The Bonds

 I have been waiting for a good day to do this hike for the last month or so. This day was just about perfect. I went over the night before and stayed at the parking lot at the end of Zealand road. Good place to overnight. The day started out at or below 50 which meant a hat and gloves for the first hour. Things quickly warmed up after that.

This hike goes by numerous ponds and waterfalls for the first 3 miles. Zealand Falls is a nice waterfall with multiple falls. More water when I was here last but still pretty nice in the middle of August. Then up to Zealand mountain. Zealand is treed but there are a few good view points before you get there. Then it is rocky and up hill to Mt Guyot which is 4,580 feet but not on the list of 4000 footers because there isn't enough of an elevation difference between Guyot and South Twin. Lots of views from Guyot and continuing to all the Bonds. Next I went to Mt Bond which is the highest of the mountains on this trip. It is mostly open from Bond to Bondcliff and great views of the Lafayette range, Garfield, the Twins, and many more distant peaks. Lots of slides on West Bond and also on the Twins. You are looking into a large area with no roads and lots of high peaks. Bondcliff has a cliff as you would expect. Rocky side with dramatic drops into the valley. After Bondcliff it was a fairly steep trail back up to the top of Bond (again). From there I went to West Bond which has great views back to the Bond and Bondcliff ridge. Then it was back over Guyot and Zealand to head back down. By the time I got back to the Zealand hut I was pretty tired. Another three miles from there! The whole trip was 20 miles with lots of elevation gain/loss. There are a fair number of people around Zealand hut since this is a 3 miles hike from the parking area and it is a large hut with food service. I would not go on a summer weekend.

In summary a great day with a wide variety of ponds, waterfalls, and mountains. 

Two more mountains to complete the 48 (2nd time): Owls Head, Isolation. Plan to go to Owls Head next and leave Isolation for last. Not sure when I will get over there again.

Zealand Pond

Zealand Falls

Zealand Hut

On way to Guyot

Bondcliff

West Bond

Bondcliff area

Bondcliff from West Bond

Bond from West Bond

Ridge between Bond and Bondcliff

Top of Mt Zealand

Ponds hiking out

Panoramic of Zealand Pond

Two maps for this hike: