The Bonds and Mt. Zealand

Hiking the Bonds and Mt. Zealand

Two nights. 21 miles. 5 summits. While we didn’t complete the entire Pemi Loop, hitting the Bonds, Mt. Guyot and Mt. Zealand is easily up there with with the likes of Mt. Katahdin and Franconia Ridge Loop  on the short list of our favorite hikes in New England. This stretch of the Pemi Loop is often completed as a day hike, but our intention was for this to be more of a weekend camping trip than an intense single-day traverse. It did not disappoint.

Hike Summary

Distance: 21 miles

Elevation Gain: 4,720 feet

Difficulty: Strenuous

Time: Some people do this as a long day hike, but we chose to take our time and make it an overnight.

Summits: Zealand, Guyot, West Bond, Mt. Bond, Bondcliff

Trail Map

There are a few different routes for hitting all of the Bonds, but the most common are starting from either the Zealand Trail parking area or the Lincoln Woods trail head and doing an out-and-back. There is also the option of doing a two-car traverse from either trailhead. We chose the Zealand Trail out-and-back option mostly because it was the slightly shorter of the two and we didn’t want to deal with bringing two cars from the Boston area.

Moonlight over one of the bogs

starting the hike at night

We had every intention of making it to the trailhead before dark, but with Friday summer traffic and the requisite pre-hike burrito stop, we pulled into the parking lot at 9 PM. The original plan was to find a place to camp off the trail within the first mile or so in order to avoid hiking too much in the pitch darkness, but with headlamps and flashlights, hiking at night was surprisingly easy. Sure, there were times when we expected to get mauled by a bear or trampled by a moose as we crossed over the swamps and ponds, but overall, night-hiking was a pleasant experience. We ended up hiking three miles in the dark before posting up for the night just beyond the Zealand Falls Hut. If you book well in advance, the hut would be a perfect place to spend a night during this hike.

Saturday began with a steep climb to the top of Mt. Zealand. Much like East Osceola or Mt. Hale, Mt. Zealand is as forgettable a summit as they come. If it weren’t one of the 48 recognized 4,000 footers in NH it might not even be worth the 0.10 mile spur to get to the summit. On the bight side, there summit sign is pretty cool and there was a particularly friendly gray jay following us in hopes of being fed.

It wasn’t long, however, before we breached the treeline en route to the second peak, Mt. Guyot. Despite being 4,580 feet, Mt. Guyot is not recognized as one of New Hampshire’s 4,000 footers because it is just shy of having 200 vertical feet separating it from adjacent 4,000 footers. This is hugely disappointing since the 360 degree views from the Guyot summit were phenomenal. If there is a petition out there to kick Zealand out of the 4,000 club and replace it with Guyot, I will sign in a heartbeat…rules of geology be damned.

From the Guyot summit, we hiked down into the Pemigewasset Wilderness before coming to the West Bond Spur. From here it was another 0.5 miles to get to the West Bond Summit, where we got our first view of Bondcliff and the ridge connecting it to Mt. Bond. It was one of the best views on a hike full of spectacular views.

Read More: Best Hikes in New England

The hike from West Bond to Mt. Bond wasn’t too difficult, but the hike across the ridge to Bondcliff felt like an eternity. By this point we were getting tired feeling the summer heat (it was in the mid 80’s). Hurling ourselves off the edge of the ridge was starting to sound like an attractive alternative to hiking another 4 miles, but we resisted the temptation and were rewarded when we finally arrived at Bondcliff. The cliff is one of the most iconic views in the White Mountains and the summit of Bondcliff is easily one of the best summit experiences on the 4,000 footers list.

After backtracking over Mt. Bond and refilling our water bottles at Guyot campsite, we finally found the perfect camping spot off the trail near Mt. Zealand. It was on the AT, so presumably it was been used by numerous through hikers over the years, given that it was tailor made for camping. Beans and brats and a solid 10 hours of sleep was a well-earned reward for a full day of hiking.

The 5 miles we hiked on Sunday were mostly flat or downhill, with the exception of the first mile or so where we hiked straight up the backside of Mt. Zealand. We took a short break for a swim in the brook just before Zealand Falls, but other than that we booked it back to the parking lot. This was the first time we had seen this section of the trail during the daytime. Overall amazing hike and good opportunity to check 4 of the 4,000 footers off the list in one weekend.