West Bond

[Brian]

#47215 |

There were three of us in the party; Mackreth, my brother in law Danny, and myself (Brian). We started at Lincoln Woods in the chill of the early morning with the intent to find some dead tree on the way to assist in raising the flag on West Bond. The blowdown field just before the West Bond summit seemed like a potentially good source but since they were spruce they can be a little jagged. So bordering on the side of caution we elected our first candidate as one of the victims of trail clearing high up on Bondcliff.

There was quite a crowd at the Bondcliff summit but they were not Sherpa John’s flag party. We met them marching down from Bond with the flag in procession as we started up Bond. Not long after taking a few pictures of Sherpa John’d crew and the marching banner I discovered that I had misread my watch and it was an hour later than I thought it was. We had 55 minutes to get to West Bond and mount the flag. So Mackreth and I bolted to West Bond and left Danny with the responsibility of photographing the display on Bond. When we got to the blowdown an uglier (but much much taller) potential candidate for a pole was found and that was taken to the summit. Without Danny’s handiness it took me almost twenty minutes to whittle the tree top, mount the pole on the tree, and thread the flag, but it was hoisted before the critical 12:00 hour! Kind of ugly close up, but from a distance, who would know? Only FS ranger Kevin showed up at the peak to witness the spectacle of our makeshift pole. In spite of its rustic appearance, it seemed to like the approach.

We did not stay the full two hours but left the peak at 1:15. We had a long way to go as we were planning to complete the loop by going over South Twin, down Twin Brook Trail, and out Franconia Brook trail. With the gorgeous weather and great views, who could blame us?

The only twist in the story was that beavers were indeed winning down there (according to FS ranger Kevin) and we had to de-boot and wade through icy waters for about 10 to 15 yards. It was a little bit more than knee deep on me. Soothed our aching legs and feet, though! (This new pond is north of the Lincoln Brook trail junction and then north of the original large beaver pond that offers some openness for views.) Got back to Lincoln Woods just before 8:00 and it was dark. Its the first time I have ever tried to hike in the dark. Had a flashlite, but was too lazy and too close to the end to use it!

See pictures in the Gallery! (Will have to wait for Danny’s contributions).

Brian, Mackreth, and Danny

[dirt_girl]

#51763

Nice trip report and great flag pole idea!!!
💡
Regret not having the opportunity to meet
the W. Bond crew but very happy to hear
you had such a great day.

dirt_girl

[Brian]

#51764

Thank you ‘dirtgirl’. I also need to apologize for a mixup in the Bondcliff gallery. I was downloading pictures to a West Bond album when thepower outage killed this website yesterday afternoon. Those pictures ended up in the Bondcliff album. Don’t know how, but I have contacted the powers that be and they will try to fix it!

Brian

[Author]

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