Dude, Where's the Railroad?

You would think that the second traverse of the summer would go more smoothly than the first. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. After some frenzied back and forth conversations over the phone with Phil, Ian and I decided that we would meet Phil and Paco somewhere along the Kancamangus on Saturday afternoon. Ian and I then decided to make a weekend out of the trip, and drove up Friday afternoon to visit my cousin Wade at Dartmouth, who was on campus for his sophomore summer. The stay was all business, and as ambassadors from the Purple Valley, we set about getting a feel for Dartmouth's campus and its students. Along the way we met up with Sam Tarling, and he introduced us to the rest of the skiers on campus.
We left Hanover the next morning feeling refreshed, and we drove up to North Conway with the intention of meeting my brother at the Swift River for his day off of work. Unfortunately, neither Ian or I had charged our phones in the previous forty-eight hours, so a two hour jaunt over the Kancamangus turned into a four hour sight seeing tour of Conway and the surrounding areas. Highlights included an hour rest stop in an army surplus store while Ian covertly used a wall socket to charge his phone. Eventually, we found Benji at the Swift, and soaked our legs in anticipation of the next day. That night we decided to get creative and scout out our own campsite on an abandoned dirt road right outside of of a spa in Lincoln, and we woke up the next morning in time to start hiking at seven. We summited Flume, Liberty, Lincoln, and Lafayette before stopping for a short lunch break, and then descended down to climb Garfield and Galehead.
Phil was adamant that we hike the loop with all its extensions, so after we climbed South Twin, we headed over to North Twin, where we found a group having a private wine tasting. Unfortunately for us, we still had miles to go before we were done, so we powered through Guyot, Bond, West Bond, and Bondcliff before we reached the descent back into the valley.
We had a minor mutiny when we found out that instead of 2.5 miles to the railroad, we had 5.25 miles before we hit the flat section, but tempers were settled when we relieved Phil of map duty. We finally hit the railroad, and Phil and I decided to race back to the trailhead. We finished the day twelve hours and thirty six miles after we started, and in desperate need of some nutrition. We quickly found the nearest golden arches watering hole, and consumed about 12,000 calories of deliciousness between the four of us. The four hour drive back home was not exactly pleasant for Ian and I, but luckily Ian knew how to drive a stickshift and needless to say, the trip was well worth it.
End of the day on Bondcliff.Looking back over the twins

Ian looking pensive
Phil getting his tan on.


Some sweet cliffs

Franconia Ridge

Top of Flume

The Loop