18, 19, 20 and 21: Zealand, West Bond, Bond and Bond Cliff

On Friday night I headed up to Twin Mountain after a grueling night at the state liquor store. Lots of Jack Daniels and Kahlua sold. Now that I’ve discovered the smooth taste of Starbucks liqueur, there’s no going back to Kahlua. Starbucks slams Kahluah in taste, quality and price. More bang for your starbuck And ya know, I’m not buying all that Starbucks right –wing propaganda. They make damn good coffee products and I for one am gonna buy more. So there. Only problem is that the North Country hasn’t caught on yet, and if I ask for a StarBucks sombrero, they just shake their sorry heads in utter ignorance.
OK, so I packed up the car and arrived at Zealand Campground at 11:30 at night. Every camp site was filled to capacity. I had not expected this and it forced me to turn around and camp at the Tarry-Ho campground down the road on 302 which was not cheap. In fact I felt pretty ripped off . It was 12:30 when I set up the tent and Ruby didn’t sleep much at all. Neither did I, even after a couple of Michelob Ultras and Bachman’s tasty pretzel rods. MMMMM! My favorite midnight snack!
At 6:00 I awoke and had about a half gallon of iced coffee and some bagels. Arriving at the Zealand Trail at 7:00 I started out with major ambitions. The day was cool and blustery! I had my wool Red Sox hat and fleece mittens. Was I was thinking, or what!? At the Zealand hut I tied the dog to a post and chatted with some croo, meanwhile Ruby chewed through the leash. That is the 4th leash she has destroyed. We can’t waste any time with idle chit-chat and we hit the ground running once again. I’m on Zealand summit at 10:30. The weather turned cold on Guyout , hitting the open exposed trail on the Twinway. The wind was strong enough to knock me over and I pulled out the hat and gloves and tied my hood tight under my chin. West Bond was next, and I met some cool guys from New Ipswich and their dog Pablo; they too were bagging all the Bonds. We took pictures and I tried my best to keep pace with them. They past me at Bond but I caught them again at Bond Cliff with lots of groups shooting photos. Again, powerful winds made for difficult communication. It was 1:30 when I arrived at the Cliffs. So many times I just stopped dead in my tracks to take in the awesome beauty of the surrounding scenery. Through out the day I monitored the time knowing the trip back would be just as long if not even more tiring and the wind was becoming a challenge: on Guyout, a teenage kid propositioned me: “I’ll give you a 32 ounce package of peanut M&Ms for those mittens!” Was I smart to bring gloves – my fingers would have fallen off if I hadn’t. On the ascent back to Bond I bogged out. I had become real tired at this point, only eating a couple of Atkins power bars. I took a 20 minute break and ate an apple, some cheese and my last bit of Nature Valley oats –n-honey bar. Even the dog curled up in a ball and slept. I am always consumed with the notion that I will be starving to death on a huge hike- but once I’m on the mountain I seem to lose my appetite. I am never hungry. It’s more habit to stop at a restaurant and order a big steak after its all said and done. Finally, my engine is refueled and I make it back to Bond. A very nice father/son team are snapping photos on Bond and exchanging stories of their last venture to this spot. I take their picture- they take one of me. They are getting a ride from Lincoln Woods – but still talk about this “long way to go” before the day is done. After Bond, its back over Guyout then back up Zealand once more. I wanted to be at Zealand at 3:00 – but its now after 4:00. I have to scoot. It seems to take forever to get back to the hut once more and I’m convinced that I’ve meandered off trail. Finally I hear voices -it’s supper-time at the hut. By now my knees are sore and I have blisters on my toes! I make it to the car at 6:15 pm. It has taken 11 hours – to hike what I guess to be about 20 miles. Ruby is instantly asleep the moment we reach the car. I soak my feet in the river and drive the 20 miles into Gorham where we stay at the Colonial Fort Inn behind Hikers Paradise. This is definitely a cool motel – but Bruno yelled at me three times and I nearly burst into tears. I am scared of him. I got take out steak and tried to stay up and watch SNL but fell completely into a zombie state of exhaustion by 10:00. I woke up with my contact lenses suctioned to my eyeballs. On Sunday the plan was to do Moriah but my knee was killing me. I opted for Waumbek instead.