HIB X: Galehead and Garfield

Dear Folks,
​I am in the process of catching people up with some early hikes and other encounters with nature that I thought people might find interesting as part of a "How It Began" (HIB) series.  Mostly this will describe specific hikes and perhaps some lessons learned along the way...if there are any.  They are meant to be short and, perhaps helpful in some way to other hikers or fellow-travelers.  I will post the dates of when I hiked a specific mountain since the ones in this series are NOT posted at or near the date hiked.

SEPTEMBER 28, 2021

As I sit here typing up this particular hike 8 months later, I am in the process of recovering from Covid and planning a return to backpacking--as opposed to day-hiking--which I haven't done in decades. I am finding the process of getting back on the trail to be a bit intimidating.  I feel tired and out of shape.  I am getting confused by pack weights and whether I can even move with something that heavy on my back.

This hike keeps springing to mind. It is both encouraging and not.  The first part--and the middle were I to be honest--remind me that these things can be miserable and exhausting.  The last part, though, was very near the top of my favorite hikes of all time.  Life is like that.  We have peaks and valleys--literally sometimes--and we learn from them while also hoping that they drive us forward more than they hold us back.  Deep right?  That is what they pay me for...

This hike was planned during the hike, itself.  This is never a good idea or--at least--it comes with risks.  We had planned an out-and-back route up Galehead.  This 4,000 footer has its adherents as a solid hike with a reward--a cool AMC hut--at the end.  For those who may not know, sprinkled about  in hiking-land are a variety of lodges, "huts" and other cool support structures that make fun discoveries while you are out.  When I was hiking the approach to the Appalachian Trail in Georgia I came across an entire eco-hotel!  That, though, will be a different post. 

The Galehead Hut has bunk rooms and a small store for small hiker stuff (snacks, band-aids, puncture repair kits and the like).  Also, they serve food...sort of.  If you reserve a stay there, they feed you.  If you don't and just swing by on your way to the top you can buy some leftover soup if there is any left.  This is very cool and a key part of the tale.

You see, the hike up Galehead was  not spectacular to me.  Al liked it better but mostly it was just going up, up, up through the forest playing peek-a-boo with the clouds and rain which eventually found us.  Finally--after what seemed like forever but was probably just a few hours--we emerged at the field where the hut is located.  This is not the top.  No.  However, it was the one place that counted as a "view" (which was limited but nice). 

​Then, after hitting the actual top (with the tiniest cairn of all time) we turned around and went to warm up at the hut.  There we bought the last two bowls of soup, watched as the clouds parted somewhat, cheered ourselves all around and then made a fateful decision.  We decided to hike the ridge to Mount Garfield by way of the Garfield Ridge Trail then down to the Trailhead of the Mount Garfield Trail, then along the road to the Galehead...er...trailhead where we left the car. 

​Al had already climbed the Mt. Garfield Trail once and found it  relatively easy. What could go wrong?  It was 2 pm.  We were less than halfway.  We started down Galehead and across to Garfield.

It turns out that the space between these two mountains is anything but easy.  There were a number of smaller, unnamed peaks on it that sapped our strength.  We were confused at times about our exact location. Still, the trail was beautiful at points, with long stretches of soft mossy ground with cute little trees that made us feel like we were trespassing on some obscure elf kin-dom. We took a long pause at one point there and, honestly, I don't remember experiencing so much nature in one spot.

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​Generally--at that time in our hiking--it was just hard.  At one point we met a guy who had made the same mistake in the opposite direction. 

He opened with a lament; "Why did I decide to take this trail so late in the day?" 

"Why did we?!" was our response.

Then, when we inquired as to what the trail looked like behind him--and in front of us--he got a faraway look in his eyes.  "The worst is yet to come for you...I am sorry," he told us.  Then he turned his sweaty, mud covered face away to continue on to Galehead with a haunted look in his eyes.  What we encountered shortly thereafter was a crazy cliff/waterfall that we had to scale with rocks rolling off our feet and nearly bonking the other as we scrambled forward.  That said, I looked back at one point and admired the view.  Then I looked down to where we had come.  Sadly I ruled out taking a picture because I didn't want to fall. The stranger thought we would have the worst of it going up.  I have no idea how he managed to get down.

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Finally?  We made it to the top of Garfield around 4pm with 6ish miles to go. Needless to say we were well aware by this point that much of our hike down would be in the dark.  However, we were content.  Garfield's view is--full 360--spectacular.  There was no reason to rush anymore with the damage done.  We took our time with the view, dug out our headlamps, refueled, and started home.

In the end we had a dinner of gas station snacks and BK cheeseburgers because everywhere else was closed.  If I had it to do over again, I probably wouldn't have dallied at Galehead.  We started our hike pretty early but were moving slow thanks to the four peaks we summitted the day before. Soup is nice and all but not worth the amount of time we spent.  I would take a closer look at the map, too.  The whole day was over 16 miles.  Honestly, though, I don't see climbing Galehead again.  I will just take the easy way up Garfield.