Pemi Loop - Third Trip of 2014 and the Warmest

As planned, I was able to make it back to the Pemi Loop one final time before fall settles in.  I headed up bright and early, sharing a ride with Jamie Anderson.

The high summit forecast for the day was for clear skies, temps in the 50s and 5-20mph winds developing.  The clear sky part was correct, but the temps rose much higher than the forecast, there was no breeze to speak of, and the humidity was pretty darn high. I was soaked in sweat by the time I reached the top of Bondcliff.

Jamie and I headed out a little after 6:30am.  We slowly made our way up the Wilderness Trail and despite one bio-break (Jamie) we made it to the Bondcliff Trail in about the same time as my previous run of the loop.

I kept a moderate pace up Bondcliff, arriving just before Jamie.  We hung for a few minutes to take in the best views of the loop and to snap a few photos. I headed off in front of Jamie and gained a little bit of time on the rocky downhill section.

We met up with a nice woman at the summit of Bond. She was doing a partial Pemi, having camped at the Guyot campground the previous night. We chatted for a few minutes before heading off to Guyot, Twin and the Gailhead Hut.  Jamie told me to go at my own pace and not to worry about waiting.

I made good time on the section from Bond to Gailhead, waiting a few times to see if Jamie would catch up, no dice.

I was a little slower getting to the hut, but was in and out quickly.  I wanted to get in as much distance as I could given the rapidly rising temperatures.

I made better time on the trip to Garfield than last time. And unlike last time, I topped by bottles off at the Garfield spring. Smart move given the weather.

I made good time up and over Lafayette, but started to fade when I made it to Liberty. I slowed down a lot on the trail to Flume, partially to conserve energy and water, which was almost gone.

I reached the top of the Osseo Trail with 8:15 on the clock and was officially out of water.  I so wanted to be done at this point.

It seemed to take forever to reach the Wilderness Trail, despite being one of my fastest times on the section.  I ran as fast as I could back the bridge so I could cool off in the river and down some fresh water. The river never felt so good.

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Photos

Cheers!