Hiking in the White Mountains: Mount Garfield

Showing posts with label Mount Garfield. Show all posts

Hawthorne Falls

Date of Hike: 10/28/17

Gale River Trail: 2.2 miles / Bushwhack: 2.2 miles / Garfield Ridge Trail: 0.9 miles / Garfield Trail: 3.6 miles / Snowmobile Trail: 1.1 miles / Gale River Road: 1.0 miles
Total Miles: 11.0 miles (3,100 feet elevation gained) Garmin Forerunner 920XT & A.M.C White Mountain Guide

Trip Report
- After two months of 50K mountain runs, I was looking forward to resting my legs and getting in some bushwhacking until the snow starts flying, and with the recent deluge in rain it made for a perfect time to check out one of the best White Mountain waterfalls, Hawthorne Falls.
- Hawthorne Falls is located along Garfield Stream, which drains from a deep col to the east of Mount Garfield. Interestingly enough, the original cut of the Gale River Trail used to parallel Garfield Stream, passing by Hawthorne Falls as it made its way up to Garfield Ridge. During this time, the present day Gale River Trail was called Galehead Trail. Then, sometime between 1955 and 1960, the Gale River Trail was abandoned, and the Galehead Trail was renamed the Gale River Trail, got all that, good!
- On Saturday morning I headed back to Hawthorne Falls for the first time since 2013. Joining me for the off trail adventure was my friend Todd, who moved up north to the mountains this past spring, and enjoys similar long mile hikes/runs in the White Mountains.
- We started our hike along the Gale River Trail for the first two miles until crossing Garfield Stream, here we started the buswhack. We hiked in the woods close to the stream and dropped down to it on a few occasions to check out the numerous pools, cascades, and small waterfalls. There are a few spots while bushwhacking where it seems we are on the remnants of the old trail, but I'm not 100% sure. I'm confident that at the start of our bushwhack we are definitely on the old trail corridor, but this peters out quickly. There are other spots along the way that I think are remnants of the old trail, but honestly it's 50/50. Most of the time it's just a straight bushwhack, easy to moderate whack, (if you're used to bushwhacking) with a couple of thick spots, but no "knife fights." The worst part is the hidden holes between boulders; grass, moss, and rotting leaves that you punch through if not paying attention.
- Some of the highlights of the trek up to Hawthorne Falls were stopping by Staircase Falls, Garfield Stream Cascade, Commandment Pool with Tablet Rock, and Mini Hawthorne Falls. I don't know if each of these have official names but it's how I refer to them at the moment, see pictures below, and click here for Todd's pics.
- After about a mile and a half we made it to Hawthorne Falls, which was flowing at a good rate. We carefully made our way towards the pool at the base of the falls and snapped pictures. What can I say about the falls? It's beautiful and a lost hidden gem from the first half of the twentieth century, a visit to the past of the early days of White Mountain hiking, one that seems to be long forgotten by many, but can be discovered by reading old guides books and studying maps.
- Once done admiring the falls, we started our way up to Garfield Ridge. Here, we ran into the thickest stuff of the day, mostly when we ventured too close to the bank of the stream, further away from the stream the woods were more manageable, eventually the woods opened up and we popped out on the Garfield Ridge Trail a few hundred feet east of the Franconia Brook Trail junction.
- Back on the trails we made our way up to the summit and took in the great views as the wind was whipping at about a 40MPH clip, which felt very refreshing.
- After about ten minutes we started our descent where I promptly rolled my ankle, it actually buckled on me, which hasn't happened in years. At first I thought I really screwed it up, but I got off really lucky, just a nasty roll and a slight sprain. A day later it's tender with very minor swelling, no pain on forward movement, although some pain with lateral movement, should be 100% in a week with rest! What is funny about this is I'm pretty sure on the ascent up to the summit while Todd and I were talking about trail running I said something along the lines of, "Descending is where I make up time on my runs, I'm able to descend quickly, I'm lucky in that I just have great balance and never ever roll my ankles." I guess I jinxed myself pretty good! But it's just a reminder to never take mountain running, especially in the rugged terrain of the northeast, for granted and to always pay attention and use extreme caution. No one is invisible!
- Even with the ankle scare we quickly made our way down the Garfield Trail to the Spruce Brook crossing where we hooked onto the snowmobile trail angling our way over to Gale River Road for a short road walk back to the car.
- It was a enjoyable day in the mountains with Todd, and a great start to my bushwhacking season. Now it's time to look over maps, guidebooks, and articles to see what off trail adventures from the past to head to next!

1955 AMC Guide Book entry for the Gale River Trail

1955 AMC Guide Book Map. Couple of abandoned trails can be seen on this map if you look closely.

Start of our bushwhack. I'm pretty confident this is the old trail corridor, this stretch last about 0.2 miles then petered out

Other spots of the bushwhack looked like this!

A quarter mile in we pass by Staircase Falls

Staircase Falls

Further along we pass by Garfield Cascade

Garfield Cascade

Commandment Pool

Tablet Rock

Mini Hawthorne Falls

Water cascading down from Mini Hawthorne Falls

Mini Hawthorne Falls

Pano of Mini Hawthorne Falls

Approaching Hawthorne Falls

Hawthorne Falls

Wide view of the falls

Hawthorne Falls

Zoom-in of the falls

Pemigewasset Wilderness as seen from Mount Garfield

It was windy at the summit, winds around 40MPH, this puddle had ripples in it from the wind!

Owl's Head, the love-able lump in the middle of the Pemi :)

Views from the top (Owl's Head, Franconia Ridge, Galehead and the Twins, Franconia Brook Valley and the Bonds

Pano of the Pemi Wildernes

Owl's Head and Franconia Ridge

Official End of Non-Winter 2016 : Mount Garfield / Field & Willey

Date of Hike: 3/19/16

Gale River Road: 1.1 miles / Garfield Trail: 4.8 miles / Garfield Ridge Trail: 0.4 miles / Garfield Trail: 4.8 miles / Gale River Loop Road: 1.1 miles
Total Miles: 12.1 (3,180 feet elevation gained)

Avalon Trail: 2.8 miles / Willey Range Trail: 2,2 miles / Ethan Pond Trail: 0.3 miles / Kedron Flume Trail: 0.7 miles / Railroad Tracks: 3.0 miles
Total Miles: 9 miles (3,220 feet elevation gained)

Trip Report:
- "And now, the end is near and so I face the final curtain." So long winter, we hardly knew ye...No, really I'm being serious. With winter officially ending at 12:29:59AM on Sunday the 20th, Saturday was the last winter hiking day. However, winter really never arrived in the White Mountains of New Hampshire this year, with historically low snow levels and mild temperatures it felt like late November never ended. The usual trail signs never became buried, blazes never had to 'tread head above water' from drowning in the snow, and trail corridors were easy to follow. When you don't hear horror stories of people losing trail between Zealand - Guyot - South Twin, you know the year has been an anomaly!
- The good news is after last winter's sub zero, high winds, high snow, hikers deserved a gift, thank you El Nino! This has helped me complete my remaining few grid peaks for the past three months easily (3 in January, 11 in February, 7 in March, with 34 over the next four months remaining) while preparing for a trip to Baxter, driving to Florida, learning to cross-country ski, and getting back to strength training at the gym. In a perfect world, winter in the Whites would fall somewhere in the middle of these past two years, but that's weather in New England for you.
- Anyway, on Saturday I got up early and drove south for an early morning hike up Mount Garfield. The trail started off dry with some ice until the first crossing, which I skipped along with the second crossing by taking a herd path to the ski-mobile bridge. From here conditions were pretty erratic until the distinguishable right turn; snow, ice, water, crunchy mud, and more ice! Luckily, there was a fresh inch or two of snow which made conditions easier higher up as it hid some of the ice. I was able to bare-boot the whole hike but microspikes would have been a better option. It was windy at the summit so I didn't linger too long, but did catch the clouds clearing above the Pemigewasset Wilderness.
- The hike down went by quickly as I jogged until I hit the icy and rocky spots. I started running into hikers here and there, I even passed by a huge A.M.C group of about a dozen. When I got back to the winter lot there were a quite a few cars parked everywhere, I was just happy I wasn't blocked in. Back at the car I changed into dry clothes and ate some food while warming up before heading to Crawford Notch to start hike number two of the day.
- My original plan was a Field-Willey-Field-Tom hike but I ended up changing it up half way through and dropped down from Willey which was an adventure!
- By the time I started this hike, temperatures had warmed up into the low twenties but it was a little more breezy in the notch so it felt almost exactly like my morning hike. There were a couple of dozen people I saw as I headed up the Avalon Trail, which had some really nasty iced over steep sections below Avalon's summit, it was slow going but I made it up without issue.
- Once I gained the ridge and hooked onto the Willey Range Trail I remembered how much I'm not a fan of the hike between Field and Willey, which is odd since I love the stretch between Tom and Field. So after chugging it up to Willey's summit I really didn't feel like making the down and back up to Field so I decided to take a chance and descend the steep as hell Willey Range Trail below Mount Willey.
- I have been down this once before in the winter of 2010, when there was so much snow that I was able to butt slide and plow down in my snowshoes for the steep parts, it was a blast, this year...not so much. It was just a bunch of ice flows with a coating of snow on top of it. There were a few hairy sections that I did not dare to go down on the trail, one spot just below the summit and the top of the infamous ladder steps. Instead, I went into the woods and used my best monkey in a tree skills by lowering myself and swinging down from tree to tree. It took some time but I was able to cautiously pick my way down. Once past this section I was able to jog most of the way out to the Crawford Notch Scenic Railroad for a nice flat and easy hike back to the Jeep. Unfortunately, my Apple Phone froze up at the site of the old Willard House so I wasn't able to take more pictures. Still it was a nice day out on the last day of non-winter 2016! :)

Early morning on the Garfield Trail

Up higher the trail has a solid base covered by a layer of ice with some fresh fluffy snow on top

Summit of Mount Garfield

Owl's Head and the Franconia Ridge clearing

Owlie :)

Looking to Galehead and the Twins

The lower section of the Garfield Trail has seen better day, it's pretty eroded in spots

Early / late morning along the Gale River Road

Heading up to Mount Field & Willey

View of the Twin Range from the Mount Field downlook

Mount Tom as seen from Mount Field

Crawford Notch from the Mount Willey outlook

Webster Cliff and the Presidential Range

Zoom-in of the Presidential Range

Descending the steep nasty section of the Willey Range Trail. This is along the ladder section, which is half buried in snow and ice

Looking back up the ladders

Kedron Flume

Crawford Notch Scenic Railroad, Mount Willard in view

Heading towards the trestle

Every time I hike across this I have the standard Stand by Me moment :)

Site of the old Willard House

Elevation profile for the day, click here for more details

A Few Nice Hikes in the Whites . . . Hale & Zealand / Osceolas & Hancocks / Garfield

Date of Hikes: February 6,7, & 10, 2016

Zealand Road: 2.8 miles / Hale Brook Trail: 2.1 miles / Lend-A-Hand Trail: 2.6 miles / Twinway: 5.6 miles / Zealand Trail: 2.5 miles / Zealand Road: 3.8 miles
Total Miles: 19.5 miles (4,459 feet elevation gained) Garmin Forerunner 910XT for all hikes

Greeley Pond Trail: 1.2 miles / Mount Osceola Trail: 5.0 miles / Greeley Ponds Trail: 1.2 miles / Hancock Notch Trail: 1.7 miles / Cedar Brook Trail: 0.6 miles / Hancock Loop Trail: 4.2 miles / Cedar Brook Trail: 0.6 miles / Hancock Notch Trail: 1.7 miles
Total Miles: 16.6 miles (5,909 feet elevation gained)

Gale River Loop Road: 1.1 miles / Garfield Trail: 4.8 miles / Garfield Ridge Trail: 0.4 miles / Garfied Trail: 4.8 miles / Gale River Loop Road: 1.1 miles
Total Miles: 12.1 (3,178 feet elevation gained)

Trip Report:
- On Saturday I headed to Zealand Road to hike Mount Hale and Zealand, which when doing both in winter starting and ending at the winter lot off Route 302 is known for the longest road walk in the White Mountains, three miles in and four miles out along Zealand Road. Two of my most exhausting winter hikes have been over this route in previous winters where I had to break several miles of trail along the way. Luckily, on Saturday I had easy conditions with fluffy snow over a hard packed surface making for a quick hike in and out.
- It had been a few winters since hiking the Hale Brook Trail as I have been using the old Mount Hale Trail (AKA Fire Warden's Trail) because of the beautiful birch glades making for a more picturesque hike. The Hale Brook Trail has nothing too exciting along its route, however it's only two miles long so it gets you to the summit relatively quickly.
- The summit of Mount Hale has a big cairn on it where an old fire tower used to stand. If you venture off into the woods near the summit you can find some old relics from the tower, most of which is beneath the snow this time of year but it's fun to explore in the summer and fall.
- From the summit I quickly dropped down the Lend-A-Hand Trail over it's gentle grades and nicely blazed path. I came across the first two hikers of the day about half way down as they were heading up, they like me were happy to be hiking in very tame conditions.
- The Lend-A-Hand Trail ends at the junction with the Twinway right above the Zealand Falls Hut. At the junction I banged a right and headed up the relatively steep Twinway to Zeacliff and caught some unexpected good views over to Carrigain Notch. I was expecting to be in the clouds all day but it was turning out to be a decent day for views.
- After Zeacliff I made my way to the summit of Zealand, the Twinway between Zeacliff and Zealand Mountain's summit has moderate grades with just one short steep burst up some ledges which is aided by a cool ladder step resting against a boulder.
- From the summit I turned back around and had a quick descent back down past Zeacliff, the hut, and out to the top of Zealand Road, where I started the four mile walk back to the car. The temperature was hovering around freezing with no wind which made for a pleasant walk back to the Jeep. For the day I saw six hikers while on the trails and saw several hikers walking up the road heading to Zealand Falls Hut to spend the night.
- Unlike my previous two suffer-fests doing this route in winter where I started at dawn and finished in the dark, I was back to my car before 2PM!

- On Sunday I met up with Kyle at the Greeley Ponds trailhead to do a double hit and run of the Osceolas followed by the Hancocks. The two trailheads are located less than half a mile from each other, and the ranges, which are similar as they both have moderate approaches followed by super steep ascents, are only separated by a couple of miles as well but the conditions couldn't have been anymore different.
- The trail below East Peak of Mount Osceola was covered in sketchy ice under a dusting of snow, Kyle's hillsounds held up well while I had to use extreme caution with my old worn down microspikes. Between the peaks the conditions were better, except for the Chimney which had an evil looking ice flow in it, even the bypass was sketchy, so I used the bypass of the bypass to the Chimney.
- I had my crampons in my pack but didn't put them on, I used the hike to work on my tree-hugging skills to safely descend the treacherous spots on the way out.
- The weather which was supposed to be crummy once again turned out better than expected for as we had decent views from the summit area ledge on the main peak of Mount Osceola.
- Even with the icy conditions we still made good time back to the trailhead just after 10AM, where we changed and refueled before heading up to the hairpin turn where we started hike number two of the day along the Hancock Notch Trail.
- Unlike the Osceola's the conditions on the steep parts of the Hancock's were much better, there was almost no ice just hard packed snow, not enough to butt slide down but more than enough to hide roots, rocks, and any ice. On the way in we ran into Ian and his dog Marley, followed by Hiker Ed.
- Kyle pushed the pace for the whole hike, which I was very happy he did, if I was solo I probably would have taken it easy after yesterday. It was nice to be pushed, even if I felt like and old lion trying to keep up with a young cub at times! Still, on the way out I felt strong as we sprinted back to the trailhead from the summit of North Hancock.
- For the second day in a row my hiking day was finished relatively early, not too shabby!

- With an arctic blast heading into New England over the weekend, Whitney and I decided to get in a nice weather hike on Wednesday up one of the more tamer winter 4,000 footers, Mount Garfield. With it's short road walk, very forgiving and gentle grades all the way up until the last tenth of a mile, we happily hiked our way over the old fire wardens road that is the Garfield Trail.
- We only saw one other hiker during the day, a nice guy from Vermont who is working on his winter 4,000 footers.
- There was a nice fluffy two to four inches of snow over the hard packed older snow making for a pretty hike up as we gained elevation.
- The weather was really nice for our hike, in the high twenties, no wind, the sun was out at times below 3,750 feet, and even though we didn't get any views from the top the summit was very calm and we could enjoy it which for both of us in the winter was a first.

To show how the snow levels are at a historical low in the mountains this year, here are two pictures along the Lend-A-Hand Trail. Top is from December of 2010, bottom is from this February!

The winter parking for Zealand Road is about a tenth of a mile east across Route 302. It's a short road walk followed by a long walk up Zealand Road

The Hale Brook Trail. It has moderate grades the whole way, the only problem area is a side hill that can be annoying when buried in snow (upper right)