2011 Peacham Bog Ultra Marathon

Location:  Groton State Forest, Vermont; Peacham Bog; Devil's Hill; Little Deer; Owl's Head; Big Deer;

Now THAT was the ballz!.  "The 2011 Ultra Bog" - or maybe "The 2011 Bog Marathon Ultra" or maybe "The 2011 Pain In The Bog".  Whatever.

27.1 miles and all the highlights of Groton State Forest! (Or at least of the northern half of the S.F.).

Mutha's Report:

*  The route started and ended at DogMan's house!
*  We blasted out in cold, wet, drizzle, which came and went in little episodes all day.  Roots, rocks, planks and leaves were wet and slippery.  It was clear the Ultra Bog was trying to kill us.  The day was a day filled with many little F**k You's from the trail.
*  We didn't get lost.  The trails we used were all obvious and marked well enough so that only once we missed a turn but DogMan caught the error within a minute or two.
*  Heard it on the Big Deer Mountain:  Dogman, in a near delirious state:  "I don't remember coming up here."
*  Heard it on Big Deer Mountain:  Dogman, recovering from a near-delirious state: "Look at that view. It's like a painting".  And he was RIGHT!
*  The view from the cliffs of Big Deer out across the bog and the big valley we'd just circled was spectacularly gorgeous.  Nobody brought a camera.
*  The last mile:  Dogman suddenly fires his jets and pulls away like a torpedo from a submarine.
*  Great trail conversation - but I can't remember any of it.
*  tMail held back the entire time and stuck w/ the slowpokes.  Goddamn animal!
*  Great apres run at the new-ish Italian restaurant in St. J. that I'd never even seen/heard of.  It took an hour or three to eat because the little round husband/wife team and their one servant weren't out to win the gold, but the food was great and the company was excellent.
*  Dinner conversation around adding 6 miles and making money off "The Bog Ultra 50k".

tMail's Report: We started off in a nice cold drizzle and started off down Hookerville. We had our normal fun conversation on Lovely and admired Lovely Farm as we always do. We had great views of Peacham Pond as well. We soon headed into the woods and started our assault up Devil's Hill.  The descent down was on slick rocks and leaves. After Devil's it was off to do some bogging. The bog section was awesome we grooved along.

We had a great view of the bog from the bench and just thought about being in there in the winter. Our next destination was Little Deer and we got there soon.  The Little Deer ascent was great and led to some nice open ledge views. The survival mode went into gear up Telephone on our way to Owl's Head. I loved the ascent up to Owl's Head good trail and a little technical. The stairs near the top were nice just stair steeping up. 

We tackled Telephone again and it was soon time for Big Deer hunting. Big Deer delivered.  Dogman took down Big Deer after an antler was stuck in his side. We regrouped on top and blasted out. We had some good conversation about a 50k, a winter slog bog, a Southern Comfort Pain in the NEK then a bog slog.

We discussed oil, biomass, the bog and dinosaurs. I gave DogMan orange pills that MadDog had given me they worked.  We soon got back on Lovely to see the Lovely Princess. It was the right onto Hookerville and then home to the DogMan compound. 

Great Day!

Three Bonds In A Day: Bondcliff, Bond, West Bond

Route:  From Lincoln Woods Campground in to West Bond via Wilderness/Bondcliff trails.  Return the same route.

Mutha's Trip Report (pics here):  Hitting three Bonds in a day is nowhere near as though as hitting them quickly.  It's rare for anyone day-hiking the bonds - usually anyone you meet is overnighting and taking day trips from, say, Guyot campsite.  This was no exception except the sheer volume of hikers was impressive.  I didn't count, but I'm sure I encountered over 30 people - most with overnight packs.  And there were lots of dogs.

My splits:
* 8:40 left the cars
* 10:55 tagged Bondcliff (2:15) - took pics, left note using Pink Smoke Signal™, departed at 11:00
* 11:35 tagged Bond (2:55)
* 11:55 tagged West Bond (11 miles and 3500-ish feet later) (3:15).

Highlights:
* Set noon as the cutoff for Bond.  If I made it by then I'd tag West Bond, otherwise I'd skip it.  This was a bit of a lie because West Bond is not even an hour round-trip from Bond but it was a way to cut the day a little shorter if I needed it.
* Ran the Wilderness Trail w/ tMail.  We hit the Bondcliff trail, turned uphill and I said something about not keeping up the pace but was talking to the trees - nobody was there.  That was the last I saw of him until I met him on his way back from West Bond.  He just freakin' disappeared up the hill.
* Heavy metal rockers on Bondcliff, grooving to beer and foliage views and dressed like Lisbeth Salander
* Huskies everywhere - 6 of them in two separate groups.
* High winds on Bondcliff - took off my cap and gripped it in my hand.
* On returning to Bondcliff, saw ALL THE GUYS out on the rocks!
* Hanging out in the afternoon sun on Bondcliff with tMail, MadDog & g-$$$ after spending an eternity chasing a ghost.
* Headed back at a respectable pace in a normal hike mode with lots of trail chat.  Great to have some social time.
* The Wilderness Trail can be thoroughly enjoyed in a mutant form of 'Stockholm Syndrome' (thanks to g-$$$ for reminding me of the term)
* Got a free, fresh-fried chicken tender from the guy in the deli
* The traffic in Lincoln could've induced a coronary in a yak at 30 yards
* tMail doesn't know this but we almost rear-ended him in traffic as MadDog was bent over rubbing his leg when traffic ground to a halt.  Woah, cowboy!
* MadDog ate 'Crunchy Fresh Salad', sweet potato chips and a Bolthouse Cappuccino-Mocha beverage on the on-ramp to 93 while moving at highway speeds.  Woah, cowboy!
* Great Chisel stories.  But it's not worth the pain to get those stories (I'd rather spend the day doing Wilderness Trail repeats).  Thanks for taking a bullet for the team, tMail - great entertainment.
* Somebody needs to put a leash on tMail.  Woah Cowboy!

MadDog's Trip Report:  

1. It was an absolutely gorgeous day to be on the trail and catch up with g-$.
2. The trail had a soft carpet of freshly fallen and colorful leaves. So nice.
3. Yes, the wilderness rail bed is a ugly and painful as ever.
4. It become much more clearer to me, it is time to lessen the trail travel, and increase the bushwhack. In other words, bring on winter travel.
5. just as g-$ and I topped out, tmail was bounding his way across the BC summit...very nice to see him pick his way across the surface.
6. a short time later, mutha tops out - both of them breathing normal, and no perspiration...wtf!
7. for sure my preferred view is coming from west b, and bond - but i would not want to go back.
8. mutha just rocks, only 5 mins beforehand he tells me about scooping up misorders. next thing i know, i'm walking away from the PChopper deli section and hear mutha interrogating the deli team about stuff that won't be sold. i laughed. 5mins later, at the checkout.....mutha is run down by deli dave, and served up some chicken fritters. that's customer service, mutha style!
9. the only thing worse than the widerness trail is the 2mph march back to 93 when 4 million bostonians are packed into Lincoln.
10. my knee was a wreck all day. but once sitting in the car, the pain almost immediately subsided (perhaps the skittles helped).
11. whoah is right, is that tmail's jeep we almost smacked into. but we managed to stop. we are so f'n strong!
12. tmail is developing a great chisel routine, i heard today that a booking agent from vegas has called.
13. for all that it brings, we should get on the trail with the one and only strong man.

tMail's Trip Report:
·       2:02 to Summit of Bondcliff
·       2:32 to Summit of Bond
·       2:49 to Summit of West Bond
·       3:45 back to Bondcliff, MadDog created me with possible sub 6 back to the car.
·       Views breath taking
·       Mutha is a machine
·       G$$$ is a machine
·       MadDog is a machine
·       MadDog remains hero-less in our quest to find a him a hero
·       MadDog was quiet about Jobs, but you could tell he could care less, maybe he was showing respect
·       MadDog has $15,000 to allocate for a job
·       G$$$ - 0 Lincoln, NH – 1
·       Almost getting rear ended by MadDog
·       Mutha’s dilemma with TJ and the execution of Zeus, Chance and Einstein since resolved
·       The guy standing on the side of the Wilderness Trail that says “Look at all the trees”
·       DogMan you were missed
·       PM you were missed I will try to train harder and make Bondcliff in 90 minutes.