This summer we’re getting back to our roots – figuratively, but with literal roots: The rooty, rugged and rocky trails of the White Mountains in New Hampshire.
In our lives prior to child rearing, Mr. P and I regularly journeyed 2-4 hours north to have seasonal weekend-sized adventures. Now that Little Boy is 11, he can finally keep up with all the adventuring — at least when he doesn’t have weekend sports, which is mostly only in the summertime. The ability to incorporate “family time” with “training time” encouraged both Mr. P and myself to sign up for long, difficult races that requires many hours spent going up and down trails in preparation.
Which means many weekend-sized summer adventures for the whole family!
This weekend we drove to Lincoln, NH on Friday night after an early dinner (missing most of the traffic). The plan: Mr. P would drop me off at a trailhead at 6am on Saturday, then go back to the hotel to relax with Little Boy as I steadily hiked 18.5 miles up and down various 4000-footers to Mt. Garfield, a magnificent 4500+ footer with some of the best views in the Whites. At 11am, they would start up the direct trail 4.8-mile trail for Mt. Garfield and we’d all meet at the summit of Mt. Garfield at 2pm, then descend Garfield to the car. And then: Wine, chips, and hotel hot tub.
Due to my lack of cell service in the mountains, we (i.e., I) developed a number of intricate contingencies if I didn’t make it to Garfield by 2pm, because 18.5 miles in 8 hours may sound completely doable, but one never knows what can happen in the Whites. I could get injured, I could get lost, or I could just be plain slow.
Shortly after 6am, Mr. P dropped me off in the popular Lincoln Woods parking area. The first 5 miles of my planned route are extremely flat, as the trail follows an old logging railroad bed that gets narrower and narrower as you enter the Pemigewasset Wilderness.
Flat trail on old railroad bed
I jogged occasionally. I must’ve been one of the first hikers out that morning, as my face caught a large amount of cobwebs. It was distracting because I’ve seen spiders on these webs before, and they are huge. I constantly wiped at my face, necks, and shoulders with my pack towel. I sucked down two Gus and sipped at my water.
Sometime during mile 5, the trail began to climb Bondcliff Mountain and the cobwebs died off. I was passed by a fast-moving trail runner — this route attracts many amazing fit mountain runners who just hop from rock to rock with ease. I would see more of them later, though the majority of people I encountered had heavy backpacks and moved slowly.
Starting to climb and get a view
Before I knew it, the air got crisp and the wind strong, and I emerged out of the woods into the treeless Alpine zone at the summit of Bondcliff. There were a number of backpackers coming down from the Guyot campsite. I paused on Bondcliff to put on my windbreaker and break open my sandwich stash.
The view from Bondcliff
I followed the magnificent Alpine ridge to Mt. Bond. It was windy and cloudy, but it could have been a lot worse.
I felt like I was moving well but lost time on the downhills, being cautious about my footing and protective of my knees — both of which have been pretty cranky about the increased numbers of mountains they descended this year.
The Beautiful Bondcliff Trail
Soon I turned onto the Twinway Trail, and the trail got more rugged, which I anticipated. I summited South Twin at 11:30am and stopped to eat more sandwich and Oreos. I began to get nervous about meeting Mr. P and Little Boy on the summit of Mt. Garfield — 5.5 miles away — in 2 and half hours. These miles were notoriously technical and slow.
I moved as fast as felt safe to me. The good news is, despite the slow pace, my legs were handling the vert and I didn’t feel too tired.
As I neared the bottom of Garfield’s cone, I knew I was on pace to be at the summit at 2pm. I climbed up the uneven rock slabs to the summit, where there is a foundation of an old fire tower. A bit surprised when I didn’t see Mr. P and Little Boy… but I just sat down and dug into my sandwich, as that was really the higher priority for me at the moment.
Suddenly, from the protective trees below the summit, Mr. P emerged and locked eyes with me. I waved; he laughed and waved back, visibly relieved to see me. They had been there for 20 minutes and were hiding from the wind. We convened and then took pictures.
Summit Selfie
I had just hiked the ridge behind me
Happy our plan had worked, I commenced eating. We still had 4.8 miles back to the car and I was depleted. Luckily the Garfield trail is smooth and fast; even the steady rain that began as we were about halfway down didn’t slow us too much. Little Boy enjoyed the hike and talked about doing hikes in the future, which is an enthusiasm that I bet will be momentarily forgotten the next time we pull up to a trailhead.
