The Galehead / South Twin Hike Report
Summits: Galehead Mountain (4024′) and South Twin Mountain (4902′)
Trails: Gale River Trail, Garfield Ridge Trail, Frost Trail, Twinway
Total Elevation Gain: 3302′
Total Miles Hiked: 11.8
I woke up at 4am to meet Gary at his house at 5am. As he had a multi-week parking pass, we decided to take his car.
When prepping and packing for a hike, some decisions have to be made. What will the weather be like? Will I need to carry that much food and water? As I was expecting cool temps with fairly steady winds, I packed my fleece pull-over shirt and my fleece pull-over snowboarders parka. I wore my long-sleeved poly shirt and, as a second thought, packed my cotton t-shirt. Another decision was whether or not to pack all 96oz of water. Perhaps 64oz would be enough? Feh, I brought all 96oz.
After my shower, I dressed, mixed my Gatorade (32oz), packed my food and water and set off. I met Gary at 5am, loaded up his car and off we went.
We set off in early twilight for the uneventful drive north. We reached the Tilt’n Diner at around 6, where I had a very disappointing breakfast of undercooked, eggy french toast and excellent spicy sausage. Fearing nasty consequences at elevation, I didn’t finish the french toast. On the way out, I supplemented my meager repast with a glazed donut from Dunkin Donuts.
At 7am, we set off again for our destination, the trailhead of the Gale River Trail off the Gale River Loop Road, aka Fire Road 92. After locating the turnoff on the right of Route 3, about halfway between Franconia Ridge and Crawford Notch, we drove down the packed gravel road and found the trailhead parking lot.
It was roughly 8:15am and the lot was almost full, a strange sight so early in the morning. Later, we found out why.
The air was cool, but damp (yet again!). On the drive up, low scudding fog could be seen in all the valleys, a prelude to the humid day ahead. Gary started off with fleece while I kept my long-sleeved poly shirt. After about a mile, however, I had switched to my t-shirt and Gary had traded in his fleece for a lighter shirt. While humid, the air was mercifully cool (mid-60s?), but I was already working up a sweat. I was glad for both the t-shirt and for bringing all that water.
The route we were taking was a 4.6 mile hike to the Galehead AMC hut via the Gale River Trail and the Garfield Ridge Trail. From there, we were going to bag Galehead Mountain, a 1 mile round-trip hike to and fro via the Frost Trail, then a 1.6 round-trip hike up South Twin via the steep Twinway. The total mileage was going to be 11.8 miles, over twice as long as the recent 5.2 mile hike up and down Mount Jackson. This was to be my longest hike of the season.
The first 3 miles of the Gale River Trail was a gentle hike along a mostly dirt packed trail, though the ubiquitous rocks and roots were still very much in evidence. The trail ran along, and crossed 3 times, the Gale “River”, a fordable but rapidly rushing stream flowing down from the mountains. The stream crossings were uneventful, though care had to be taken as a few of the rocks were just under the level of the water. (At one crossing, a broken steel cable could be seen wrapped around the trunk of a sturdy tree, the remains of a “permanent” bridge which had washed away during the spring floods of 2005.)
As the miles ticked by, we slowly gained elevation. As we approached the headwall of the valley, we saw our first hiker. She was descending from the Galehead hut. As it turned out, all the hut croos (croo (aka crew) being the traditional spelling), had met at Galehead for a final farewell. Some of the huts were closing for the season. As it turned out, she had been a croo member of the Lakes of the Clouds hut on Washington. Lakes had closed for the season and she was heading down to the parking lot. While we were chatting, it turned out that she was a part of croo when Gary had brought his Boy Scouts up for the Flags hike. Small world.
After we bade each other a safe hike, we continued on to “Jacob’s Ladder”, a series of large rocks that form a fairly steep staircase out of the valley. As we begin our climb out of the valley, we met numerous other croo members who were on their way down. That explained the parking lot.
The steep hike out wasn’t bad, it being marginally steeper than the Webster-Jackson Trail from the Flags hike. I counted 105 rocks on the Jacob’s Ladder section, and those were only the ones I actually stepped on. After passing Jacob’s Ladder, the trail continued fairly steeply until we reached the trail junction with the Garfield Ridge Trail. At this point, we’d hiked 4.0 miles, equivalent to hiking up to Jackson and halfway back, without reaching a single summit yet. We continued hiking along the ridge, a series of up and downs, until, 30 minutes later, we got to the Galehead hut, elevation 3800′, at about 11am. Gary and I had made excellent time. Book time for that hike was 3 hrs and 25 minutes. We’d hiked it in 2 hrs 30 minutes. 
The Galehead hut sits in the col between Galehead and South Twin. The views south into the Pemigewasset Wilderness were outstanding, even with the haze. We could see a seeming infinite mass of mountains sprawling away before us. We could see the eastern slope of Franconia Ridge, Galehead, Garfield, Owl’s Head, the Twins, Guyot, the Bonds and so on and so forth.
After burning all that energy hiking up, we decided to stop and have our lunch at the hut. After eating my roast beef sandwiches and using the facilities, it was time to bag Galehead.
Galehead’s summit is completely wooded and w/o views. The Frost Trail is a dead-end to the summit. Though that by itself would be boring, there is a side path to an outlook which has magnificent views. From the rocky outcrop we were standing on, the ground fell away rapidly into the valley beneath us. A fall from there would be certainly fatal. I would have taken pictures, but Gary and I had decided to “slack pack” (w/o backpacks) it. As Gary had bagged the summit previously, he stopped at the outlook and soaked in the view. I continued on and bagged the summit, then turned around immediately after tagging the summit cairn.
Afte returning to the hut about 40 minutes later, we bought some hut souvenirs (pin and shirt for me), geared up and tackled the Twinway.
The Twinway climbs 1100′ in 0.8 miles and it does this by descending steeply 100′ before flattening out for about 20 paces before climbing steadily upward over a trail consisting of nothing but rocks.
I had a difficult time on this trail. I’d already hiked about 5.6 miles and we were now hitting the steepest part of the trip. I was sweating profusely, drinking water like a fish and, finally, taking baby steps to work my way up the mountain. On the way up, we did have partial views back to Galehead and the hut and I was able to mark my progress by comparing my current height to those features.
The Twinway levelled off gradually only within the last 100′ or so of the summit. The summit was fairly crowded with about a dozen or so other hikers. Gary and I found some small shelter from the sun and ate. He brought up some chocolate chocolate chip cookies that his girlfriend had made, while I opened my stash of dried pineapple and M&Ms. Resting, we ate and drank our water and just soaked in the 360° views from the summit. From there, we could see northeast to the Presidentials, including Jackson, east to the Carrigain and Zealand and north to the North Country. Away in the far distance, I could almost make out the Gale River Trail trailhead.
I think we stayed up there for close to an hour. After taking a series of pics, I found a comfy spot on the granite, no easy task, put my hat over my eyes and just basked. My legs were a bit sore, but it was a good sore. I almost fell asleep. After rousing myself reluctantly, I found Gary comfortably wedged in a cleft. Looking around, I also realized that we were alone. Everyone had moved on. And so, it was our turn too as well.
Gearing back up, we departed South Twin Mountain at around 2:30pm. The descent was a lot faster; I tend to descend rather quickly. Once we reached the hut, we lingered a bit and spoke with some of the hikers we’d met on South Twin. Four of them were older gents in their mid-50s or so, retired professional types maybe, all slim and still fit. (As Gary said, “that’ll be us in a few years.”) They had stayed at the hut the previous night and were staying there that night as well. As we rested, they slack packed it up Galehead. 15 minutes later, we heard a loud echo from Galehead and realized that “the gents” had reached the outlook. We waved to each other and Gary took an extreme range (40x zoom) pic of them. With the Mark One Eyeball, all you could see were some miniscule multi-colored shapes in the distance, most of the way up Galehead.
Finally, it was time to head back. We geared up, wished the other hikers farewell, and set off. At the Garfield Ridge Trail / Gale River Trail junction, we met a 60-ish year old woman who was solo hiking. She was resting, having a snack and checking her map. She, too, was doing a near 12 mile hike, except she had hiked up Garfield and was heading down the Gale River Trail. As the trailheads were not common, she had climbed via the Garfield Trail, she had put a bike in the woods at the Gale River Trail trailhead and was going to bike back along the gravelly road back to her car. I was notably impressed.
After a small chat, we soon lost her on the initial steep section. After the steeps, there was an outlook by the upper reaches of the Gale River and we stopped there for a break. After taking my pack off, I walked down to the river and dunked my head in the icy water. I don’t usually do this, but I’d been sweating for the better part of the day. It was numbingly refreshing. As I clambored back up to the trail, the woman met up with us and we stopped to chat some more. She then left while Gary and I were getting our gear back on.
It took 2.5 miles out of the 3 remaining to pass her again. Her pace was amazing, even considering that she had gone hiking the day before and was going out again the following day! And that’s including the three stream crossings. During the last half mile before we passed her, we could see her just ahead down the trail, but dangitall if we couldn’t gain ground on her in any kind of measurable pace.
The last half mile of the hike was a blur. Gary and I both zoned out with Gary taking the lead and me struggling to match his pace. Near the end, my pride took over and I caught up to him as we emerged from the woods. It was 6pm. During the descent, we’d hiked a 4 hour 25 minute route in 3 hours 30 minutes including two lengthy rests.
I was a sweaty sore mess, but was fine after a few leg stretches. After packing up the car, we set off for Lincoln and the Earl of Sandwich restaurant and the Udderly Delicious ice cream shoppe for some takeout, the latter for frappes. On the way there, however, we saw the moon up above swirling clouds that were blanketing Mount Lafayette. It was a very Ansel Adams moment, so Gary stopped the car and took a picture.
After getting our food to-go, we drove and ate and made our way home. It was a most memorable hike, full of interesting people, magnificent views and warm camaraderie. It was the highest of notes with which to end a season.
Photo Gallery: Galehead / South Twin 2007