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From
Mt Bond, there
were great views back to West Bond and South Twin, south to Bondcliff, east to Zeacliff, the Willey range, and
Mt
Washington, and west to the Franconia
range. Although the skies were still mostly cloudy, the sunset over Mt
Liberty was still nice.
I
really wanted to go all the way to Bondcliff over the knife-edge ridge,
but it was getting late, and I knew this would get me back to the campsite
well after dark. And, since Bondcliff is supposed to be particularly
spectacular with sheer rocky cliffs on the west side, I didn’t want to
get there in the dark and not have time to enjoy it. We headed back north
on the Bondcliff Trail to the campsite, stopping once to take a picture of
some mountain sandwort growing among the rocks.
At the campsite, I talked for a few minutes to the guy who was
staying at the
tent platform across the trail (and above) mine, then went to bed. As I
was trying to save weight, I had only brought a cheap, but light
two-person
tent that I had tested at home with the hose. I also only brought a light
cotton sleeping bag liner and a space blanket instead of my heavier winter
mummy bag. That night, it rained really hard. Needless to say, the tent
leaked and formed a puddle on a good part of the floor. My sleeping bag
liner, my Goretex jacket, and many other things got soaked. I was a
little chilly, but not too bad.
At
6:00 AM, it had stopped raining, and I decided to get up and get under
way. I packed all the wet things, took down the soggy tent and stuffed it in
my pack, and we left. The pack felt like its weight had doubled, and the
hip belt kept slipping down past my hips, so I had to carry all that weight
on my shoulders.
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West
Bond from the summit of Mt Bond. West Bond is the small rocky knob in the
center of the dark ridge in the middle of the picture. The cairn in the
foreground is a trail marker on Mt Bond. |
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