A fellow from Connecticut came to us looking for a guide to assist/accompany him on a four-day/three-night Pemigewasset “Pemi” Loop backpack. According to his booking form he learned about us on Facebook. It had something to do with a Tyrannosaurus rex, he noted. We might think of this as word-of-huge-mouth-full-of-teeth marketing. The only T. rex we know is Redline Guide Debra McCown so naturally we put her on it. In the plan we formulated for our guest we had them making a clockwise loop starting and ending at the Lincoln Woods trailhead. In the evenings we had them staying the Liberty Spring Tentsite, the Garfield Ridge Campsite, and finally the Guyot Campsite. We’d tell you more, but we’ll let Debra “T. rex” McCown tell the story…
Pemi Loop? Piece of Cake!
What do you talk about for four days during a Pemi Loop? We talked a lot about the rocks, elevation gain, and how our mountains differ from Connecticut and other states on the Appalachian Trail.
This week’s guest felt that, like many people, he had overestimated his fitness and underestimated the roughness of the White Mountain terrain. He was glad he’d chosen to do the Pemi Loop — a 32-mile ridge loop around the Pemigewasset Wilderness — over a leisurely four days instead of just three.
That meant plenty of time for soaking up the views on the summits — he bagged nine 4000-footers plus a few other beautiful spots that don’t count for any lists. There was a no-rush pace that allowed him to take his time on the relentless ups and downs. ‘How do you describe this to someone who’s never seen it?‘ he asked me at one point, after a particularly thoughtful set of hands-on scrambling moves. ‘It’s just one after the other.‘
But each time he completed a particularly tough one — or I asked him what he thought of the Pemi so far — he had the same instant response: ‘piece of cake.‘ It was, he added, a spicy cake, however. But he added that he likes spicy cake. Along the way we coined phrases like ‘uphill flat,’ and ‘relatively gentle terrain’ (relative to what?!). There may have been an attempt to create rap lyrics about the rocks, which was abandoned due to an inability to find anything that would rhyme properly with ‘New Hampshire.’
But as we neared the end of the loop — back on the flat old railroad grade of Lincoln Woods Trail, maybe 4-5 miles from the car — even with his knee bothering him from all the rocky miles, he said he had mixed feelings about the trip coming to an end. He said these mountains are wicked cool. Those flat miles went fast and an hour and a half later, he was headed back to Lincoln for a well-deserved restaurant meal. But he said he’ll definitely be back. More rocks, more ‘up,’ and more of the stunning mountain views that he definitely can’t find in Connecticut. —Debra
What follows are a ton of photos. We’d love to tell you they’re in order but not even close. They don’t come to us in order and with so many the task was duanting. That said, we still hope you enjoy the images of this awesome trip.
