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 (Larry "I have work just like Jack Williard" Colagiovanni excused himself from going) Inspired by the following three trips: http://www.angio.net/personal/climb/tr/pemi-2003.html http://graphics.lcs.mit.edu/~hbriceno/climb/franconia99/ http://redfox.mit.edu/trips/pemi/ In my final White's hoorah before moving to Michigan for grad school, my friend Larry and I decided to take a nice 2 day (3 night) hike in the Pemi Wilderness. We were planning on a nice easy hike (maybe 10 miles a day). Larry unfortunately could not go and I planned to do the loop hike that I failed in March in 2 days by myself as planned. However, due to other circumstances the trip was delayed another 24 hours. So my plans changed to a nice smaller loop hike using the Franconia Brook Tail as a leg. Inspired not to by a trip report claiming "a lot of bear activity" on viewsfromthetop.com, I decided that maybe I could do the entire loop hike in 1-day. Why not, it had been done before. Was I crazy or what? I decided to go for it, leaving a trip itinerary with a friend knowing that there was a good chance I may not be able to do it. Besides, going by the AMC trail trip times this would take 23 hours!!! Learning from my last trip, I went super light this time with a full pack weighing under 40 lbs, but planning to travel most of the loop with a small day pack. The trip started almost identically as the last attempt, a bus from South Station to Lincoln, NH. However, the bus departed at 6:10pm leaving me in Lincoln at 9pm - a bit later than last time. This time I was prepared though and I pre-arranged a taxi shuttle to drive me the short 6 miles to the Wilderness Trail (Lincoln Woods Trail) trailhead in the midst of dark. Anticipating a better start than last time (I got lost), I knew I was at the trialhead. This time I found out that there was 2 trails, a Lincoln Woods Trail and East Side Trail. At this time I did not know the Wilderness Trail had been renamed. Despite the gut to go with the East Side Trail, I chose wisely. This anticipation was affirmed after crossing a large bridge and reaching a sign indicating that I was going the correct way. After a short 20 min (I swear) hike I camped out a ways off the path at the Osseo Trail junction. I quickly made dinner, found a bear hang, setup camp, and went to sleep (I was still scared of the "bear activity"). Unlike my last trip, I woke up on time fresh of energy. A quick bagel, bowl of oatmeal, poptarts, and loading up with water I took off down the Wilderness trail around 4:45am. I hiked speedily along to be scared by a toad and a large owl. Making a good pace (~20 min miles) I finally hit the Bondcliff tail in a sweat around 6am. The hike up Bondcliff was uneventful besides one tricky place where I almost lost the trail. A few views was it as I kept the quick pace going. I finally hit the ridge of Bondcliff around 7:45am - 2 hours ahead of schedule! I took a good water/food break as I played around with my camera a bit. Heading up to Mount Bond I met the first hikers of the day who warned me of the snow between South Twin and Guyot. The trail up to Mount Bond was well exposed so I donned my bright yellow Boston Marathon Jacket as the breeze cooled me quickly because I was sweating quite a bit. Views from Mount Bond were magnificent as I took another quick break around 9:30am. I took the spur path to West Bond and took some more pictures. Learning from my mistakes last time, I was forcing myself to drink and eat at every stopping point as I knew the importance of food and water on long hikes! Moving along quickly I side-pathed to the Guyot campsite to load up on water. It was only 10am and I had already gone through about a gallon of water. Drinking a quart and filtering 2 more, I took off for Guyot to find the summit anti-climatic. I met a group of 7 hikers who admired my fast hiking [they really were just slow =) ]. Knowing I wanted to reach the Galehead Hut around 12:30 in order to be on track for a 16 hour trip (more importantly it got dark at 8pm, I didn't want to lose light). The hike between Guyot and South Twin went as expected but not hoped. Deep (and the first sign of) snow up to 3-4 feet slowed me considerably with 50% postholing. It wasn't bad as much frustrating. Finally though I emerged victorious at South Twin around 11:45am. The hike down to Galehead was brutal - I kept thinking of when there was snow and how I was able to slide down with an ice axe. I finally reached the Galehead Hut and took a lunch break and reload on another 2 quarts of water. By now I had gone through about 2 gallons. I appreciated the brief conversation from the caretaker who wished me luck on my "fun hike." Taking off on familiar trail, I made good time on the Garfield Ridge trail though reaching the Franconia Brook trail seemed to take forever. I was tired and the hike up Garfield was brutal. The water falling on the trail was beautiful though, and I took another break at Garfield's campsite to grab another 3 quarts. By this time I had sweat so much that my shoulder pack straps were white with salt crystals. Noticing this I took some vitamin pills and ate a good amount of the cheese and hot dogs I packed to replace the salts. Hiking the rest of the brutal climb to Garfield's cone was exciting as I met another large group of 7 hikers, two of whom were a marathon hiker and a Navy seal. Also in another group was the Minnesota couple, who complimented me on my attire (I was wearing a pair of shorts with the University of Minnesota logo). I took another break for pictures and food at Garfield around 3:15pm. Knowing I was well past half-way but had a distance to go, I took off down the Garfield Trail. I hit the pond quickly to only realize where the path was (I lost it in the winter hike). Continuing on the trails weren't too bad, but snow was bad in some places again slowing me down. Though it seemed like forever, all I could think of was the next trail junction. The trail went up, then down, then up again. I knew this would happen but by now I had realized I was getting dehydrated. Finally a big push up the slope put me at the Skookumchuck trail junction around 4:30pm. Taking 15 minutes to drink half of the quart I had left I devoured a ton of M&M's and poptarts. Continuing on, it seemed like forever to reach the Lafayette summit, despite constantly seeing it. I finally summited Lafayette around 5:15pm and took another break finishing off the water I had left - realizing I was in trouble if I didn't get water soon. The trail to Lincoln looked easy because Lafayette was so tall, but the down then up was just plain mean. Another short hike put me on Little Haystack and the Falling Waters Trail (all I could think of was water by now). Knowing I had another 1.8 miles to water, I walked numbly hardly remembering anything but I would be there in 45 min. To my surprise I reached the sign to Liberty Spring camp faster than expected, but unexpected to see that it was 0.3 miles in the wrong direction. And I mean wrong in the horizontal sense, AND vertical sense as I lost some 450 feet. Being tired and dehydrated, I practically cursed the mountain for making me go down (knowing I would have to return) just for water. Finally making it, I drank 2 quarts and filled another 3 to rehydrate. Making it up the tiring 0.3 to where I was, and another 0.3 to the summit of Mount Liberty was brutal - similar to Garfield. Finally I summitted around 8:30pm. Taking a quick break for food and water, I took off as it was getting dark very fast. The trail to Mount Flume was supposed to take 45 minutes. It did, but it seemed longer as another of series of ups and downs seemed to mock my aching knees and ankles. I anticipated reaching the summit knowing I had 3 miles down the Osseo trail and then I could sleep. I reached the summit of Flume around 8:45pm staying only long enough to snap a picture and go. The ridge was quite exposed though I am sure is beautiful in light. Walking along a sketchy ridge, I dropped down to the sign to Osseo and to my demise it showed 4, not 3 miles to my camp. Muttering a few words of "great job genius" in respect to my error, I took off at a quick pace knowing how scary the dark was (and that bears come out at night). The 4 miles seemed forever, as I sung every tune I knew to not surprise any bears and to pass time. I keep waiting for some crossing the map showed but it never seem to come. My feet ached and were in a lot of pain but I keep trudging along almost convinced that I kept making the wrong turns. When I swore the trail would end, it wouldn't. It was completely mind numbing and finally around 10:30 I was confused at two flourescent light looking objects. I finally figured out that it was the reflective material on my guy-outs on my tent and I was so happy to reach camp. It was 10:30pm, 17 hours and 45 mins later. I had travelled just over 31 miles in less than 18 hours with elevation changes of 9600 feet up and down. I bagged 11 4000 foot peaks, 9 counting for the official list. As I changed quickly I made a quick Ramen and hot chocolate dinner. Again I was showing signs of dehydration going thorough some 4 gallons of water. I barely could move my legs after sitting down for dinner and walking to hang the food bag was difficult to say the least. I headed off to bed and quickly passed asleep. The next morning I packed up (despite the stiffness) and hiked the 1.4 miles out getting a 6:45am shuttle to catch the 7:25 Lincoln to Boston bus. This by far was the longest and most daring hike I have ever done. Now I know why it is called the death march. People I met during the day were doing the trip in 3-4 days, and I had dared do it in 1. I certainly will never do it again, but despite I learned some valuable lessons I wish to share with you: Ą For long hikes, always eat food especially with salts and drink TONS of water. Ą Cut your toenails short and wear thick socks (maybe 2 pairs of thick socks) Ą Account time for water filtering. It always takes longer than you think. Ą Never store bug spray near anything you need to ingest - ESPECIALLY painkillers like Advil. Ą Hike with other crazy people - it will be a lot better (and safer). Happy hiking!