[at-l] Trip Report White Mountains,Day 3: July 22 - Greenleaf Hut to Galehead Hut

[papabear.nyc at verizon.net (Papa Bear)]

Here's the Web address for the full report:
http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze2h6gy/papabear/Whites_2003.html

I  previously posted the link to the pictures, but here it is again:
http://gallery.backcountry.net/papabear_2003_Whites

Tuesday (July 22nd) - Greenleaf Hut to Galehead Hut.   

Today our trek was to Galehead Hut, a "mere" 7.7 miles.  I had outlined a "long" hike alternative, which was to go up to the ridge, go down the Lincoln slide, bag Owl's Head, then go all the was up the Lincoln Brook Trail and ultimately to Galehead Hut via the Twin Brook Trail.  I gave up this idea since we were down to 4 hikers and I didn't want to go solo and the weather was cloudy with rain forecast.  Laura had decided to go back down to the road via the Old Bridle Path and meet us the second next day at Zealand Hut.  So I would save the Lincoln Slide for another day.

The morning weather was 55 degrees with fog and clouds on the peaks.  We packed up before breakfast and got off early.  We got to Lafayette's summit around 9:20 and, like the day before, we had high winds (40 MPH) and fog.  As we started along the ridge towards the north we got occasional rain, mostly below treeline.  I got the impression that we hiked down into the rain.

Hiking up Mount Garfield was slow and treacherous in the rain, but again as we neared the summit the rain abated.  We got to Garfield at 12:35 and took a short break.  Occasionally a view would briefly appear in the swirling fog but basically we saw nothing.  I had forgotten how tough this climb was.  I had just done it a year ago and didn't remember it as such a much.  The book says this section is harder than you might think. Well, it is!

We started down again at 12:45 and soon got into the rain again. As those of you know who have done this know, the trail coincides with a stream in the steepest part of this descent.  The rain added to the "fun" with very slow going and a few falls between us.  Once we were past the steep section, the trail was easier and we got a couple of glimpses of the hut in the distance as we rounded the side of Galehead Mountain.  The final climb up to the hut was also steeper and tougher than I remembered,  but we finally made it, tired but safe and sound at 3:30.

Before I lost my momentum, I dropped my pack and took off up the easy .6 miles to the Mount Garfield summit.  This was a fairly non-descript peak but there was a view point about half way up where you could see back to the hut and over towards the Twins, tomorrow's route.  This little side trip took just about a half an hour, 15 minutes up and 15 minutes back.  I had time to clean up, write a little in my log and actually take a nap..

After supper, the skies cleared and we had a glorious sunset!  All was forgiven!

Around 8:45, two NOBO thru-hikers, Stringbean and Cosmo arrived.  They arranged for work-for-stay with the croo and mentioned they had passed the 5 women who had left Greenleaf Hut just before us that morning (we had passed them going up Lafayette).  They said 3 had decided to stop and stay at the Garfield Ridge campground, and the other two were a short distance from the hut.

Around 9:30, after lights out, Jim and I commented to ourselves that those two women still had not arrived.  We went down the trail a ways but could not see anyone coming.  It was quite dark by this time.  We went back and told the two thru-hikers about our concern and they promptly borrowed our head lamps and bounded off to find the women.  The were back in about 10 minutes with the two women.  They had taken the women's packs and led them up to the hut.  The women were in bad shape.  The were exhausted, had run out of water and one of them was vomiting.  I sincerely think they may not have made it to the hut, even though it was probably only a quarter mile, if the thru-hikers hadn't saved them.

The croo put on the lights again and gave them some food and slowly they came back to life.  Then one of those deja vue moments came.  The older women mentioned that her husband was a thru hiker and was expected to summit Katahdin today or tomorrow.  I asked what his trail name was. It was "Journeyman".  I said "I just saw him a little over a of week ago in Monson".  He was with 3 other thru-hikers whom I had actually met in Pennsylvania in May when I was down there sectioning.  Well, this made her feel good; I had actually seen him more recently then she had.  I said he was looking great and was just anxious to finish.  The other woman was their daughter and they said that originally he was going to return after finishing his thru hike and do the huts with them, but his schedule didn't allow it.  It's a small world.

Miles: 8.9, elevation gain: 3200', peaks: Lafayette, Garfield, Galehead*.
* - a new 4000' peak for me
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