Woodstock Inn for some burgers before heading back to VT.

Participants: Wesley Volk , Nancy McClellan, Heather Mayes, Kimberly Farone (leader).