JohnL
New member
The stars of Orion’s Belt shone brightly in the clear black sky at 5:00AM as I loaded my car for the two and a half hour ride to the trailhead. The clear sky would soon disappear in the thick grayness of ground fog in Nashua and would not return until just north of Tilton where the orange and reds of the sunrise clouds matched the colors of the trees. I was kicking myself for not getting an earlier start as the ground fog lay in the valleys and the beaming sunrise shown on the hillsides. The undercast is always a visual treat from a high spot in the mountains.
I parked in the Gale River Trail lot and headed up the trail a bit before 8:00. The temp was about 40 degrees, the air was calm and maple leaves covered the trail. I took a few photos of the trail in an attempt to capture the tranquility of the woods. Soon I was a couple miles up the trail and came upon a young bull moose at the side of the trail. I stopped to ease my camera out of my waist pack to get a quick shot of him before he pranced off into the woods. At the time, I could have hardly imagined that twenty minutes later I would still be taking photos of him.
He was facing away from me and his first reaction upon seeing me was to turn his head completely towards me, apparently to let me see that he was busy eating some green maple leaves. I did not quite know what to do so I kept on clicking away. I was extremely unnerved by the situation. I could see that he was a young male but I did not know if he was young enough to still have his mother close by. I was continually snapping my head around at any sound in the woods expecting to have an irate mother coming after me. But there was nothing in the woods but birds and chipmunks.
I inched my way closer to the moose as he gradually walked ahead a few paces at a time to gather more leaves for his meal. He would occasionally turn around to check me out but otherwise he was docile and extremely tolerant of my close presence. He was fully involved with his meal and he apparently sensed little or no danger in my being there. I was now within twelve feet of him. I was on edge and the adrenaline rush was thrilling. I got the impression I could have walked up to him and patted him on the shoulders but I knew that was just madness.
I had now spent about fifteen minutes with him and decided that I was either going to hike today or stay here and take photos of my new model. I tried to get him to move by yelling, flailing my arms, and whacking branches to the ground but he just gave me a look as if to say that I was interrupting his quiet meal. I had only one choice.
With a high bank to the left of the trial and the stream on the right, I went into the woods to my right and immediately began to break through dead branches that were piled up along the stream bank. I feared that my spastic flailing would signal a threat to the moose but he ignored me. I snapped a few photos as I came up alongside of him. Then I went ahead of him by about fifteen feet, snapped a few more photos, bid my new friend adieu, and headed up the trail. I kept turning around with the silly belief that he would follow me, as if he were a stray dog looking for a treat. I knew it was crazy but I kept turning around anyway.
The rest of the day was uneventful by comparison. I met up with three other groups of hikers who had spent the night at the Hut, one of whom had seen the same moose the day before. All were headed down the trail so by the time I got to the Hut, it was deserted. I took a couple photos at the Hut outlook and then headed up to the summit of Galehead. I placed some rocks at the summit cairn and headed back to the summit outlook where I took in the view of the Hut, the Twins and the valley to the south. It was a nice quiet place but a sudden gust of wind blew my hat off as I took some photos. It told me that South Twin would be chilly.
I got back to the Hut a little after 10:30 and headed straight up the Twinway. It had been a couple years since I had climbed this section of trail and I looked forward to the climb to the top. I met a group of three along the way and stopped to chat with them for a couple minutes. I would see them later on the summit. I reached the summit at 11:10 where it was 45 degrees and a breeze blew 10 to 15 mph. I donned a wind jacket while I ate my lunch and snapped off some more photos. The 360 degree views from here are indeed impressive and I marvel at them every time I stop up here.
After lunch I headed back to the Hut and then onward toward Garfield. Despite the road walk at the end of the day, I like this loop trip a lot. Two impressive summits and some excellent steep climbs for the physical challenge. The Garfield Ridge Trail has some impressive climbs interspersed with some nice viewpoints through the trees. I did not expect to see anyone on a Monday along this section but two solo hikers and a group of five ladies proved me wrong.
Just before the last steep climb to the summit, the air became eerily quiet. The wind had died down for a moment and the calmness startled me briefly. The wind came back as I climbed the summit slabs and clumsily made my way over the foundation to seek shelter from the wind. Again, I reveled in the views, took some photos and grabbed another snack. The foliage colors in the valleys were exhilarating but not peaked out yet.
It was now 1:45 and time to head down. The trail was in good shape despite the summer’s incessant rains and the covering of leaves became thicker as I descended. I managed to avoid any twisted ankles with the rocks hidden beneath the leaves. I met two guys who said they were going to camp near Garfield Pond and they were my only company on the trail. I was down at 3:20 and then there was the road walk; 1.6 miles of dusty, marble covered road, mostly uphill. I met one of the solo hikers I had met earlier and I said we should have traded car keys up there. He agreed but, alas, it was too late now. At 3:45 I was back at the car, taking off my boots (aaah), changing into a cotton shirt (aaaah), and stretching (oooooooh). A great day in the woods. Sure beats working!
Photos are here.
JohnL
I parked in the Gale River Trail lot and headed up the trail a bit before 8:00. The temp was about 40 degrees, the air was calm and maple leaves covered the trail. I took a few photos of the trail in an attempt to capture the tranquility of the woods. Soon I was a couple miles up the trail and came upon a young bull moose at the side of the trail. I stopped to ease my camera out of my waist pack to get a quick shot of him before he pranced off into the woods. At the time, I could have hardly imagined that twenty minutes later I would still be taking photos of him.
He was facing away from me and his first reaction upon seeing me was to turn his head completely towards me, apparently to let me see that he was busy eating some green maple leaves. I did not quite know what to do so I kept on clicking away. I was extremely unnerved by the situation. I could see that he was a young male but I did not know if he was young enough to still have his mother close by. I was continually snapping my head around at any sound in the woods expecting to have an irate mother coming after me. But there was nothing in the woods but birds and chipmunks.
I inched my way closer to the moose as he gradually walked ahead a few paces at a time to gather more leaves for his meal. He would occasionally turn around to check me out but otherwise he was docile and extremely tolerant of my close presence. He was fully involved with his meal and he apparently sensed little or no danger in my being there. I was now within twelve feet of him. I was on edge and the adrenaline rush was thrilling. I got the impression I could have walked up to him and patted him on the shoulders but I knew that was just madness.
I had now spent about fifteen minutes with him and decided that I was either going to hike today or stay here and take photos of my new model. I tried to get him to move by yelling, flailing my arms, and whacking branches to the ground but he just gave me a look as if to say that I was interrupting his quiet meal. I had only one choice.
With a high bank to the left of the trial and the stream on the right, I went into the woods to my right and immediately began to break through dead branches that were piled up along the stream bank. I feared that my spastic flailing would signal a threat to the moose but he ignored me. I snapped a few photos as I came up alongside of him. Then I went ahead of him by about fifteen feet, snapped a few more photos, bid my new friend adieu, and headed up the trail. I kept turning around with the silly belief that he would follow me, as if he were a stray dog looking for a treat. I knew it was crazy but I kept turning around anyway.
The rest of the day was uneventful by comparison. I met up with three other groups of hikers who had spent the night at the Hut, one of whom had seen the same moose the day before. All were headed down the trail so by the time I got to the Hut, it was deserted. I took a couple photos at the Hut outlook and then headed up to the summit of Galehead. I placed some rocks at the summit cairn and headed back to the summit outlook where I took in the view of the Hut, the Twins and the valley to the south. It was a nice quiet place but a sudden gust of wind blew my hat off as I took some photos. It told me that South Twin would be chilly.
I got back to the Hut a little after 10:30 and headed straight up the Twinway. It had been a couple years since I had climbed this section of trail and I looked forward to the climb to the top. I met a group of three along the way and stopped to chat with them for a couple minutes. I would see them later on the summit. I reached the summit at 11:10 where it was 45 degrees and a breeze blew 10 to 15 mph. I donned a wind jacket while I ate my lunch and snapped off some more photos. The 360 degree views from here are indeed impressive and I marvel at them every time I stop up here.
After lunch I headed back to the Hut and then onward toward Garfield. Despite the road walk at the end of the day, I like this loop trip a lot. Two impressive summits and some excellent steep climbs for the physical challenge. The Garfield Ridge Trail has some impressive climbs interspersed with some nice viewpoints through the trees. I did not expect to see anyone on a Monday along this section but two solo hikers and a group of five ladies proved me wrong.
Just before the last steep climb to the summit, the air became eerily quiet. The wind had died down for a moment and the calmness startled me briefly. The wind came back as I climbed the summit slabs and clumsily made my way over the foundation to seek shelter from the wind. Again, I reveled in the views, took some photos and grabbed another snack. The foliage colors in the valleys were exhilarating but not peaked out yet.
It was now 1:45 and time to head down. The trail was in good shape despite the summer’s incessant rains and the covering of leaves became thicker as I descended. I managed to avoid any twisted ankles with the rocks hidden beneath the leaves. I met two guys who said they were going to camp near Garfield Pond and they were my only company on the trail. I was down at 3:20 and then there was the road walk; 1.6 miles of dusty, marble covered road, mostly uphill. I met one of the solo hikers I had met earlier and I said we should have traded car keys up there. He agreed but, alas, it was too late now. At 3:45 I was back at the car, taking off my boots (aaah), changing into a cotton shirt (aaaah), and stretching (oooooooh). A great day in the woods. Sure beats working!
Photos are here.
JohnL
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