Picture Perfect on Garfield

    My Climb of Mount Garfield was one of the nicest weather-wise that I have had all year. Temperatures in the mid fifties at 4,500 feet, in mid November is almost unheard of. Combine that with zero wind and you have the makings of a stellar day on the high peaks.
    I left home at 6 AM for the hour and a half drive to the trail head. When I got to the turn, off  route 3 onto the dirt road leading to the parking lot, the gate was closed! Gale River road is a loop, I tried the south entrance because it was a much shorter distance to the trail I wanted. I should have looked at the map at this point because I drove a further three miles South on Rt. 3 before I realized the other end of the road was actually in the other direction. I turned around and drove the five miles to the right road and wonder of wonders, that end was not gated. I then drove the four miles of dirt road to the parking lot. When I got there were only two other vehicles. As I geared up another car pulled in. It was 28 degrees when I started hiking at 8:00.
    The Garfield Trail follows the old road that was used to reach the former fire tower on Garfield and has moderate grades all the way. I made good time on the first part and  in a half hour I was at the first crossing of Gale River. The flow was low and I got across with dry feet. There are several crossings in a short distance here and I negotiated all without incident. I was passed by another solo hiker shortly after that. It is 4.8 miles to the only trail intersection which is .2 miles from the summit. Combined with the fact that there are only a couple of limited viewpoints along the way and that makes this trail boring in a not unpleasant  sort of way.

I encountered patchy snow at around 2,500 feet and mostly snow covered trail at 3,500.

I meandered along the upper switchbacks still making decent time and was soon at the intersection with the Garfield Ridge Trail.

Not far now!. The last bit is steep and today, slippery. I carefully picked my way up the ice covered rocks and decided that I’d put on the micro-spikes before I came down. For the uninitiated, microspikes are a slip-on traction device to wear on icy trails when  full-on crampons are overkill. They are lighter on your feet and easier to walk with than crampons as well.  I was at the summit a few minutes later, around 11:20.

    I have seldom been in the mountains on such a day as this. The views were awesome.

Killington, Camels Hump and Mansfield were all well within view muted by only a slight haze. The day before Mount Washington weather Observatory reported being able to see Mount Marcy in the Adirondacks 125 miles away.

The Pemigewasset Wilderness lay spread out before me.  Photos by mere mortals like me certainly do not do justice to what I observed. The other folks there were soaking up the sun and views as well.

I spent an hour on top, chatting with other hikers and our numbers grew every few minutes.  As I was preparing to go down, I counted twenty people. It’s nice to be on a mountain with so many others who share my love of climbing and the outdoors.
    Micro-spikes made descending the first steep pitch a breeze, I kept them on for the first mile or so. I covered the 5 miles to the parking lot in just over 2 hours. I saw another dozen or so people on their way up. There were some muddy sections on the lower part of the trail and I slipped a couple of times, once falling and jamming my wrist a bit.  Can’t wait to see how that feels in the morning.

Little Willey

Mount Willey October 30, 2010

I started this a solo hike and wound up finishing with a meet-up group led by VFTT member Peakbagger. I left the house at 6:00 AM and headed to Crawford Notch.  It was clear when I left. I knew the weather forecast was for increasing clouds and snow showers in the mountains for the afternoon but as I drove West  the clouds increased quickly. It was looking like views today would be limited or nonexistent. Knowing Willey had limited views anyway and knowing, hiking for me is as much about the journey as the destination, I drove on. After a quick breakfast stop in North Conway I arrived at the Ethan Pond trailhead about  7:45. There was only one other vehicle in the parking lot. As I finished breakfast the guy pulled away. I wondered where he’d been. He clearly had finished a hike but it was too early for him to have done the hike I was doing unless he started in the middle of the night. Mystery. As I got out to gear up another car pulled up. The guy asked me if I was meeting anyone. I told him I was solo hiking. He was hiking with a group he’d met on a previous  hike but had not hiked with before. I finished loading my pack and headed off on the Ethan Pond Trail which is also the AT. It’s only 2.5 miles to the top but the trail is very steep.  I set off and began the first climb which is, compared to the last half-mile, moderate. About three quarters of a mile up the trail, I flushed a partridge. I very seldom see partridge in the White Mountains in New Hampshire though I do see them in Maine on occasion.  Not sure why. At 1.1 mi. the Kedron Flume Trail comes up on the right from the Willey House at the foot of Crawford Notch. It was 8:50. I was making pretty good time despite the steepness of the trail. Three tenths further on the Willy Range trail diverges to the  right while the Ethan Pond trail continues on to eventually connect with the Zealand trail. I reach these junctions and often wish I was doing a longer hike especially if I have never been on the trail before. I turned right and headed up toward Mount Willey. It had been spitting snow for most of the way but now it was more steady and the ground was beginning to be covered.  The trail became considerably steeper after the intersection and my pace slowed a bit. After crossing a couple of small brooks the really steep stuff starts and here there were 15 sets of log stairs and by the time I got to the top of them I was feeling the burn. The mountain relents a bit for the last quarter mile and I was soon at the top. The time was 10:45.  I’d been there only a few minutes when Peakbagger’s group came up to join me.

One of them offered first to take my summit photo and then a congratulatory “summit cookie”, a tasty treat after all the hard work. I got out my lunch and was immediately accosted by a Gray Jay. I have seen them on many peaks through the years but this one was the most aggressive. Twice he swooped and struck at the sandwich in my hand as if trying to knock it onto the ground.

I got a picture of him less than two feet away. I fed him bits of my lunch, sometimes right from my hand. Soon it was time to head down and I put on the micro-spikes to help with traction. There had been some slippery places on the way up.

I was right behind the group that came up after me and had a nice conversation with Peakbagger as we descended. It turned out that we had a lot in common, knew some of the same people and frequented some of the same haunts around Upton. We got down through the steep section and quickly descended to the parking lot. We arrived about 1:00. Peakbagger and company have a post hike tradition I like. Someone brings cheese and crackers and other folks bring whatever they have left in the fridge for beer, a couple of these and one of those. They all have a beer and a snack and hash over the hike before heading their separate ways. A nice way to end a hike. I headed home and arrived about 2:30.

Sunday River Whitecap

I did a partial bushwhack of SR Whitecap by starting at the end of the dirt road that is the left off the Quonset Hut Road in Grafton Notch. I had done this once before and struggled up along skidder roads and through cuts staying to the right of the valley that forms the East side of Miles Notch.

This time I tried to stay to the left and it was no better. I was wearing shorts and that was not a good thing. I wound up going through lots of raspberry patches. The terrain is steeper and the trees more dense in the upper part than I had hoped. I hit the GLT a lot further South and therefore closer to Sunday River Whitecap than last time but I sure was glad to see it.

I hiked the remaining 1/3 mile on the trail.

I had the mountain to myself until, upon descending I met a couple below the first ledges.  On the way down I followed GLT further along before I started my bushwhack and the first part was better but it soon declined into challenging skidder trails and lots of raspberry again. I did the whole hike in less than four hours and I really took my time. It had been a long time since I did a good hike and it was great to get out and stretch my legs. I am looking forward to doing this sometime in the winter.

Mount Abraham

Mount Abraham September 18 2010

I have been wanting to climb Abraham for a few years now. I read the description a long time ago and it intrigued me. Last year I read a trail report by an AMC hike participant and that fired me up even more. My plan was to hike it via a non-traditional approach. I called Chris Martin to see if he was up for it and he said yes. My plan was to follow dirt roads from East Madrid to Barnjum and then to the Appalachian Trail. We would then hike North to the Mount Abraham spur trail and thence to the summit. I did a bit of research on Views from the top, Topo USA mapping software, USGS topo maps and the newest Delorme’s Maine Gazetteer. Armed with that info I entered some waypoints into my GPS. We left at 6:00 and got to Weld at about 7:00 and stopped at the Schoolhouse General Store so Chris could get a breakfast sandwich. We had a nice chat with the owner. On the road again we started hitting the dirt roads in East Madrid and the GPS was right on. When we got to Barnjum however the waypoint was not even close so I made and educated guess as to a couple of turns where there were no roads on any maps I  had looked at. I guessed right on the first one and had to turn around on the second. We saw a huge bull Moose in the road a short time later. He had a massive rack and the velvet was still peeling off in great sheets. He looked as if he had rags hanging from his antlers. He was not happy to see us and turned and charged  into the woods. It still amazes me, how fast an animal that size can get out of sight. The last waypoint was where I thought the AT crossed the road and I continued toward that. The severe washouts written about in the trip report I read never materialized. Either they had been repaired or were very much overstated. I was disappointed I didn’t have to use 4 wheel drive. We arrived at the AT crossing just as the GPS zeroed.

     We set off around 9:00.  The trail is in good condition with few wet spots, well placed bog bridges and  a mostly soft tread way.  We took our time and covered the two miles to the spur trail in a bit under two hours. Moses, Chris’ dog was on his first major hike and he was doing well, staying on the trail and within sight most of the time. Just before the intersection we met the first person, a thru hiker slack-packing Southbound. We had a long break at the junction for drinks and snacks and then continued on. Just before the first rocky traverse we met another hiker, a young woman, solo hiking back toward the junction. We continued along and after a short section of scrubby trees we were in the open for keeps.

The views were amazing.  Fifteen more minutes brought us to the summit and 360 degree views. Saddleback and The Horn, Sugarloaf,  Avery Peak and The Horns on the Bigelow Range and off to the horizon.

The wind was chill and gusting to twenty MPH. We put on some extra layers and had a snack. There were two other people from Carrabassett  checking out the stone covered shelter that was the remains of the wooden  cab of the former fire tower. The metal base still stands. We went down to check it out. Over time people have put some roofing material and a layer of rock on the roof and rocked up a windbreak in front of it. It forms a rough shelter that shows signs of use.

  There is, unfortunately, a bunch of trash  left around, a sleeping bag, clothing and food wrappers. I would like to make another trip up there soon and remove it.  A couple of women approached via the Firewarden Trail. They announced that this was their final peak on the New England 4,000 footers list. Good for them!  I hope one day to complete the list too, hiking all sixty-seven mountains in the three Northern New England States. As we were getting ready to go down, there was a group of seven women coming up the Spur trail. They had parked at the same place I did. They called themselves “The Summit Sisters”. They were from Connecticut.
    We  headed back down about 11:00 and were soon at the trail junction. We had just gotten past Lone Mountain when we met two other thru hikers, a couple from the south based on their accents. Below them we met a woman whose trail name was Croft and as we talked to her we discovered she was the hiking partner of a woman we were supposed to deliver a backpacking stove to at the Stratton Motel. Her trail name is Wild Poodle. It really is a small world. Continuing on, we reached the road about 1:00. We headed down the road and hadn’t gotten very far when we saw a Coyote in the road. He bolted down the road and I tried to keep up on the rough dirt road. Before long, he found a place to duck off and was soon out of sight. We continued on toward Stratton and the drop off of the stove. We got back home about 6:30.

Mahoosuc Notch Loop

October 16, 2010

    My hike today was first proposed as a backpack by a friend and we had planned to go a couple of weeks ago but we both ended up working. The hike consisted of  a road walk and bushwhack to the East end of Mahoosuc Notch then through the notch, up Fulling Mill Mountain and along the AT to the North branch of the Wright trail and back to the vehicle. Sounds simple on paper. 12.2 miles IS doable and I have done it a couple of times. However those hikes did not include Mahoosuc Notch or The North branch of the Wright Trail.

    I set off from the trail head at about 8:15.The First part was straight-forward enough, I hiked the road that goes past the Wright Trail parking lot.  This I did a couple of weeks ago to do some scouting. I found that the supposed bushwhack was actually a flagged trail. I hike nearly to the end of this (bushwhack) and discovered that a moose was moving along ahead of me as indicated by the very fresh tracks. I believe it was a bull if the rubs along the trail were any indication. Since this is about the height of the rut and bulls are exceedingly aggressive and unpredictable at this time, I was going slow and watching for signs of him wanting to stomp my guts out. Evidently he had better things to do because  I  never saw him. The last part of the bushwhack turned into a real but still flagged bushwhack with a steep downhill and a crossing of Notch Brook before hooking up with the AT. I arrived at the AT at about 10:25.  At this point I kind of thought I’d hike up into the notch and if  it was not too bad I’d hike back down and go out the same way. The amorous moose was in the back of my mind though.

    Mahoosuc Notch is billed as the toughest mile on the entire Appalachian Trail. It might just be!. It took me nearly two hours to go a mile and I whacked my head, scraped my knees and became thoroughly tired out. There were crawl-throughs, crawl-arounds and crawl-unders. Sometimes I’d go up then down 8 or ten feet to go ahead twenty.

My usual hiking speed is about 1.3 miles an hour uphill or a bit less if it’s really steep and up to three miles an hour on good trail on the level or slightly downhill. My speed was less than .75 MPH through the Notch.  Pictures do not do justice to the jumble of car sized boulders that make up the trail here. There is a brook that runs through the notch as well and it is underground much of the way. Occasionally you can see it ten or so feet below you. At other times you can’t even hear it. I got to the junction with the Notch Trail at 11:50. Only a little over 7 miles to go!. The next section was a steep climb up Fulling Mill Mountain and my legs were feeling the effect of coming through the notch.  I was slower than usual on this section but after I got to the top I was rewarded by some nice views and the alpine bogs were interesting.I also found a fairly new EMS pack cover caught on a bush. At 1:15  I made it to Full Goose shelter and stopped for a few minutes to rest and have a bite to eat.

With 5.5 miles left to go and another mountain to climb I wearily set off hoping the trail would soon lead downhill. Be careful what you wish for! I dropped down for a way then climbed the shoulder of North Goose Eye.  A half mile of alpine bog was welcomed since it was quite level and I could move along quicker but the wind had picked up and a cold fog moved across the summit along with some scattered showers and sleet. I noticed the bog bridges are in dire need of repair or replacement. Many are under water or rotted so as to be unsafe. Their purpose is to keep people off the fragile alpine vegetation  but here they are failing. I dropped off the mountain and was soon at the Wright Trail. As I said before, be careful what you wish for. The North branch of the Wright Trail has to be the worst trail I have ever been on. The  first part goes straight down a very steep gully and the log steps and bridges are rotting and ultra slippery in areas where the only other choice is equally dangerous steep ledge. The trail is horribly eroded in many places and water bars are non-existent. Tired as I was this trail was torture as I slipped and fell my way down. I was being extra careful because I knew I was fatigued yet I fell once and slipped once and caught myself in a place where a fall would have meant a 100 foot slide down a wet ledge with devastating consequences.

I struggled down this stretch and after an hour plus I made it to the junction with  the South Branch of the Wright Trail. It was 4:00 and I still had 2.5 miles to go. From there it was a cruise back to the vehicle. I spent nine and a half hours hiking and stopped a very few minutes. A very strenuous hike but so rewarding. I had seen some awesome scenery and faced some challenges and had not seen another soul all day.