grouseking
Well-known member
The great hiking continues....I had originally planned to do Garfield and Galehead but we started out extremely late (10:30ish) to be able to bag both peaks and actually enjoy them.
Lots of times when I read a trip report about Galehead, it normally talks about a boring trail and a boring summit with a fairly descent view from the hut. But I still had great expectations because sometimes I find beauty in things that others don't. Same thing with my friend Matt, who joined me (well actually he drove
but I forked over the gas money).
The Gale River trail is my kind of trail! It starts out mellow, walking through beautiful mixed northern hardwood with the sound of the Gale River never too far away. When we crossed it, I was in awe of how clear the stream was. It is definitely one of the clearest streams I have ever seen anywhere. Lots of cascades made for photo ops up the ying yang for me, although this trip I didn't take "as many photos" as normal.
At about 2500 ft, maybe lower, we came across a messload of feathers on the trail. They had white spots all over them. They looked like one from a spruce grouse, and I would have to say it got destroyed by something. There was no blood, so maybe it was taken by a Great Horned Owl. Those things are viscious . It struck me as odd to have a spruce grouse down this low with limited spruce and fir. The only time I've ever seen them this low is on Shoal Pond trail where there is a cornucopia of spruce and fir. But I digress....
Soon after the view up towards North Twin the steeps begin. And I need to add, fall is well underway in the White Mountains! Anywhere above 2500 ft, the birches are changing color fast! They are dull at best so I was wondering if that fungus from all the heavy rain has anything to do with the dying leaves. There was even some significant leaf drop towards 3000 feet, making it feel like late September.
We arrived at Garfield Ridge trail, at some point, I wasn't keeping track, but I was beginning to doubt my thoughts on hiking the 1200 miles over to Garfield from the hut. It just looked so far...... But we arrived at the hut in fantastic spirits. Funny thing though, the forecast was for mostly sunny, yet as usual in the Pemi the clouds were nice and dark and it actually sprinkled for a time. Only in the Pemi. Temp at Galehead hut...55 degrees, quite September like!
So some woman egged us on saying she made it to Galehead summit in 8 minutes, and that we should beat the "girls" up to the summit. I was kind of surprised that someone who I didn't even know would say something like that. All I can say is she must have been lying. There's a steep little sucker partway up that stopped me dead in my tracks. Eight minutes my butt. Well we did it in 13, so there! That was number 24 for me, holy crap I'm halfway done! Never thought I'd start counting....
Ok, so the summit might have been a little anticlimatic, but the viewpoint just below the summit far surpassed what I had imagined. The view up to South Twin and along its ridge was breathtaking. The foliage (yes foliage) helped the views out even more. The pics did not do it justice because the sun was shinning from outside the Pemi and was causing my pics to be overexposed (I think thats the term). It was quite interesting to see the Pemi cloud hanging over the Twins and Garfield area, while sunshine was basking most areas south, and north of the region. Yet another reason why I think the South Twin area gets hundreds of inches of snow per year, probably rivaling and surpassing Mt Washington and ....dun dun dun....Jay Peak. But once again I digress.
We arrived back at the hut in 8 min or so (hmm 8 min) and hung out there for a few min. Justy then a group of at least 20 started arrived at the hut with..surprise...4 or 5 dogs. And they let them in the hut! It kind of surprised me and the croo member got them out of there real fast. I feel bad for those dogs because the group was staying there Sat night and the dogs would have to stay tied out all night, then walk out today....in the cold rain. I love dogs, and these dogs rocked the house...very nice, well mannered and calm. But having those dogs up there once again might cause a problem. (I guess I digressed again)
We took off down the Garfield Ridge trail, deciding to skip Garfield and head over to North Sugarloaf off Zealand Rd if we weren't too tired or it wasn't too late. Forcing ourselves over to Garfield would have been too much I think, and I didnt fancy a 1.6 mile roadwalk in the dark. The trail down flew by, half because of its beauty and half because we were yapping about everything under the sun. The Gale River was just as beautiful as we left it, and I got more shots on the way down, which broke up the constant walking. We arrived at the bottom around 4:50pm...so a 10.2 mile hike was completed in 6 hr 20 min. That's actually pretty good for me. The trip will rank as one of my favorite treks to a 4,000 footer. Yes, the summit has no view whatsoever, but the beautiful walk to the summit is what makes it worth hiking. As I stated earlier, we took a trip up North Sugarloaf, and I'll post those pics as well as a brief report on it in a few. But first, here are the Galehead pics.
Later people,
grouseking
Lots of times when I read a trip report about Galehead, it normally talks about a boring trail and a boring summit with a fairly descent view from the hut. But I still had great expectations because sometimes I find beauty in things that others don't. Same thing with my friend Matt, who joined me (well actually he drove
but I forked over the gas money). The Gale River trail is my kind of trail! It starts out mellow, walking through beautiful mixed northern hardwood with the sound of the Gale River never too far away. When we crossed it, I was in awe of how clear the stream was. It is definitely one of the clearest streams I have ever seen anywhere. Lots of cascades made for photo ops up the ying yang for me, although this trip I didn't take "as many photos" as normal.
At about 2500 ft, maybe lower, we came across a messload of feathers on the trail. They had white spots all over them. They looked like one from a spruce grouse, and I would have to say it got destroyed by something. There was no blood, so maybe it was taken by a Great Horned Owl. Those things are viscious
. It struck me as odd to have a spruce grouse down this low with limited spruce and fir. The only time I've ever seen them this low is on Shoal Pond trail where there is a cornucopia of spruce and fir. But I digress....Soon after the view up towards North Twin the steeps begin. And I need to add, fall is well underway in the White Mountains! Anywhere above 2500 ft, the birches are changing color fast! They are dull at best so I was wondering if that fungus from all the heavy rain has anything to do with the dying leaves. There was even some significant leaf drop towards 3000 feet, making it feel like late September.
We arrived at Garfield Ridge trail, at some point, I wasn't keeping track, but I was beginning to doubt my thoughts on hiking the 1200 miles over to Garfield from the hut. It just looked so far...... But we arrived at the hut in fantastic spirits. Funny thing though, the forecast was for mostly sunny, yet as usual in the Pemi the clouds were nice and dark and it actually sprinkled for a time. Only in the Pemi. Temp at Galehead hut...55 degrees, quite September like!
So some woman egged us on saying she made it to Galehead summit in 8 minutes, and that we should beat the "girls" up to the summit. I was kind of surprised that someone who I didn't even know would say something like that. All I can say is she must have been lying. There's a steep little sucker partway up that stopped me dead in my tracks. Eight minutes my butt. Well we did it in 13, so there! That was number 24 for me, holy crap I'm halfway done! Never thought I'd start counting....
Ok, so the summit might have been a little anticlimatic, but the viewpoint just below the summit far surpassed what I had imagined. The view up to South Twin and along its ridge was breathtaking. The foliage (yes foliage) helped the views out even more. The pics did not do it justice because the sun was shinning from outside the Pemi and was causing my pics to be overexposed (I think thats the term). It was quite interesting to see the Pemi cloud hanging over the Twins and Garfield area, while sunshine was basking most areas south, and north of the region. Yet another reason why I think the South Twin area gets hundreds of inches of snow per year, probably rivaling and surpassing Mt Washington and ....dun dun dun....Jay Peak. But once again I digress.
We arrived back at the hut in 8 min or so (hmm 8 min) and hung out there for a few min. Justy then a group of at least 20 started arrived at the hut with..surprise...4 or 5 dogs. And they let them in the hut! It kind of surprised me and the croo member got them out of there real fast. I feel bad for those dogs because the group was staying there Sat night and the dogs would have to stay tied out all night, then walk out today....in the cold rain. I love dogs, and these dogs rocked the house...very nice, well mannered and calm. But having those dogs up there once again might cause a problem. (I guess I digressed again)
We took off down the Garfield Ridge trail, deciding to skip Garfield and head over to North Sugarloaf off Zealand Rd if we weren't too tired or it wasn't too late. Forcing ourselves over to Garfield would have been too much I think, and I didnt fancy a 1.6 mile roadwalk in the dark. The trail down flew by, half because of its beauty and half because we were yapping about everything under the sun. The Gale River was just as beautiful as we left it, and I got more shots on the way down, which broke up the constant walking. We arrived at the bottom around 4:50pm...so a 10.2 mile hike was completed in 6 hr 20 min. That's actually pretty good for me. The trip will rank as one of my favorite treks to a 4,000 footer. Yes, the summit has no view whatsoever, but the beautiful walk to the summit is what makes it worth hiking. As I stated earlier, we took a trip up North Sugarloaf, and I'll post those pics as well as a brief report on it in a few. But first, here are the Galehead pics.
Later people,
grouseking
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