NH_Mtn_Hiker
New member
It was nearly 8:30 when Hamtero and I departed Lincoln-Woods on the Pemi East Side Trail. Even though this would add a few minutes to our trip, it sure beat that awful Lincoln-Woods Trail. When we arrived at the stepping stones across the Pemi East Branch River near the Franconia campsites we discovered the water was just a tad high for us to get across without getting our feet wet. So, we decided to head upstream and find a better place to cross. After rock hopping upstream, finding a place to cross, bushwhacking over to the Wilderness Trail, and hiking back to the Wilderness boundary, we finally arrived at the Franconia Brook Trail an hour and twenty minutes later. Maybe we should have just taken the Lincoln-Woods Trail...naa!
The trip north on the F.B.T. was rather uneventful except for discovering the beaver pond in the trail was flooded above flood stage...any higher and the town of Lincoln may have to be evacuated. We also noticed that dispite the forecast calling for only a 10% chance of precipitation all day, dense clouds were rolling in over the Franconia Ridge.
Shortly after crossing the Hellgate and Redrock brooks we began our bushwhack towards the railroad grade that runs into Redrock Ravine. We reached it at about 12:30 and followed it to it's end. Along the way it had started snowing lightly. From the end of the railroad grade we followed old roads until the brook dried up then we rockhopped up the brook all the way to Redrock Pond arriving at the south-east corner of the pond at 2:00.
The pond has a talus field on it's west side. From up on these rocks we had a great view of the pond, West Bond, and a large talus slide heading up to the Bond/West Bond col. After taking some pics from here we headed on around the pond to the north side...the FUN side. Running down the north headwall of the ravine to within a hundred yards of the pond is a slide. There was no trouble getting to the slide as the runoff from it has cleared a path right to the pond. The slide was mostly medium to large rocks, slab at the top and a few areas of gravel. It appears to be a fairly recent slide.
It took about 45 minutes to climb the slide. We hardly noticed the freezing temps and the 20-30 mph wind. The views from the slide were fantastic even considering the heavy cloud cover and the snow which was beginning to blanket the ground. We then turned our attention to bushwhacking over to the Twinway. The bushwhack was easier than I had expected and we arrived at the twinway at 3:30 where we had lunch before heading west.
Most of the way to South Twin the Twinway was covered with about 1/4 inch of snow as well as some left over ice. The temperature was in the high 20's, and having just eaten, we were feeling a bit chilly. By the time we climbed to the top of South Twin though we were all warmed up. As we descended towards the Galehead hut, the clouds parted for a short time and gave us some sunshine, but it was short lived, and by the time we reached the hut at 5:00 the clouds had reclaimed the sky.
From the hut, which had just closed for the season, we bagged Galehead Mtn., then headed off down the Garfield Ridge Trail to the Gale River Trail and arrived at my car at 7:30. The 4 mile Gale River Trail took only an hour-and-a-half because we had made plans to get a G&H pizza for supper.
In all a fun filled 20 mile, 11 hour hike with lots of great views along the way dispite the clouds, snow, and the freezing temps.
Pics are here.
The trip north on the F.B.T. was rather uneventful except for discovering the beaver pond in the trail was flooded above flood stage...any higher and the town of Lincoln may have to be evacuated. We also noticed that dispite the forecast calling for only a 10% chance of precipitation all day, dense clouds were rolling in over the Franconia Ridge.
Shortly after crossing the Hellgate and Redrock brooks we began our bushwhack towards the railroad grade that runs into Redrock Ravine. We reached it at about 12:30 and followed it to it's end. Along the way it had started snowing lightly. From the end of the railroad grade we followed old roads until the brook dried up then we rockhopped up the brook all the way to Redrock Pond arriving at the south-east corner of the pond at 2:00.
The pond has a talus field on it's west side. From up on these rocks we had a great view of the pond, West Bond, and a large talus slide heading up to the Bond/West Bond col. After taking some pics from here we headed on around the pond to the north side...the FUN side. Running down the north headwall of the ravine to within a hundred yards of the pond is a slide. There was no trouble getting to the slide as the runoff from it has cleared a path right to the pond. The slide was mostly medium to large rocks, slab at the top and a few areas of gravel. It appears to be a fairly recent slide.
It took about 45 minutes to climb the slide. We hardly noticed the freezing temps and the 20-30 mph wind. The views from the slide were fantastic even considering the heavy cloud cover and the snow which was beginning to blanket the ground. We then turned our attention to bushwhacking over to the Twinway. The bushwhack was easier than I had expected and we arrived at the twinway at 3:30 where we had lunch before heading west.
Most of the way to South Twin the Twinway was covered with about 1/4 inch of snow as well as some left over ice. The temperature was in the high 20's, and having just eaten, we were feeling a bit chilly. By the time we climbed to the top of South Twin though we were all warmed up. As we descended towards the Galehead hut, the clouds parted for a short time and gave us some sunshine, but it was short lived, and by the time we reached the hut at 5:00 the clouds had reclaimed the sky.
From the hut, which had just closed for the season, we bagged Galehead Mtn., then headed off down the Garfield Ridge Trail to the Gale River Trail and arrived at my car at 7:30. The 4 mile Gale River Trail took only an hour-and-a-half because we had made plans to get a G&H pizza for supper.
In all a fun filled 20 mile, 11 hour hike with lots of great views along the way dispite the clouds, snow, and the freezing temps.
Pics are here.
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