June 5, 2010
After a couple weeks doing new hikes, it is a new month and I'm back to the Grid. It looks like a rainy day but I have a big day planned just the same. I began today's hike at the Gale River Trailhead. Madison and I hit the trail at 7:30. It was raining but surprisingly stopped after 15 minutes and didn't pick up again until the last 15 minutes of the day. Madison and I headed up to the hut and then up to South Twin. After an out and back to North Twin with no views because of the weather, we returned to Galehead Hut.
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The weather was improving somewhat, and I had a view into the Pemi Wilderness.
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On to Galehead Mountain
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We returned once again to the hut where Madison and I had lunch. I've been across rugged Garfield Ridge many times over the last year. Today I decided to do something a little different and hit the summits of two 3000 footers that require short bushwhacks.
Madison on some stone steps.
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Steep section as I headed up the Appalachian Trail to Garfield Ridge East Peak.
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The trail got me within 200-300 feet of the summit. It was a very short bushwhack and about 100 feet from the summit I saw what looked like a viewpoint. I headed over to a rock ledge where I was surprised to find a great view.
Looking back to Galehead Hut and Galehead Mountain
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Looking into the Pemi
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Looking over to Garfield
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Madison and I looked around for the highest spot and determined that it must be this rock at 3590'.
I didn't find a jar or cannister.
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I headed back to the trail and continued. A while later I got a partial view of Garfield Ridge West Peak.
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The trail brought me about .15 miles of the summit. I figured that was about as close as I was going to get but had I continued on a couple minutes I could have gotten with .10 of the summit. No biggie. I found a jar on the 3667' summit.
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On the way back to the trail I stumbled across a partial view looking back to Galehead Mountain.
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This was a pretty thick bushwhack and cost me about 30 minutes roundtrip. I was glad I hit these two peaks since they were so close to the trail but it was a good reminder that I'm not a big fan of pushing through thick spruce in search of a jar attached to a tree.
Next we made the steep climb up to Mount Garfield where the weather began to clear out even more.
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Looking back at all the peaks I climbed today.
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Looking south to Owl's Head
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Looking over to Franconia Ridge
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Madison and I then headed down the Garfield Trail. I took the snowmobile trail to cut off a section of trail and make the road walk a little shorter. Near the end I went by a field of lupines.
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Maddie takes a break
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I got back to my vehicle at 6:15. On my way home I got to enjoy a rainbow as I drove along Route 2.
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