Pemi-death march trip report:

Pemigewasset Loop hike via Greenleaf trail ascent and descent 
Trip Leader: Me
Dates:  March 23-26th, 2003

Climbers/Hikers: 
Me,
Myself,
I
(Jack "I have work" Williard excused himself from going)

Inspired by the following two trips:

http://www.angio.net/personal/climb/tr/pemi-2003.html
http://graphics.lcs.mit.edu/~hbriceno/climb/franconia99/

I decided that for my Spring Break I was going to attempt the "The Pemi Death March" 
and "The Debilitation Trek" otherwise known as the Pemi loop.  Being one of the larger 
loops in the White Mountains of NH, it connects ten 4000 ft. peaks (with optional side-
trips to a few more) on the Franconia, Garfield, Twin and Bond ridges along its 30-some 
mile course. 

Hardcore hikers have been known to complete it in the summer donning light packs. I 
don't know how light their "light" packs were, but in winter you are talking about a ton 
more gear.  Hoping to complete it in 2-3 days (with an extra day in case).  Early Saturday 
I spent the good amount of the day packing and repacking, dumping all the unnecessary 
gear as I quickly realized that winter gear and group gear in one pack weighs 
approximately one metric ton.

The tentative plan was to take the Concord Trailways bus up to Franconia.  Hike 3.7 
miles up to the Greenleaf Hut (1 mile to the trailhead) spending the night there.  The next 
day would be a treacherous 19 miles (I have never done more than 17 in a day, 13 in 
winter with a day pack) starting at 5 am hitting Lafayette, Garfield, the Twins, Bond, 
Bondcliff, and finally the Wilderness Trail in the southern Pemigewasset Wilderness 17 
hours later.  The next day would be an "easy" 13 miles up through Flume, Liberty, and 
the Franconia Notch back to the camping spot the first night.  An early 5 am wakeup and 
short 3 mile hike back to Franconia to catch the 7 am bus back to Boston.

The trip started with a pack way too heavy.  Whopping 80 lbs, I dumped as much gear 
that I deemed a "perk" and the pack still topped 70 lbs as I carried a tent, sleeping bag 
(with VBL), food, fuel, clothes, and standard gear (plastics, trekking poles, crampons, 
Lightfoot Sherpas, and an Ice axe).

The trip started out with a huge surprise.  Instead of the bus dropping me off by 
Franconia Notch at the Highway 18 exit, it dropped me off at the other 18 exit in 
Franconia about 7 miles away.  So much for the 1 mile hike.  A friendly local hiker was 
nice enough to drive me to Cannon ski area though.

So for the real start, I couldn't find the trailhead in the heaping darkness.  Hiking along a 
bike/snowmobile trail I headed south with I-93 still not finding the trailhead.  After 
careful map skills, I determined a bushwhack for about 100 yards would intersect the 
path.  As I stepped off the snowmobile packed trail I fell deep into waist deep snow.  If 
this was the only indicator as to the snow conditions for the next few days, it would be 
long ones.

Donning snowshoes I still sank knee deep.  A tiring 15 minutes later I finally crossed 
paths with the Greenleaf trail and started on my way.  Two tiring and steep hours later as 
I neared the hut, I packed an area to setup camp and stay the night.  

Being exhausted from lack of energy (and food) from the day before, I slept in 
anticipating not finishing it.  The day was gorgeous as the sun came out with near zero 
wind conditions.  The hike to Lafayette was wonderful as I passed the only 3 hikers I 
would see the entire trip.

The hike across the Garfield Ridge trail was supposed to be brutal with its ups and 
downs.  Well the ups and downs weren't brutal.  Losing the trail for 1.5 hours in waist-
deep snow (with snowshoes) in super thick brush was.  Shortly after leaving the last cairn 
I lost the trail because there were no trail markers as the brush started and snow path to 
follow.  With some careful map and compass work and following animal tracks, I found 
the trail cut up, soaking wet from the water in the trees, and dead tired.

Hitting the established trail brought a new hope.  That hope was quickly crushed as I 
found the trail had not been travelled on for quite some bit as I postholed very deeply 
stumbling for the next 4 hours covering only 3.5 miles in that time.  It was a brutal trek 
for the least.  By now I had realized that hiking through the rest of the loop and exiting 
via the Wilderness trail by the Kancamangus highway would not even be an option.

However, arriving at Mount Garfield to see sunset was a beautiful moment and I couldn't 
be more happy at the moment watching the sun streak the sky as there were gorgeous 
views of Franconia and parts of the Presidentials in view. 

Way behind schedule I trekked the 0.2 miles to the Garfield campsite.  This time (read 
my trip report from the last Garfield day hike) I found the shelter which turned out to be a 
huge blessing.  Not needing to setup a tent, I took refuge in shelter saving time and 
energy from setting camp as I rested boiling water and eating dinner.  At this point dry 
socks and the shoes I rode up from Boston in were a huge thanksgiving.  I stayed the 
night in the shelter as the winds picked up and howled all night long.

An early 5 am rise the next day was beautiful as the sun warmed the rather chilly air.  I 
hiked the short 2.2 miles to the Galehead Trail postholing only parts of the way where I 
dumped most of my overnight gear as I planned to get out of the Pemi wilderness via this 
route.

By now it was only 9:30am and a short hour later I reached the Galehead hut to beautiful 
views.  I decided at a 12:30 turnaround time as I wanted to be out of the Pemi area by 
sunset around 6pm.  The next 0.9 miles turned out to be very interesting as the trail up 
South Twin rose 1100 some feet in that short distance.  An hour later I stood atop a very 
windy South Twin with more gorgeous views of the entire Pemi wilderness area, the 
Presidentials, and of course Garfield and Franconia.

With an hour to go before turn-around time I wanted to at least bag North Twin as well.  
This turned to be an interesting choice because as soon as I hit treeline a short distance 
later again lack of trail markings and a snow path made me lost the trail.  Postholing, 
crawling, stumbling, and digging myself out of chest deep snow in some places describes 
the next 30 minutes.  Once again my map and compass skills saved the day and I found 
the trail.  Or should I say trails.  As evidence of the major lack of marking, I found up to 
5 diverging paths of snowshoes indicating that others too could not find the trail.  This 
only mad matters worse as every time I found evidence of travel (such as broken 
branches), it would only lead to a dead end.  

Paths seemed to cross everywhere.  However, with a sense of impeccable timing I 
reached the South Twin summit at 12:30 to find the views rather disappointing and rather 
anti-climatic.  Nevertheless the weather seemed to be improving as I turned around and 
headed back.  On the 1 mile back to South Twin, I counted a whopping 4 trail markings 
though this might have been in spite of the numerous "trails" that seemed to exist.

As the snow was too very wet and wandering off the trail a few inches caused waist deep 
post holing, I couldn't slide down the mountain as I had hoped and instead just ran down 
in snowshoes which was almost as fun.  Arriving at Galehead hut once again I took a 
quick break for some hot tea and snacks (today I was actually properly hydrated and well 
fed).

I decided to end with hitting up Mount Galehead.  Again the trail was poorly marked but 
I only got lost 2-3 times and eventually found the short 0.5 mile hike quite enjoyable.  I 
quickly hiked down and another 0.6 miles to the Galehead Trail I packed up and started 
home at 4pm.

I anticipated a speedy descent out the 4.0 miles as I remember that the 5.0 mile descend 
on the Garfield Trail to be "not so bad."  However, I had not planned once again to be 
post holing thigh-deep with a heavy pack falling face first into the snow 5-6 times.  I was 
very frustrated as I wanted to be out by dark and I was already tired and this was no way 
to finish.  The trail was in very bad condition and it seemed that the more tired I got the 
worse the trail became.  Only the middle 6 inches or so of the trail seemed to be packed 
in any way.  By 4:45pm I was nearly exhausted and had barely gone anywhere.

At this point I had a discovery.  If I kept a quick enough pace (but not so fast that I would 
fly face first in the snow again) I could avoid major postholing by making a quick step 
with my other foot to catch myself before I would fall.  Though extremely tiring, this 
allowed me to keep up pace and not fall.  Again may I reiterate how tiring this was.

Crossing the Gale River a few times was a sign of hope though some very sketchy snow 
bridges proved to be troublesome.  A few wooden bridges had a narrow 6 inch snow strip 
that ran 2-3 feet high almost seemed to laugh at me, but some butt-shimmeying was the 
solution.

By this elevation around 5pm the snow was shallow enough that postholing was minimal 
and I was trekking at a very good pace.  Amazingly I made up some good time and hit the 
trailhead at 6pm.  A short 30 minute hike on the road wasn't bad as by now I was nearly  
almost running to get out.  Not bad, 14 miles on day 3.

To end the trip, I stood shivering at the side of the road as a storm with howling winds 
and rain began.  An hour of trying to hitch a ride brought me to the intersection of I-93.  
Another hour went by before a very kind gentleman gave me a lift to Lincoln where I 
stayed at the cushy Comfort Inn.  A hot shower, washing of smelly clothes, and a pizza 
put me to sleep before I hit the 7am bus back to Boston.

Next time I do Pemi in the summer.  Now I know why it is called the death march.  In my 
case I should have called it Mission Impossible.