Mount Garfield, Galehead, South & North Twin

Date of Hike: 10/26/09

Garfield Trail: 4.8 miles
Garfield Ridge Trail: 3.5 miles
Frost Trail: 1.0 miles
Twinway: .8 miles
North Twin Spur: 2.6 miles
Twinway: .8 miles
Garfield Ridge Trail: .8 miles
Gale River Trail: 4.0 miles
Gale River Road: 1.7 miles
Total Miles: around 20 miles (6200 elevation gain)

Trip Report:
- On trail at 7:15am, finished 4:15pm. Temps mid 20's to low 40's, clear skies, 75 plus mile visibility, 20-25 MPH wind on summits
- Garfield trail was pretty wet and muddy, all brook crossings easy
- Great views of Pemigewasset Wilderness and Franconia Ridge from Garfield summit
- Garfield Ridge campsite has some pretty cool views out towards Twin Mountains. The old shelter has a Hiker's log book with pretty interesting/funny entries
- Some tricky ice spots on steep part of Garfield Ridge past Campsite trail junction
- Galehead Hut is all boarded up for the winter, jogged up and down Galehead summit in 15 minutes
- Made it up Twinway to South Twin summit (.8 miles, 1150 elevation gain) in 30 minutes. the last .2 mile to summit I lost almost all my energy and was weak until I ate lunch on top
- Spectacular 365 degree views from South Twin summit (Presidentials, Tom, Field, Willey, Carrigain, all Pemi Mountains, etc)
- North Twin summit had a nice view of the hut and Garfield Ridge
- Gale River trail was very wet, water crossing a little high, rock hop-able if you have waterproof boots
- Last crossing I looked for an easier way to cross upstream until my right foot went knee deep in a pool of standing water next to the bank of the river
- Hiked all day and only saw 3 people while relaxing outside the hut, one of them fell in the Gale River!

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Garfield Ridge, Galehead and Twin Mountains

Garfield Ridge Campsite shelter

Moose Skull hanging from Galehead Hut

View from North Twin Summit

Afternoon Moon over Gale River Road

Give Me Liberty or Give Me Flume!

Date of Hike: 10/25/09

Whitehouse Trail: .8 miles
Liberty Springs Trail: .6 miles
Flume Slide Trail: 3.3 miles
Franconia Ridge Trail: 1.5 miles
Liberty Springs Trail: 2.9
Pemi Bike Bath: 1.0
Total Miles: 10.1 (around 3800 elevation gain)

Trip Report:
- Solo hike, on trail at 9:45am finished at 3:15pm, temps low 40's to mid 50's, light wind on summits, good views all around, higher summits had some cloud cover
- All trails except Franconia Ridge were a wet mess, resembling tiny streams.  Water crossings on Flume Slide trail were high and slick but still rock hop-able
- Flume Slide is steep, wet, slippery and a ton of fun with caution on the mini scrambles
- Slide is tougher than Owl's Head Slide and just a little bit easier than the North Slide of Tripyramid because the trail is easier to follow and blazed better than the North slide
- Great views from Flume and Liberty Summit
- Built a Cairn on Flume summit and added to two on Liberty Summit
- Liberty Springs Campsite is bigger than I expected, kind of old and falling apart though and you can't "P" in the "Rivy"
- Didn't see a person until Flume Summit, then saw about a dozen or so people and a couple of dogs
- Can't wait to do Flume Slide again next summer when it's dry

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Bodcliff from Mount Flume Summit

Franconia Ridge to Mount Flume

Pemigewasset Wilderness

Mount Liberty Summit

Cannon Mountain and Cannonballs

From Dawn till Dusk (Mount Zealand and Hale from the Kanc)

Date of hike: 10/17/09

Hancock Notch Trail: 1.8 miles
Cedar Brook Trail: 6.1 miles
East Side Trail: .9 miles
Thoreau Falls Trail: 5.1 miles
Ethan Pond Trail: .8 miles
Zeacliff Trail: 1.4 miles
Twinway: 4.7 miles
Lend-A-Hand Trail: 2.7 miles
Hale Brook Trail: 2.3 miles
Total Miles: 25.7 (5,300 elevation gain)

Trip Report:
- Left RI at 4am with Dad and my dog Mr. Smackers, they dropped me off at the Hancock Notch Trail at 6:45am and picked me up at the Hale Brook Trailhead on Zealand Road at 5:30pm
- Temps low 20's to high 30's, no wind, clear skies, few inches of snow on trail above 3,000 feet and ice in places. Some mud and wet spots hidden by snow cover and leaf's, no traction required on any trails
- First 15 miles was relatively flat with not many views, very cold and my fingers didn't warm up until about 10 miles in
- Walked over to the old site of the suspension bridge connecting the East Side trail to the Wilderness trail, the cable is on the ground and the wood from the bridge is under tarps off to the side of the trail. I don't know why they took this bridge down for "environmental" reasons when they allow thousands of tourists to drive up Mount Washington each summer...JERKS!
- Thoreau Falls Bridge is cool looking and kind of crooked with a good view of one of the Bonds
- Got lost on Thoreau Falls trail, about 2.5 miles in the trail is not blazed at all and care needs to be taken to not get lost when the trail narrows and starts climbing the short steep sections along the river. I ended up a tenth of a mile to the west in a small flooded beaver pond and then to a river bank, I then backtracked and headed east and stumbled upon the trail in a few minutes
- Ethan Pond Trail has beautiful views and is nice and level from Thoreau Falls to Zeacliff trail junctions
- Zeacliff trail is wild, steep, and has great views of Mount Bond and Carrigain Notch
- Only saw two hikers all the way until the Twinway then I ran into a bunch, a few people were wearing microspikes on the Twinway although they weren't needed
- Views from twinway of Washington and the Presidential Ranger were crystal clear and awesome!
- Stopped in at Zealand Hut and the falls for the first time since I was a kid
- Lend-A-Hand trail has some very well placed bogs and with all the snow it made for a soft cushiony walk for a few tenths of a mile
- The snow was a constant from Zeacliff all the way until the last 1.5 miles of Hale Brook trail. It was well packed down but made for some slippery spots. Had two falls, a face first on the Twinway and a minor fall on Lend-A-Hand where there is an outlook
- My dad and Smackers were walking up Hale Brook as I descended.  Ran into them a little over .5 miles from the trailhead. Smackers enjoyed it until he went off trail and ate something half-frozen that smelled like death! At the next stream crossing we dunked his face in the chilly water and rubbed his face with soft pine needles to clear the S*!t smell off of him!
- Ice cold Yuengling's I won from a bet with Johnny 5 waiting in the car
- This hike kicked my A$$, should have been done the opposite way to get all the elevation gain out of the way early in the day when fresh. Early in the morning at the Cedar Brook/Hancock Loop junction I really contemplated running up and doing the Hancock loop thank god I didn't!

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East Side Trail

Thoreau Falls Bridge

Looking north on the Twinway

Presidential Range

Mount Washington

Twinway

Zealand Notch to Carrigain Notch

Mr. Smackers!

Osceola's / East Pond Loop

Date of hike: 10/09

Greely Ponds Trail: 1.3 miles
Mount Osceola Trail: 5.7 miles
Tripoli Road: 2.0 miles
East Pond Trail: 5.1 miles
Kancamagus Highway: .9 miles
Total Miles: 15 miles (4230 elevation gain)

Trip Report:
- Solo hike, left RI at 4:30am on trail at 7:20am, finished at 1pm

- Temps low 40's to low 50's, wind gusts of 30-35 mph above 3500 feet, limited views, very raw day
- The trails were very wet but in pretty good shape considering all the rain in the past two weeks, only tricky spots were where the wet leaf's covered the rocks, had two gnarly falls descending Mount Osceola Trail
- Enjoyed "The Chimney" (narrow chute like passage) on the way to Osceola from East Osceola.  First I went around it, then I went back down so I could go strait up it, it was wet, steep, and lots of fun!

- Didn't see a single person until coming down from Osceola summit when I ran into a guy who told me "It's a good time to descend, there's about 80 people behind me."  Within a few minutes about 60 "tweens" from the Cardigan Mountain School swarmed all around me and on by me.  Some were having fun, others looked like they've had it...Especially the one the "Ralphed" his fruit loops all over a rock about a .5 mile from the trailhead =X
- Best foliage I saw all day was the two mile walk on Tripoli Road to East Pond Trailhead

- Only saw one person on East Pond Trail with her two dogs.  East Pond Trail was in good shape, and East Pond itself is picturesque, very secluded, and a perfect place for a moose to relax...unfortunately I did not see a moose which I was hoping for
- Walk on Kanc was kind of funny, got to see all the leaf peepers drive by wondering what I was doing, also got to see a few cars driving to slowly creating a line of cars with upset people behind them!

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Greely Ponds Trail

 Mount Osceola Trail

 Tripoli Road

 

East Pond Trail