September 12, 2009
Today I had something quite different on the agenda. I would be hiking Owl's Head. By itself, that was nothing out of the ordinary, but today I would be climbing Galehead and Garfield as well. I'm not saying I'm the first to put this combo together, but I will say that I've never heard of anyone putting these three peaks into one hike. Madison and I started at the Gale River Trailhead at 7:15.
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View part way up the mountain
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Closing in on the hut.
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The weather was overcast all day, but it surprisingly didn't rain a single drop.
View south from the hut
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It was too early in the day for a break, but seeing I had a bench to sit on, I took advanatage of it.
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I'm usually not hungry this early, but I left the house this morning without having my green smoothie, superfood, and greener grasses (BAD ERIC). So seeing I was legitimately hungry, I snacked on some banana chips.
Time to head up to Galehead Mountain.
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I dropped down to the junction of the Twin Brook Trail where I ditched my pack.
On the way up to the summit I stopped at the outlook to look down to the hut.
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Madison on the summit of Galehead. This was #42 for her.
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I headed back down to where I ditched my pack and took the Twin Brook Trail, a new trail for me.
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A couple minutes later I entered the Pemigewassett Wilderness.
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Down, down, down I headed, losing most of the elevation that I had gained earlier. I came out at 13 Falls. When I was here back at the end of June the tentsite was packed. It was deserted today. Madison went for a quick dip.
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Looking up to the back side of Owl's Head.
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I wished there was a shorter way to get there. I would have to go all the way around to the west side before making my assault on the summit.
The next 3.5 miles of trail I had done back in late June. I wasn't particularly fond of it. Although the rain held off today, the trail was overgrown so I got pretty well soaked as the branches dried themselves on my shirt and shorts. Despite not climbing a peak through this section, I had a fairly significant gain before heading back down the other side. I came to the base of the Owl's Head slide. I figured I could knock this part of the hike out pretty quickly. I ditched my pack and one pole and headed up the slide. I didn't even bring my camera. This was my 4th month in a row climbing Owl's Head so I saw no need for further pictures. Up, up, up I went to the top of the slide.
A little before the traditional summit, I came across some hikers. They were attaching a pole to a tree. It took me a minute to figure out what they were doing. The day before was 9-11. Each year on the Saturday nearest 9-11, they fly flags on each of the 48 four thousand footers for a couple of hours. I wasn't quite sure why they picked this spot. They were quite a ways from the true summit. All I could figure was that maybe they picked a spot where they could get the flag above the trees. I headed over to the traditional summit and then the true summit. I tagged the cairn and turned right around. As I returned to where the hikers were, one of them was walking toward me. He asked where the summit was. I hated to burst his bubble, but they were nearly half a mile from the true summit. I think they decided where they had it was close enough.
I headed back down the slide, once again losing most of the elevation that I had gained. It was time for a break. I gave Maddie some food while I sipped on some coconut water and finished off my banana chips. Now I had the ugly 3.5 mile hike back to 13 Falls. As I neared the tentsite, I took a picture of one of the falls.
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Back at the open ledge area near 13 Falls
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Now it was time to take the northern section of the Franconia Brook Trail up to Garfield. I checked my GPS. I needed to gain another 2100 feet before I reached the summit of Garfield, a fairly significant amount for so late in the day. The next 2.2 miles I gained roughly half of the necessary vertical.
Madison on some bog bridging as we headed up to Garfield Ridge.
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Finally, Garfield Ridge
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Now the big push up to Garfield. With all the hiking I've done in the Whites, I had only been on this section of trail once and it was coming down it. It had been a long day. I was getting fatigued.
Madison heading up to Garfield
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I ditched my pack about .2 miles from the summit. Up we went.
Madison on the summit of Garfield. This was #43 for her.
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This completed my 4th loop of the White Mountains 4000 footers and was my 300th Grid Peak!
I headed out on the Garfield Trail stopping once along the way for my 3rd and final break where I enjoyed an apple. The 5 mile trail from the summit seemed to take forever. I finally came out on the road. There were two hikers talking next to their pickup truck. As I headed up the road I was hoping one of them would ask if I needed a ride. No such luck. The 1.6 mile roadwalk was mostly uphill. Who planned this hike anyway??? I orginally had planned to jog the road. Ha! Who was I kidding. I tried a couple different times and my feet hurt just too much from the long day. I reached my truck about 7:13, finishing in just under 12 hours. I've done a lot of hiking over the past 4-5 years. This was one of my most challenging hikes to date.
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