Bondcliff Trail
Where: Bondcliff Trail
When: 3/15-16, 1997
With: Chip
When: 3/15-16, 1997
With: Chip
This was our second attempt to reach Guyot Shelter. Last year's effort was thwarted by an odd, late January rainstorm. This year had its own set of troubles. Just getting started proved to be a big problem. Our original date was January 25-26, but the Patriots made it to the Superbowl and Andy had a birthday party to attend so we pushed it off a week.
The next week arrived and I cancelled at the last minute, for a variety of reasons. Heavy snow in the mountains, lots of things going on at home and at work...my heart just wasn't in it. A week or so later, my head had cleared and we came up with date #3, the first weekend in March. Unfortunately, the combination of a rainy forecast and a case of the flu for Chip resulted in yet another postponement.
And so we found ourselves heading into the mountains on the Ides of March, hoping for a better fate on that date than poor Caesar. This would be our last chance to get in a winter hike in the 96/97 season. Though we'd considered going in over the Twins (in honor of Dave & Lia's new family members), we decided to stick to the Wilderness Trail/Bondcliff route. It offered a better chance of success (5 miles of flat, groomed, well-known trail to start) and it took us over Bondcliff, an attractive idea for Chip.
We'd hoped for an early start, but wound up at the parking lot at our usual time, around 9:30. What's more, we arrived a little the worse for wear. I'd had a rough night and had only managed to get 3 hours of sleep before arising at 5 to head to Chip's. The ride up wasn't bad at first, but a recent snowstorm made the last stretch across the Kankamaugus Highway a real adventure. The steep, icy roads nearly landed us in trouble more than once, so by the time we finally landed at Lincoln Woods, we were pretty fried.
We went into the ranger station to pay our parking fee and learned that a group of four had gone in toward Guyot on snowshoes about 1/2 an hour before us. The ranger indicated that they looked liked pros. That was good news for us, since they'd be breaking trail for us, and that snow needed breaking. There was a crust of ice on top of six inches of dry snow...tough to break trail through.
We set off a little after 10, towing our gear on sleds to start. The ranger had just groomed the trail, so it was very easy to ski and pull the sleds. A few miles in, we came to an impromptu campsite set up by the side of the trail. Two guys with a tent and backcountry skis. They'd come in the night before and were also heading to Guyot. What's more, they said that in addition to the group of four the ranger had mentioned, there was another group of three folks ahead of us who were going to the same place. So now there were a total of 11 folks heading to this remote, inaccessible shelter!
We met up with the three at the Franconia Brook bridge. Two men and a teenage boy. They went on ahead while we rested a bit and debated our next move. The groomed trail ended at the bridge and we didn't know if we should dump the sleds at that point. Since we had at least seven folks ahead of us breaking trail, we figured we could still use the sleds and continued on. The sleds proved to be problematic though, tipping over several times, and we both wound up putting our packs on our backs.
A little over halfway along this stretch, we met up with a solo hiker walking back toward the parking lot. A big rugged guy on snowshoes, who turned out to be one of the group of four. He said his body told him that Guyot wasn't possible, so he was heading out. We mentioned that we didn't think we'd make it either and he startled us by saying "Why not? This is just how I feel." We didn't say much, but our thoughts were that if someone like him didn't think the shelter was attainable, there was no way we'd get there.
A short time later, we arrived at the Bondcliff trail. One set of snowshoe tracks went on up, while another continued along the Wilderness trail. Apparently the group of three (with the teen) had decided to pass on Guyot also and was staying along the river. We stopped for lunch and soon the two skiers joined us. They'd come in at 3 the day before, but one broke a binding, so they went back out, got it repaired, and then skied back in at 9PM. The trail hadn't been groomed then and they said the trail breaking was horrific. We discussed plans a bit. They decided to set up a camp along the river, spend the day skiing, and then make an attempt at Bondcliff the next day.
It was now close to 2PM (it had taken us 3 1/2 hours to ski the 5 miles to the trail, a distance we'd hoped to cover in 2 hours), so we conceded that Guyot shelter was not a possibility. Instead, we planned to hike up as far as we could, set up a camp, and maybe try for the summit the next day. I knew of one campsite high up and some others down lower. We switched to snowshoes, ditched the skis and sleds in the woods, and started up the trail.
Though the trail was broken, it was still slow going. I'd thought the high campsite might be a possibility, but it became clear that we weren't going to get that far and we started looking for the lower sites. I recalled them on the left side of the trail, next to the stream. That meant we had to make at least one stream crossing first. We did that and sure enough, we soon came to an obvious campsite clearing. We passed on it though because it seemed a bit too exposed to the winds that were howling through the mountains. We spent some time looking for other sites and finally found one with a bit of protection. It was about 4PM.
We quickly set up the tent, stamped out a camping area, and dug a fire pit. Chip gathered wood while I got dinner and soon we were settled in. Dinner was Italian garden soup followed by tortellini with cheese sauce and some red wine Chip had brought along. After eating, we worked on the fire a bit. It had done well at first, but was now in danger of dying. We managed to revive it and wound up with a roaring blaze. Though the wind was howling, the temperatures weren't bad. The moon kept poking out from behind fast moving clouds, so every so often the woods would light up with moonlight.
Around 8, we headed for the tent and we were both deep in our bags by 9. I had a somewhat fitful night of sleep, dosing off and on, but generally getting some much-needed rest. We were both up at 2, and then slept until 7 or so. The temperature had dropped to the single digits, and we stayed in our sleeping bags until 8 before venturing out. A light snow was falling, but the sun kept peeking out. I got the stove going to boil water and a bit later we were having our usual coffee and oatmeal, flavored with a bit of the previous meal's cheese sauce.
We packed up after breakfast and headed back down the trail. The going was considerably easier (a well broken trail, a good night's rest, a downhill hike) and we made good time. Near the bottom, we met the two skiers going up and wished them well before continuing. Soon after, we recovered our skis and sleds and were back on the Wilderness trail. We switched back to skis, put our packs on our backs and began a nice easy ski back to Franconia Brook. Along the way, we met an older gentleman, out skiing with two of his buddies. He seemed to be the ringleader and his friends were a bit dubious about where he was taking them, but they all appeared to be enjoying themselves. I was thinking that I wanted to be like them when I got to that age.
We met them again at Franconia Brook when they returned while we stopped for lunch. Our lunch was interesting because of the chickadees that were eating out of our hands (and off our heads!). We watched the men as they debated whether to cross the river or not. The leader of course was all for it, but his friends weren't sure. I reassured them that folks had been crossing all winter and that it was safe. We stayed on the Wilderness trail ourselves, and switched back to using the sleds. We had a little trouble with tipping, but generally they worked great.
Two more encounters were notable. The first was a large group of scouts on snowshoes, hauling a wooden sled loaded with a propane tank, stove, etc. They'd been in by Franconia Falls overnight and were now blocking the entire trail. We managed to squeeze by and continued on to our final encounter, another elderly gentleman carrying a full pack and snowshoes. He was heading in for a few days and asked us about conditions. He'd grown up about 30 miles away and had first hiked in the area in 1951, but had last been in about 10-12 years ago. He wondered if some of the old shelters and trails were still there. We assured him they were and wished him luck.
Around 1PM, we arrived back at the parking lot and were on the road by 1:30.
Notes:
More pictures
The next week arrived and I cancelled at the last minute, for a variety of reasons. Heavy snow in the mountains, lots of things going on at home and at work...my heart just wasn't in it. A week or so later, my head had cleared and we came up with date #3, the first weekend in March. Unfortunately, the combination of a rainy forecast and a case of the flu for Chip resulted in yet another postponement.
And so we found ourselves heading into the mountains on the Ides of March, hoping for a better fate on that date than poor Caesar. This would be our last chance to get in a winter hike in the 96/97 season. Though we'd considered going in over the Twins (in honor of Dave & Lia's new family members), we decided to stick to the Wilderness Trail/Bondcliff route. It offered a better chance of success (5 miles of flat, groomed, well-known trail to start) and it took us over Bondcliff, an attractive idea for Chip.
We'd hoped for an early start, but wound up at the parking lot at our usual time, around 9:30. What's more, we arrived a little the worse for wear. I'd had a rough night and had only managed to get 3 hours of sleep before arising at 5 to head to Chip's. The ride up wasn't bad at first, but a recent snowstorm made the last stretch across the Kankamaugus Highway a real adventure. The steep, icy roads nearly landed us in trouble more than once, so by the time we finally landed at Lincoln Woods, we were pretty fried.
We went into the ranger station to pay our parking fee and learned that a group of four had gone in toward Guyot on snowshoes about 1/2 an hour before us. The ranger indicated that they looked liked pros. That was good news for us, since they'd be breaking trail for us, and that snow needed breaking. There was a crust of ice on top of six inches of dry snow...tough to break trail through.
We set off a little after 10, towing our gear on sleds to start. The ranger had just groomed the trail, so it was very easy to ski and pull the sleds. A few miles in, we came to an impromptu campsite set up by the side of the trail. Two guys with a tent and backcountry skis. They'd come in the night before and were also heading to Guyot. What's more, they said that in addition to the group of four the ranger had mentioned, there was another group of three folks ahead of us who were going to the same place. So now there were a total of 11 folks heading to this remote, inaccessible shelter!
We met up with the three at the Franconia Brook bridge. Two men and a teenage boy. They went on ahead while we rested a bit and debated our next move. The groomed trail ended at the bridge and we didn't know if we should dump the sleds at that point. Since we had at least seven folks ahead of us breaking trail, we figured we could still use the sleds and continued on. The sleds proved to be problematic though, tipping over several times, and we both wound up putting our packs on our backs.
A little over halfway along this stretch, we met up with a solo hiker walking back toward the parking lot. A big rugged guy on snowshoes, who turned out to be one of the group of four. He said his body told him that Guyot wasn't possible, so he was heading out. We mentioned that we didn't think we'd make it either and he startled us by saying "Why not? This is just how I feel." We didn't say much, but our thoughts were that if someone like him didn't think the shelter was attainable, there was no way we'd get there.
A short time later, we arrived at the Bondcliff trail. One set of snowshoe tracks went on up, while another continued along the Wilderness trail. Apparently the group of three (with the teen) had decided to pass on Guyot also and was staying along the river. We stopped for lunch and soon the two skiers joined us. They'd come in at 3 the day before, but one broke a binding, so they went back out, got it repaired, and then skied back in at 9PM. The trail hadn't been groomed then and they said the trail breaking was horrific. We discussed plans a bit. They decided to set up a camp along the river, spend the day skiing, and then make an attempt at Bondcliff the next day.
It was now close to 2PM (it had taken us 3 1/2 hours to ski the 5 miles to the trail, a distance we'd hoped to cover in 2 hours), so we conceded that Guyot shelter was not a possibility. Instead, we planned to hike up as far as we could, set up a camp, and maybe try for the summit the next day. I knew of one campsite high up and some others down lower. We switched to snowshoes, ditched the skis and sleds in the woods, and started up the trail.
Though the trail was broken, it was still slow going. I'd thought the high campsite might be a possibility, but it became clear that we weren't going to get that far and we started looking for the lower sites. I recalled them on the left side of the trail, next to the stream. That meant we had to make at least one stream crossing first. We did that and sure enough, we soon came to an obvious campsite clearing. We passed on it though because it seemed a bit too exposed to the winds that were howling through the mountains. We spent some time looking for other sites and finally found one with a bit of protection. It was about 4PM.
We quickly set up the tent, stamped out a camping area, and dug a fire pit. Chip gathered wood while I got dinner and soon we were settled in. Dinner was Italian garden soup followed by tortellini with cheese sauce and some red wine Chip had brought along. After eating, we worked on the fire a bit. It had done well at first, but was now in danger of dying. We managed to revive it and wound up with a roaring blaze. Though the wind was howling, the temperatures weren't bad. The moon kept poking out from behind fast moving clouds, so every so often the woods would light up with moonlight.
Around 8, we headed for the tent and we were both deep in our bags by 9. I had a somewhat fitful night of sleep, dosing off and on, but generally getting some much-needed rest. We were both up at 2, and then slept until 7 or so. The temperature had dropped to the single digits, and we stayed in our sleeping bags until 8 before venturing out. A light snow was falling, but the sun kept peeking out. I got the stove going to boil water and a bit later we were having our usual coffee and oatmeal, flavored with a bit of the previous meal's cheese sauce.
We packed up after breakfast and headed back down the trail. The going was considerably easier (a well broken trail, a good night's rest, a downhill hike) and we made good time. Near the bottom, we met the two skiers going up and wished them well before continuing. Soon after, we recovered our skis and sleds and were back on the Wilderness trail. We switched back to skis, put our packs on our backs and began a nice easy ski back to Franconia Brook. Along the way, we met an older gentleman, out skiing with two of his buddies. He seemed to be the ringleader and his friends were a bit dubious about where he was taking them, but they all appeared to be enjoying themselves. I was thinking that I wanted to be like them when I got to that age.
We met them again at Franconia Brook when they returned while we stopped for lunch. Our lunch was interesting because of the chickadees that were eating out of our hands (and off our heads!). We watched the men as they debated whether to cross the river or not. The leader of course was all for it, but his friends weren't sure. I reassured them that folks had been crossing all winter and that it was safe. We stayed on the Wilderness trail ourselves, and switched back to using the sleds. We had a little trouble with tipping, but generally they worked great.
Two more encounters were notable. The first was a large group of scouts on snowshoes, hauling a wooden sled loaded with a propane tank, stove, etc. They'd been in by Franconia Falls overnight and were now blocking the entire trail. We managed to squeeze by and continued on to our final encounter, another elderly gentleman carrying a full pack and snowshoes. He was heading in for a few days and asked us about conditions. He'd grown up about 30 miles away and had first hiked in the area in 1951, but had last been in about 10-12 years ago. He wondered if some of the old shelters and trails were still there. We assured him they were and wished him luck.
Around 1PM, we arrived back at the parking lot and were on the road by 1:30.
Notes:
- This was the hike of thirteens. My 13th winter hike, 13 years after our first winter hike, we hiked about 13 miles round trip, and there were 13 people I knew out camping (the 11 heading to Guyot + my friend Brian and his partner, who wound up camping at Franconia Falls, along with - perhaps - 13 Boy Scouts).
- I don't really know exactly why our pace was so slow. Six hours to go 6.5 miles? And last year was 6 hours to go 9 miles. Both are slow paces. We should be able to sustain at least 2 miles/hour. Am I out of shape? Do we take too many breaks?
- Chip is already making plans for next year. He's envisioning a 2-night trip, with this trip being day one, followed by a hike to Guyot on the 2nd day, and then hiking out on the third day. That's probably the only way to get there in the winter. A single day trip requires near-perfect trail conditions (no snow, no mud) and a steady pace.
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