p2piper
New member
Wednesday was the best weather day of the week so Nancy and I took a day off from work and headed to the White Mountains to bag a couple more peaks. This time we chose to tackle Mts. Galehead and Garfield: our 7th and 8th 4,000-footers of the 67 4,000-footers in New England. We reached the trailhead parking area, changed into boots, put on bug dope, hauled on our packs, and hit the Gale River Trail at 8:41 am. The Gale River Trail is a long, but very civilized trail up to the Galehead Hut. We crossed the river a couple of times, once taking our boots off – cold and refreshing. Nancy and I were in good spirits, feeling strong and ready for the 13.9 mile loop. The woods were dark and green, the trail muddy in some areas. In fact, a mile or so into the hike, I fell… hard – thought I was stepping on a rock but it turned out to be a log and my foot slipped off into a foot of mud while I slammed into the trail on my right side. Couple of bruises and a cut on my elbow – nothing very interesting.
Heard Oven birds, Yellow Warblers, Winter Wrens, a Veery, some wood Thrushes. I love the sounds in the woods. As I walked my senses were so open – I absorbed sounds and smells like they were nutrients, balm for the soul.
We arrived at the Galehead Hut at 11:15 am, wondering at the bizarre whirring sound made by the windmill thingie on top of the hut. Not sure of its purpose… electricity? But it made a weird, unnatural sound when the wind gusted. This was our second visit to an AMC hut (Greenleaf hut was the first). We met up with a couple of friends who had hiked up the day before and they joined us as we hiked up to the Galehead summit, then back down to an overlook to eat lunch. After lunch we hiked back to the hut, our friends packed their gear, and we headed down the Garfield Ridge Trail at 12:41 pm.
Down, down, down, down we went. I thought this was supposed to be a ridge with minor elevation change. Wrong. I liked the trail, but when Garfield poked its head above the trees and we actually got a sense of how much elevation we were going to have to regain, I could hardly believe it. Perspective is so different when I’m climbing. I look at where we’ve come from or where we’re going and think to myself, “I can’t do that – it’s way too long,” or “Wow, we hiked all that way in just an hour!” I was starting to feel a little fatigue so looking up at Garfield was a little daunting. Truthfully, though, I love climbing on trails that are straight up with lots of scrambling – like the Flume Slide Trail. So up we went and arrived at the summit at 3:11pm. Beautiful view of the Pemigewasset Valley and Owls Head. A true 360 view. Gorgeous. But the black flies were incessant and annoying, despite the breeze and cooler temperatures at the summit. After taking pictures, eating something, and changing my socks, we started back down. Hit the Garfield Trail intersection at 3:41pm.
Our friends were much faster on the descent (and the ascent as well) so Nancy and I hiked alone like we usually do. They had stashed their bikes at the trailhead and were going to ride the 1.6 miles to the Gale River trailhead to get both our cars. What service! We started down and the trail was extremely civilized. I used my poles because I know how painful my knees can get on descents despite not really needing them. Again, a very lush, green trail, some muddy spots, with occasional areas where the trail was rock free and I could look around. I don’t like always having to watch where I put my feet – I miss seeing things in the woods around me. But at this point in the hike, I was tired and if I don’t watch my feet, I make mistakes and several times have almost done a face plant down a rock face. So, I watch where I put my feet, especially when I’m tired.
The trail was about 4.9 miles long, making for a pretty long day, and as we walked it felt like it was never going to end. After 3 miles or so, I kept expecting to see the parking lot around every corner, on every horizon, but no, the trail ended when it was good and ready, and I was soooo happy to see our friends driving up with the car. We hit the parking lot at 6:21pm: 44,833 steps according to my pedometer and our feet felt every one of them. It felt so good to put on Tevas and head to Gordi’s in Lincoln for a burger. I needed to replenish my body with protein and carbs. Yum. We sat in the sun and talked about how great it was to celebrate the summer solstice by spending it bagging a couple of peaks.
Heard Oven birds, Yellow Warblers, Winter Wrens, a Veery, some wood Thrushes. I love the sounds in the woods. As I walked my senses were so open – I absorbed sounds and smells like they were nutrients, balm for the soul.
We arrived at the Galehead Hut at 11:15 am, wondering at the bizarre whirring sound made by the windmill thingie on top of the hut. Not sure of its purpose… electricity? But it made a weird, unnatural sound when the wind gusted. This was our second visit to an AMC hut (Greenleaf hut was the first). We met up with a couple of friends who had hiked up the day before and they joined us as we hiked up to the Galehead summit, then back down to an overlook to eat lunch. After lunch we hiked back to the hut, our friends packed their gear, and we headed down the Garfield Ridge Trail at 12:41 pm.
Down, down, down, down we went. I thought this was supposed to be a ridge with minor elevation change. Wrong. I liked the trail, but when Garfield poked its head above the trees and we actually got a sense of how much elevation we were going to have to regain, I could hardly believe it. Perspective is so different when I’m climbing. I look at where we’ve come from or where we’re going and think to myself, “I can’t do that – it’s way too long,” or “Wow, we hiked all that way in just an hour!” I was starting to feel a little fatigue so looking up at Garfield was a little daunting. Truthfully, though, I love climbing on trails that are straight up with lots of scrambling – like the Flume Slide Trail. So up we went and arrived at the summit at 3:11pm. Beautiful view of the Pemigewasset Valley and Owls Head. A true 360 view. Gorgeous. But the black flies were incessant and annoying, despite the breeze and cooler temperatures at the summit. After taking pictures, eating something, and changing my socks, we started back down. Hit the Garfield Trail intersection at 3:41pm.
Our friends were much faster on the descent (and the ascent as well) so Nancy and I hiked alone like we usually do. They had stashed their bikes at the trailhead and were going to ride the 1.6 miles to the Gale River trailhead to get both our cars. What service! We started down and the trail was extremely civilized. I used my poles because I know how painful my knees can get on descents despite not really needing them. Again, a very lush, green trail, some muddy spots, with occasional areas where the trail was rock free and I could look around. I don’t like always having to watch where I put my feet – I miss seeing things in the woods around me. But at this point in the hike, I was tired and if I don’t watch my feet, I make mistakes and several times have almost done a face plant down a rock face. So, I watch where I put my feet, especially when I’m tired.
The trail was about 4.9 miles long, making for a pretty long day, and as we walked it felt like it was never going to end. After 3 miles or so, I kept expecting to see the parking lot around every corner, on every horizon, but no, the trail ended when it was good and ready, and I was soooo happy to see our friends driving up with the car. We hit the parking lot at 6:21pm: 44,833 steps according to my pedometer and our feet felt every one of them. It felt so good to put on Tevas and head to Gordi’s in Lincoln for a burger. I needed to replenish my body with protein and carbs. Yum. We sat in the sun and talked about how great it was to celebrate the summer solstice by spending it bagging a couple of peaks.
