|
I woke up in the morning feeling
well-rested. Muffin was dry and the sun glimmered
on the tent walls. We got up to eat breakfast and check out the weather. My boots were still soaked, as were most of the rest of the waterlogged
items from the night before. We ran into the caretaker down by the dining area.
Since my altimeter watch was messed up from the rain, I asked what time it was.
It turned out to be 11:00, which meant we had slept to around 10:30.
Due
to the late hour and our wet gear, I decided to amend the plans for
the day. Instead of breaking camp and moving to
Guyot Campsite, we would leave the tent here and allow our things to dry out while we took a day hike. The
most logical trip was to follow the Twin Brook Trail up Garfield Ridge to Galehead
Hut, take a look at the newly-rebuilt hut, then climb nearby Galehead Mountain and
return.
After
a quick cold breakfast of power bars, dried apples, and dry oatmeal (and dog food
for Muffin), we hiked back down to the brook to filter water to refill our water bottles. The water was cold and clear, and I drank a half bottle immediately,
still dehydrated from all the hiking on Thursday. Muffin drank
right out of the brook.
The
Twin Brook Trail leaves the Franconia Brook Trail a few steps northwest of the
tentsite. The trail begins very gently, and generally has pretty good footing.
Still tired from the day before, we climbed a little more slowly, but still
made pretty good time. About halfway up, we were hiking along, when suddenly
something crashed through the brush just off the trail about 10 yards in front
of us. We rushed up to take a look but saw nothing, but it may have been a bear.
Few people actually see bears in the White Mountains. They’re generally
afraid of humans, and prefer to sneak up on food when no one’s around. They’re
actually more common around roadside campgrounds where people are a bit more careless
storing their food.
A
bit further up the trail, we met the first hiker we had seen since leaving the
parking area the previous morning. He said he was on a long loop, but he wasn’t
carrying much. We figured out that he was probably a trailrunner, someone who
covers a lot of distance in one day, running or fast walking the whole way. That
thought was confirmed when I read a trip report on the Internet back at home from
a guy who had covered 36 miles in 13 hours, starting and ending at the Zealand
Trailhead, which included coming up the Twin Brook Trail. While trailrunners definitely
qualify as marathoners and deserve a lot of credit for their feat, this fairly
new fad is not what I feel the wilderness experience is all about. It’s hard enough
to see everything at the normal slower pace, especially when you have to watch
your feet so much on steep rocky trails.
|
Muffin
resting on top my sleeping bag in the tent on Friday morning. After Thursday’s
night downpour, I was surprised at how dry she was by morning. The camera lens,
however, was still fogged up from the rain. |
|
