No Gale on Galehead.

March 17 2012

    Galehead is a Mountain with no views from it’s actual summit and is a short hike from Galehead Hut  and the Garfield Ridge Trail. For those reasons it is often done in conjunction with surrounding peaks, most requiring a car spot. Since I was hiking alone today that wasn’t an option. In winter, and I am using the term loosely for today’s hike, you must add a mile to the hike because the road that accesses the usual starting point is closed. There is much to redeem this hike on it’s own though and just being out in the mountains on a day like this was an added bonus.
    The weather forecast was for clearing skies in the afternoon but you can never count on that in the White Mountains. As I drove across Route 2 to Twin Mountain, the roads were slick in places with a light coating of ice from some precipitation that had fallen during the night. I adjusted my speed accordingly and arrived at the trailhead half an hour behind schedule.
    Beaver Brook rest area is a wayside stop on route 3, just South of Twin Mountain N.H. There is a small network of ungroomed XC ski trails there and one of these is used to gain access  to the  Gale River Trailhead in winter. This adds a mile on both ends of the hike. I geared up and left the parking area at 8:40 AM.

The Summer Trail head

 The first four miles of this hike are nearly flat and I made great time. The trail was mostly bare of snow for much of this distance with soft ice becoming more prevalent as I gained a little elevation.

Gale River

At about the three mile mark the ground was mostly covered with a few inches of snow.  As the terrain steepened, my pace slowed and I took more frequent breaks. As I paused to catch my breath, I began to notice movement in the woods around me. As the  warmth of the day was building, Old Man Winter was releasing his grip on the land.  Branches, weighed down by snow, were melting out and springing up, trickles of melt water could be heard under the snow and water dripping from branches created sights and sounds that although early, were music for my soul.

Galehead Hut

Field repair to my snowshoe.

     At about the four mile mark, with the snow depth increasing, I began to think about putting on snowshoes. I put it off as long as possible because I go much slower with them on. When I did put them on, I noticed that one of the bindings was broken. This was the first time ever that I’ve had a gear failure. I’m not even sure when it occurred. I used them last weekend for a Relay for Life event and noticed, I was tripping or catching the crampons on them and that it seemed to be the left all the time but I thought it was because I was tired. Anyway, I tried twice to repair it on the trail and it kept coming apart. I didn’t have any plastic wire ties or enough parachute cord to effect a good repair. I figured I’d  dig into my pack and maybe use a drawstring from one of my stuff sacks to lash it together. As the terrain steepened and the snow depth increased, I was increasingly worried, the other side would let go and I’d be screwed. In a winter of more snow I would have turned around and hiked out without a second thought but this year and in this instance I continued on knowing, if it failed completely, it would be unpleasant but that I could get off the mountain.
    I got to Galehead Hut about 1:00 and two hikers who had passed me earlier were there soaking up the sun and enjoying the view. Temperatures were in the mid fifties and I enjoyed the rest on the porch. I mentioned my problem with the snowshoe binding and one of the young men offered a length of  parachute cord for me to lash the binding with. I made the repair and it lasted the rest of the hike. After a rest and a well deserved sandwich I headed up the last half mile to the summit. As I was leaving , a group of four hikers from New York came down off Galehead. Two of them were finishing up their winter 48 on Garfield in a couple of hours.          

Galehead Mountain

The Hut from Galehead Outlook

The Summit

                                                                                                                                                The outlook just before the summit provided nice views down the valley to the Bonds and up to South Twin. After  a few pictures there and at the actual top, I headed back to the hut and then down. I’d been on the summit at 2:00 and with 6.5 miles to go, I knew I’d have to hustle if  I was going to get home by 6:00, which was the time I told Linda I’d be home. The New York Folks were still at the hut and I stopped for a couple of minutes to chat with them as they were preparing to head over to Garfield.
    I stowed my GPS in my pack so as I hiked down, I didn’t know what time it was but I felt like it was getting late and except for a couple of stops for water and a short “pack off” stop to remove my snowshoes, I moved steadily down the mountain. I was really surprised when I got to the parking lot and it was only 4:40. With the short breaks I’d taken, I covered six and a half miles in 2.5 hours. Boy are my legs tired!


Gear Tip
    Take a look at your gear and imagine what would happen if you had a catastrophic failure of  a key piece, miles from the parking lot. Having a snowshoe break is not the end of the world most of the time. It can mean an unpleasant hike out and getting to the parking lot a little later than you wanted to. If conditions are not good as with deep unconsolidated snow or deep and rapidly melting snow pack, a broken snowshoe can mean a life threatening situation. Imagine wading in snow to your waist and how tiring that would be, even for a short distance. Imagine plunging your legs time after time, thigh deep into heavy, wet, clinging snow. One of the things I worry about is having downhill momentum and suddenly breaking through up to my knee and hyper extending a knee. That could be devastating if you were miles from the parking lot with no one around and night falling. I took some nylon twine out of my pack to use for something and never put it back. I also took out the three heavy nylon wire ties I usually carry and I can’t remember why…but that stuff is now in my repair kit again. Duct tape can repair a pack or tent, a couple of safety pins can hold a jacket with a broken zipper together. It doesn’t take much to repair gear well enough to get you out of the woods but you have to remember to keep these things in your pack.