Total Miles: Approximately 27 total miles.
Total Elevation Gain: Not calculated but estimated between 6500 and 7500 feet.
Campsites Used: Garfield Ridge Campsite, Guyot Campsite
Trails: Garfield Trail, Garfield Ridge Trail, Frost Trail, Twinway, Bondcliff Trail, West Bond Spur Trail, North Twin Spur Trail, North Twin Trail.
Views: Great 360 degree views from all peaks except Galehead and North Twin.
Group: Solo for Garfield, Galehead, and South Twin. Brian and Anai caught up to me for the Bonds and Twins.
This backpacking trip was planned with a few thoughts in mind. We wanted to take one weekend and snag as many peaks as possible. I also needed to get quite a few peaks under my belt if I wanted to get to 24 by summer’s end, knowing that I had an aggressive travel schedule in late August that would keep me sidelined for a few weekends. Backpacking also seemed the best way to get to the Bonds without an aggressive day-hike.
THE PREPARATION
I had to do some shopping in preparation for this trip. My last backpacking trip was done many years ago with the external frame backpack I used as a boy. Now that I’m all grown up I figured it was time to upgrade to a modern internal frame backpack, something lighter that distributes the pack weight better. I did one of my usual fly-bys at the LL Bean outlet in Concord back in mid-July during their storewide sale and found the Gregory Baltoro 70 size large at a deep discount with the 20% sale discount on top of that. I was already a Gregory fan having had several summits under my belt with my Gregory Z30 daypack.
I also needed a new sleeping bag. I have a winter weight bag that is 25+ years old, heavy and bulky. It served me well on many winter campouts in the 80’s but would not serve well on this trip where space and weight need to be conserved. I also have a summer weight bag but it is synthetic and a little heavier and bulkier than I would prefer. So I picked up a three-season 20 degree bag that is extremely light at 2.5 pounds and compresses down to smaller than a football. It is the EMS Mountain Light Long. I combined a gift card and an EMS discount card I earned on a prior purchase to pick up a lightweight cook kit and a small pocket rocket stove for almost nothing. I also picked up a Steri-pen to purify water at the two campsites where I would be staying.
As I have reported before, I have been struggling with footwear. Just days before I set out on this trip I visited LL Bean in Freeport and picked up a pair of Cresta Hikers with the help of a gift card. This may be THE PAIR of boots. But maybe not THE PAIR of boots for a backpacking trip just two days after buying them. I made the game-day decision that I would wear them but also bring my New Balance NB966 trail shoes to switch out of. Spoiler Alert – I’m glad I brought the New Balance shoes.
The Baltoro was the perfect size. I was able to fit everything I needed into it. I borrowed a small backpacking tent from Brian since my tent was larger and heavier and I was doing everything I could to save on space and weight. Brian and Anai needed a slightly larger one anyway.
I also trimmed down some of my equipment to save on weight. After looking at the weather report I got rid of the rain hat and rain pants – kept the rain jacket with hood just in case. My zip-off hiking pants/shorts repel a light rain so I figured I could manage. I also ditched the thermal top figuring I had plenty of other layers and it would only get cold enough to need it at night and when/if it did I would just crawl in bed – kept the thermal bottoms since that was my only other bottom layer but never did wear them. I also thinned out some of my other gear, basically doing anything I could to save a pound or two without sacrificing safety or relative comfort.
For food I stuck with dehydrated food, Larabars, and trail mix. I picked up a couple of bags of trail mix at Target. They have some good ones there. They are hearty, a bit heavy, and packed with calories. I loved the dried cranberries with walnuts, pecans, and white chocolate. Yum.
I got everything packed and ready to go Thursday night. I was a little concerned at the pack weight. It was hovering right around 40 pounds with a full 3-liter bladder of water. Trying it on at home that night I was a little concerned about a 27-mile hike with that kind of weight. My Z30 is normally between 10 and 15 pounds with water depending on weather and length of the day-hike. This was a completely different feeling.
THE PLAN
The plan was for me to hike Garfield on Friday, camp at the Garfield Ridge Campsite Friday night, hike Galehead and South Twin on Saturday and meet Brian and Anai at the Guyot Campsite early Saturday afternoon. They would move my Jeep to the North Twin trailhead and hike Galehead and South Twin a bit after me (they were starting from Londonderry and I was starting on the trail). After meeting me at Guyot around 2pm, securing a platform and setting up camp we would then hike the Bonds together on Saturday afternoon, spend the night at Guyot and then hike out Sunday morning back over South and North Twin. From reading blogs and message boards I learned that Guyot fills up fast this time of year so we wanted to make sure we got there early. This was a great plan, but of course it would be changed as events unfolded on the trail.
THE TRIP
Friday – August 13, 2010
I set out at about 8:30 AM to make the trek to the Garfield trailhead. After a quick stop in Lincoln I was on the trail around 10:45AM. When going on a trip and trying not to forget anything I always inevitably forget something, its just a question of what it will be and how important it is. As I was gearing up at the trailhead I realized I was missing my Red Sox hat that has made the trip with me up every other 4000 footer this year. I immediately saw this as a bad sign. After all, I survived all those other trips with my trusty Red Sox hat. Would this one be different without it? My IU hat would have to play substitute and see me safely out of the woods. About five minutes onto the trail and I came across a couple with their toddler. The kid was about three years old, looks at me and says “the trail is really really tough.” Thanks kid, I needed that.
The Garfield Trail, while fairly long at five miles and having an elevation gain of 3000 feet, does not have a very steep incline. The incline is moderate until you near the summit at the intersection with the Garfield Ridge Trail. I was glad to have a fairly easy hike with the elephant on my back. About an hour in, as suspected, I began to feel hotspots on my heels from the new boots. I was glad to be able to take the pack off for a few minutes while I prepared some moleskin for both heels. I immediately felt relief as I resumed the climb but about 30 minutes later I was feeling hotspots again on the left. Evidently I was a little careless about applying the moleskin on the left side and it was not covering the area that was rubbing the most. I was at the point where a blister was starting to form so I reluctantly made the decision to bandage the heel really good and switch out to my NB 966 trail shoes. This dampened my spirits as I realized I had 24 more miles to go and I was already experiencing issues with footwear. Putting the pack on with three more pounds of weight in it didn’t help either.
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| The view north from the Garfield Trail |
Things started to look up as my resolve grew stronger and the new lighter footwear felt good. I grew used to the pack weight and I was able to carry on without many more stops. When I got to the Garfield Ridge Trail I made the decision to go down to the campsite and secure a platform rather than go up to the summit, choosing to save the summit for later in the afternoon/evening. It was a steep descent from the trail junction down to the campsite, and then the trail to the campsite from the main trail was longer than anticipated. But I was the first person there to spend the night. I arrived around 1:45 – 2:00pm. The caretaker wasn’t around but there was an AT through-hiker taking shelter from a passing sprinkle in the campsite shelter. I talked with him for about 20 minutes, getting the story of his experience to this point. He was hoping to get past Zealand to Ethan Pond that day. I didn’t tell him but I thought that was fairly aggressive, over South Twin, along the Twinway over Guyot and Zealand, past Zeacliffs, down to the hut, and around to Ethan Pond. There was some fairly gnarly terrain in front of him before nightfall.
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| The trail into the Garfield Ridge Campsite |
After the shower past there was still no caretaker in sight so I found one of the more remote platforms and set up my tent. I was glad to be there and felt confident that I would have a comfortable night. Surprisingly, I had cell reception and was able to text Brian with info about the road to the trailhead and my status so far.
At about 4:30 I packed up my much-reduced backpack with some warm clothes and my supper and started out for the summit of Garfield. I met Eli, the AMC Caretaker, on the way out, spoke with him a bit and paid my fee. I stopped at a boulder on the campsite trail that has a bench on it. From there you can see South Twin with Galehead and the Galehead Hut below it. South Twin looked as steep as it had been described. The trail can be seen etched in the side going straight up with no switchbacks for relief. I would face that challenge in the morning.
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A zoomed in photo of South Twin centered with the Galehead Hut
below and Galehead Mtn down to the right. If you look close you
can see the trail cut into the mountain straight up from the hut. |
The trail to the summit of Garfield has a steep pitch. As I would later learn, ascending (or descending in my case) Garfield from the east side of the Garfield Ridge Trail is the steep route. The summit of Garfield was, to that point, the best view I have had in the Whites. I was happy to have an unlimited amount of time to spend at the summit. By the time I got there the weather had cleared. I had unobstructed views of Franconia Ridge, Owl’s Head, the Twins and some of the Presidentials just over the twins shoulder. It was warm in the sun and there is a nice flat spot on the summit so after grabbing some photos I laid down for a little nap. I woke up and started cooking dinner (heating water): lasagna with meat sauce and some tea. I was joined by a couple of kids from Pennsylvania who had just come over from Lafayette and were headed for 13 Falls for the night. They had graduated college earlier that year and being unable to find gainful employment they were doing some section hiking of the AT for a few weeks of the summer.
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The Pemi Wilderness with Owl's Head at it's center. No roads,
buildings, electric lines or other signs of man within sight. |
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| The mountains of Franconia Ridge: Flume, Liberty, Lincoln & Lafayette |
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| North Twin with the Presidentials showing over it's shoulder |
I returned to the campsite around 8:15 after stopping at the water source to fill up my camelback and water bottle. There was (I assumed based on gender and age difference) a father/daughter together on the platform about 50 feet from mine through the woods. They were thru-hiking the AT. He appeared to be in his early 60’s and she in her early 30’s. From my brief but separate conversations with both of them I surmised that the trail had taken its toll on their conversational skills and they were not too used to human interaction other than from each other. I was able to get some utterance out of the father who seemed very focused on other things each time he passed my platform. The daughter was a bit more talkative but seemed more comfortable in silent contemplation of the mountains than in conversation with me.
I arranged some things around the tent and prepared for a quick escape in the morning before climbing into bed. The stars were crystal clear from the Garfield Ridge campsite, the clearest I have seen this year. I left the door to the tent open and had little difficulty getting to sleep.
Saturday – August 14, 2010
I slept so well I overslept by about 30 minutes. I hadn’t set an alarm, counting on the fact that I would have a restless sleep. I had some breakfast and hot tea to get me going, repacked my backpack, and was headed for the trail a bit before 7:00AM. I made the decision to put my boots back on for this portion of the morning hike since I would be losing elevation coming off of Garfield until I met up with the Gale River Trail and I shouldn’t develop anymore heel issues until I started gaining elevation again. The pitch from the campsite down the Garfield Ridge Trail toward Galehead was steep. Sure enough, after passing the Gale River Trail and starting to gain elevation I started having issues with the boots again. It didn’t take much to re-aggravate the hotspot that developed the prior day, which by this point had become a blister. I stopped about a half mile from the Gale River Hut and bandaged my foot up pretty good. I cut a hole out of some moleskin and put it over the blister, covered the hole where the blister was showing with a large bandaid, then covered the hole thing with some athletic tape that I wrapped around the entire ankle. I was determined that the heel would not be an issue from this point on. At the Galehead Hut I put the boots in the backpack and sadly this is wear they would stay for the remainder of the trip.
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| Trail marking just below the Garfield Ridge Campsite |
As I arrived at the hut the last of the previous night’s guests were leaving, as was a hut crewmember off to get new supplies. I stepped inside and grabbed some of their fresh baked apple crumb cake. I left my pack outside, grabbed the water bottle, and made a quick 15 minute climb to the summit of Galehead. The summit is treed in with no view to speak of. A little ways before the summit is an overlook that gives a good view southeast into the Pemi Wilderness. I made an equally quick descent back to the hut and, wanting to delay my climb of South Twin as long as possible, grabbed another apple crumb cake.
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| From the Galehead looking, looking southwest |
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| From the Galehead lookout, looking back to the hut and North Twin |
The trail from the hut to the summit of South Twin is the most grueling climb I have experienced so far in the Whites. The steepness (1150 feet of elevation gain in 0.8 miles) combined with weight of a fully loaded backpack easily qualified South Twin as one of Mike’s Miserable Miles. The trail from the hut is the toughest approach to the South Twin summit (I would later experience the other two). It took me a little over an hour to travel that eighth of a mile – probably the slowest I have ever moved in the Whites. When I reached the summit I saw that I still had cell reception so I dispatched a profanity laced text to Brian providing him with my thoughts on the trail I had just traversed. Luckily the great 360 degree views made the climb (almost) worth it. I could look back to the west and see Garfield where I had eaten dinner the night before, and see the Bonds to the south where I would soon be. It wasn’t exactly Cannon but here were quite a few people hanging out at the summit. There was a group of about 10 people who were doing the Pemi loop together, taking the counter-clockwise route. There was another solo hiker also doing the Pemi loop in the clockwise route. Both had started at Lincoln Woods and would finish there later that night. I met up with a couple that were doing a similar backpacking trip as I was but in reverse. They had stayed at Guyot the night before and were headed to Garfield Ridge Campsite where I had just come from. We shared information on our prior night’s accommodations. I confirmed for them that Garfield is fairly laid back and wasn’t too full – they confirmed for me that Guyot could be a bit of a zoo but assured me that I would be there in plenty of time to secure a platform. I grabbed some photos and some trail mix and then headed out over the Twinway.
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From South Twin, a look back to Garfield where I had eaten dinner
the night before. Lafayette off to the left. |
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| Mt. Washington and the Presidential Range from South Twin |
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Looking South from South Twin, with the Bonds straight ahead
and Carrigain and Nancy off to the left.
A great White Mountain panorama. |
This is where I would have my one and only fall of the trip. It is pretty rare that I don’t fall at least once each hike. This was a pretty good one and gave me a little blood to show off. I slipped on some loose gravel but landed in such a way that my legs were completely tangled up with my poles. I had to unbuckle my backpack to wrangle myself free. My only wounds were some decent gravel rash on my right arm and leg. The Twinway is fairly flat with no drastic elevation gain or loss from South Twin all the way to the Zeacliffs. I would veer off the Twinway at the alpine area just west of Mt. Guyot and head toward the Bonds and the Guyot Campsite where I would meet up with Brian and Anai.
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The Twinway between South Twin and Guyot. On Sunday we would
see many AT thru-hikers in this section.
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In the alpine zone of the Twinway at the junction with the
Bondcliff Trail. |
I arrived at the Guyot Campsite around 1:30PM. Many of the platforms were already occupied. The two that were left were for “large groups” but the platforms were not all that big with really only enough room for two large or three very small tents. I set up my tent on one and prepared to defend the open space for Brian and Anai. It quickly became apparent that the place was going to get full quick and the scramble for platform space could get ugly. There were about 10 French Canadians who took particular offense to me trying to save space for Brian and Anai. They pointed out that the platform said “large groups” and implied that I should get off. I didn’t relent. Their French rant and angry glances did not make me feel bad about turning them away. There was a polite married couple in their mid-twenties who were about to leave and I invited them to squeeze onto the end of the platform, preferring their kind faces to angry French Canadians. The day was growing long, Brian and Anai hadn’t shown up yet, and I was growing doubtful of my ability to hold a spot for them without things getting nasty. The caretaker, Ian, came by shortly after that. Ian said he had no issue with saving space since he had to somehow find room for everyone who came to the campsite. He was not allowed to turn anyone away. He suggested we might be able to squeeze in a fourth tent on if we turned two sideway. We were doubtful but he assured us he had had more tents than that on there before. People continued to stream into the campsite so we (the younger married couple and I) started scoping out a couple more decent people to recruit onto our platform. We spotted two brothers in their late teens that were hiking together and invited them on. The night was supposed to stay dry so the older brother decided to sleep in his hammock and the younger one just found a spot on the platform. Finally around 6PM Brian and Anai showed up. The first part of the hike had been harder than they thought it would be. They set up and we discussed our plan for the evening.
Our original plan had been to grab all the Bonds on Saturday afternoon. That plan clearly had to be amended as the sun would set in two hours leaving no time to bag three peaks. We made the decision to save Bond and Bondcliff for the next morning and head for West Bond for dinner and to watch the sunset. The caretaker, Ian, and the two brothers on our platform joined us at the top which was just less than 1 mile from the campsite. The sun retreated over Franconia Ridge and made a pretty good show in the scattered evening clouds. We made our way back to the campsite with the aid of headlamps.
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From West Bond at sunset, looking back to Garfield and the northern
part of the Franconia Ridge. |
Sunday – August 15, 2010
I think all three of us were feeling a little worn the next morning. Not a good sign since we would cover the most miles this day. I didn’t sleep nearly as well as I had at Garfield, despite wearing ear plugs. We packed up and headed for the trail. Where the campsite trail meets the main trail we stashed most of our gear just out of sight. Since we would have to pass back by here after we hiked the Bonds there was no sense carrying full packs. I was not feeling well even with the much-reduced weight. I was a bit dizzy and my head was foggy. I had a couple of Larabars and some water while we hiked up Bond and felt much better by the time we reached the summit.
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| Mt. Washington and the Presidential Range from Mt. Bond. |
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| A view of Bondcliff from just below the summit of Mt. Bond. |
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| Brian and Anai make their way up Bondcliff. |
From the moment you leave the south side of Bond you can see the summit of Bondcliff in front of you. Almost the entire trail lies above the tree line. Distances appear shorter than they are. The brothers from our platform had passed us on Bond and we could see them far down in the col between the two mountains.
We stopped at the summit for a bit more breakfast and I boiled some water for tea. This was another invigorating shot and I was feeling pretty good. We spent some time at the summit and got photos at the cliffs. I got as close as I was comfortable to the edge. It is a sheer drop and it does put your stomach in your throat.
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| Brian and Anai near the summit of Bondcliff |
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| The classic Bondcliff snapshot. |
We exited back out over Bond and back to the junction with the campsite trail where we reloaded our backpacks with our overnight gear. Unfortunately I had something resting on my water valve while we were reloading and lost most of my water onto the ground – requiring a half mile roundtrip journey back to the campsite to get more. Brian and Anai were well rested when I got back.
We saddled up and headed out over the Twinway. The pack was lightened somewhat by the food I had eaten along the way and was feeling fairly good. We passed Guyot and the alpine area and made our way up the south face of South Twin. We carried on fairly quickly down into the col toward North Twin. We stopped for lunch in a quiet area at the bottom of the col. The climb out of the col was not nearly as bad as it was described in the books. There was some black ledge that we had to traverse but it was not too bad. We took some photos at the summit of North Twin but headed off fairly quickly, ready to put this one in the books.
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| Grabbing lunch between the Twins. |
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Galehead and the Galehead Hut as seen from North Twin.
Franconia Ridge and Garfield are in the clouds. |
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| Brian gracing the North Twin summit cairn to remove a pebble. |
The route off of North Twin is 5 miles. The first mile and a half is steep and has loose gravel. Anai slowed up a bit here and I wasn’t complaining. The trail seemed to go forever. The minor streams we had crossed tricked us into thinking these were the crossings we were looking for. We knew we had three crossings to make. What we didn’t know what that the crossings were fairly significant, even with what little rain we had this year. More than once we thought the trailhead was close only to be fooled. The trailhead came soon enough and so was our backpacking adventure to the Bonds. We took some time to stretch and shuttled Brian and Anai back to their car. No Mad River Tavern for me this time – I had a 6:00AM plane to catch the next morning and hadn’t packed yet!
