I really really did not want to hike 22.8 miles. But in the end that is what I ended up doing.
With those 4 peaks remaining to complete a winter 48 round I gave a lot of thought to how to approach them. Doing Zealand separately didn't make sense, it would be close to 18 miles with no views other than from Zeacliff. So the plan i came up with was to hike into Zealand hut, spend the night and hike the traverse the next day. After watching the weather forecasts decided to hike to the hut on Tuesday. Arranged to leave my car at Lincoln Woods (volunteers to join me on this trek were mysteriously lacking) and get a shuttle ride to Zealand road. Made hotel reservations for before and after. Then on Monday night when I went to reserve a spot at the hut I was stunned to see it was sold out Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Turns out a high school group booked it completely.
So needed a new plan. Decided I would still do it over 2 days but stay at Guyot shelter, leaving from Lincoln Woods. Started by headlamp on Wednesday at 6 AM. Icy on Lincoln Woods trail and then well packed solid trench on Bondcliff trail, used spikes up to summit. Easy grades made for fast travel to this first summit. The ridge was almost completely bare of snow and ice. Starting up Bond the crust was firm enough to walk on-until it wasn't. After encountering a few quite deep spruce traps switched to snow shoes. Despite having GPS the trail was impossible to follow. No visible corridor, faint tracks wandering everywhere and constantly having to shove my way through closely adjacent balsams, spent a very unpleasant half hour inching my way up before finding a visible trail 200 feet from the summit. Truly one of my worst hiking experiences topped only by ascending Grace Peak slide in deep unconsolidated snow with Joe Cedar a few years ago.The trail down from Bond had fortunately been broken out by one hiker so that was straightforward. Met 4 other hikers on the spur to west Bond so that was well broken out. After returning to the junction and heading north for a while I realized that I really should have sen the trail to Guyot shelter by now. Checked GPS and sure enough I had walked right by it, the sign may have been partly obscured by snow but in any event there were no tracks heading that direction that I saw. At this point I considered the options, it was only a little after 2:00. The prospect of going to the shelter and hanging out for 5 hours waiting for nightfall was not appealing. Decide to push on to Zealand and then either backtrack to the shelter for the night or maybe just hike out to Zealand road.
Guyot summit was just as rocky and snow free as Bondcliff and winds were fortunately minimal as there is prolonged exposure on this stretch. Uneventful trip over to the Nye-like summit of Zealand. It was about 3:45. Debated pros and cons of what to do next. The only reason not to hike out by the hut was that I did not have a ride arranged. Other hikers had told me there was good cell coverage on Route 302 and I knew the shuttle company was open till 9 and there were other local taxi companies. The lure of a hotel bed versus hiking back over Guyot and climbing over Bond and Bondcliff the next day was too strong-even though I knew I was likely going to run out of daylight. The steep descent to the hut slowed me down considerably as butt sliding had turned sections into a toboggan run. Spoke briefly to the hut caretaker who confirmed all bunks were taken but also said calling for a ride shouldn't be a problem. The road was a mixture of glare ice and bare pavement and I was unable to bare boot it safely. Long trudge out with aching in just about every muscle group. It was a little before 8 when I got to the end of the road. Called the shuttle company, they said no driver available for out of town trips at that hour. Had the number of a taxi company with me, no answer. Not enough signal for internet to look up other numbers. Called my wife, had her look up some other ride services, no luck with any of them. Minimal traffic-and hitch hiking is illegal in New Hampshire but I was about to do so when I saw a light coming quickly down Zealand road. It was a guy finishing a multiday skiing trip and his wife soon pulled in and they agreed to drive my sorry ass down to Lincoln. Lesson learned, car should be at finish point.