| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Zealand Mountain, Mt. Guyot, West Bond, Mt. Bond, Bondcliff, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Zealand Trail, Twinway, Zealand Spur, Bondcliff Trail, West Bond Spur |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Friday, September 1, 2023 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
You have to pay $5.00 per car per day. The parking filled up, but it was probably just a busy weekend. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
On the Zealand Trail, there were a few easy rock hops. If you are bringing young children with you to stay at the hut, the rock hops might be fun for them to scout out crossings. The water was not high, but also not low. There were nice wooden bridges that cross ponds/swamps and bigger streams, so that was very nice of the AMC to put them there. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
There were about three trees across the Zealand Trail, but there were side trails to avoid them. On one of the wooden bridges also on the Zealand Trail, there was a board that was kind of gone, and the bridges leading over the swamp to the Zealand Falls Hut were very old and rotten. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
We saw a few pups on the trail, and on the Twinway, there is a nice ladder, but your dog might have a hard time on this, so there is a steep slope your dog can take up instead. We actually witnessed a dog come out from this slope, and we "named" it "Pup's Pass." |
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 | Bugs: |
No bugs, but on Bondcliff, there are these weird gray beetles that stick their pointy proboscis' into your skin, and it hurts! I don't think you can do anything about them, but they were not that bad. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
We found A LOT of lost things: A white-ish baseball cap hanging on a tree branch, a hiking pole tip, a blue hankerchief, and trash. PLEASE! PICK! UP! YOUR! TRASH! We found so much toilet paper, and it's really disgusting. PLEASE leave no trace. Thank you to those who do pick up their trash--it helps a lot. |
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 | Comments: |
We camped in the Guyot Campsite, and while we were eating some snacks near our tent, we met something.
A bear.
A sneaky bear.
A bold bear.
A BIG bear.
I am NOT kidding. We all had our backs turned and were looking at the view, and I'm pretty sure I heard him step on a twig, because a turned around, and there he was, looking for food (he must have smelled it with that big sniffer of his). He pretended he didn't see us, but he circled around and came back. We growled and made ourselves look big, but he just sat down and started cleaning himself. My brother grabbed a rock and threw it near him (not at him), and Beary ran away down the mountain. We were all scared, but we took our food with us when we hiked the Bonds. Beary did not come back, and I am still here to write this report, thankfully. The campsite has three bear bins that Beary cannot access, and a nice cool stream to get water from. We told the caretaker about the bear, and she submitted a bear report. Make sure to keep food in a bear-proof canister!! There was also a friendly Gray Jay on Mt. Zealand the first day, but the next day he was absent. The hike was nice, and we swam in Zealand Falls the second day (COLD!). If you are just hiking to the hut, the trail is mostly flat until the end. The next part of the trail is steep and rocky, but the views are sooooo rewarding! Overall, it was a fun hike, and we took a spur to Zeacliff Pond, which was very pretty. Hope you have a fun time hiking these mountains, like I did! :) |
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 | Name: |
Ocean Pegusus |
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 | E-Mail: |
mjdebowski@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2023-09-03 |
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 | Link: |
 https:// |
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Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense. |
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