Day 2: June 1, 2007

Plan: As of when we woke up, the plan was still very much up in the air!

The day's walk: 5.5 miles, as it turned out (about 1100 vertical feet up and 3000 vertical feet down)

Despite having rained and thundered all night, it was not raining when we woke up. We were tired and soggy, though, and by the time we finally got out of the tent and went to get our food bags, it was already about 7:30.

This is Dan tying up the tarp, not stretching sore muscles... yet.

And here's the shelter at the Garfield Ridge campsite, left vacant by the time we got going.

Within 100 feet of rejoining the main trail, we came to a brook crossing where the stream tumbled down a rocky waterfall. There was another hiker filling his water bottles there, so we said hello to him as we crossed. But then on the other side of the brook, there was no trail! I asked the other hiker where the trail went, and he pointed down the rocky waterfall. "It goes down like this for a while," he said.

Woah. We had to stow our hiking poles and use our hands to climb down. It took us a full hour to scramble down the wet rocks for the next half mile!

Another perspective of this crazy section of trail:

Finally at the bottom of the steep descent down Mt. Garfield, we continued along the ridge toward Galehead Mtn.

This trip was a test of and testament to the weather sealing on my camera: the Pentax K10D. I was very worried when I would consistently pull the camera out of the bag to find it wet and soggy, and would have to wipe the condensation off the lens before I could take a photo. And as you can see, sometimes wiping the lens was not enough. In the end, the camera not only survived the trip, being soggy for three full days, but it is still in perfect condition!

After having exhausted myself the first day, my body was pretty worn. I also had a very sore throat and felt like I was getting sick. I'd been fighting the beginnings of a sore throat for several days before the trip, and with the help of vitamins C and E and lots of rest, I thought I'd warded it off. But after a day of cold weather and intense exercise, the sore throat came back with a vengance.

I was struggling with every little uphill bump along the ridge, and especially up the side of Galehead Mtn. We'd debated taking the Franconia Brook trail down into the Pemigewasset Wilderness rather than continuing along the ridge, but I had decided I might as well give the original plan one last shot, despite the fact that it looked hopeless at this point. By the time I finally reached the Galehead Hut, though, I had already had to stop for lunch because I was about to collapse from exhaustion and felt like I was going to throw up.

This photo is meant to capture my relief at seeing the clearing and hearing the sound of the wind meter whirring away on the hut roof.

I found Dan at the hut drinking cocoa and drying the wet tent on a line outside. He'd been there a good while. I was way too tired to even think about climbing 1100 feet up South Twin and then walking another 2.8 miles after that along the ridge to the Guyot campsite. I might have made it that far by pushing myself the way I had to the day before, but after two days of that I would be a complete wreck, probably be even sicker, and I could see no way that we'd be able to finish the loop and make it back to the car by Sunday afternoon, as was the plan.

So we finally made official what had become just about inevitable by that point, which was to head South into the Wilderness, toward Thirteen Falls Tentsite, and cut out the whole Bondcliff section of the loop.

Leaving the hut and heading toward the Twin Brook Trail, Dan spotted this clump of amphibian eggs in a little mud puddle.

The trail down was fairly uneventful. Neither of us had been as sore as we had expected when we woke up, but by the mid afternoon—as we neared Thirteen Falls—we were starting to realize the toll that all the pounding rocks had taken on our legs, and especially our feet. We finally came to the campsite, but instead of scoping it out we headed directly to the water to hang out and relax.

This is the beauty that awaited us!

We soaked our feet, had a snack, and enjoyed the view for a while, just sitting here. Dan spent some time looking over the map, and then proposed a new Plan for the trip. He said that it was ok by him if what had so far been a difficult journey suddenly became a relaxed camping trip. He proposed hanging by the river, taking care of our feet, having a leisurely evening around the campsite, building a fire (actually, that part of the plan came later when we found the fire pit at the campsite), and enjoying the beauty of the scenery.

I was very much on board with that plan.

Here's the view from the brook where we spent the afternoon.

We set up the tent on a nice platform, and didn't see anyone else at the site at all—including the supposed caretaker. We built a fire and had a relaxing dinner (Dan roasted sausage, toasted bread, and melted cheese by the fire for a pretty hearty-looking sandwich, while I fired up my stove for the usual rice pasta and mashed potatoes with cheese and seasonings). The sun was starting to poke out occasionally, so we hung our wet clothes up and dried our boots by the fire (mine a little too much, unfortunately, but I won't get into that). We also made HOT CHOCOLATE, which was amazing. We boiled water and dumped in bits of chocolate bar and chocolate chips, and at the end stirred in some powdered milk. The water was too hot, so the milk didn't dissolve correctly, but it was still some of the best hot chocolate I've ever had.

The above photo is of a stump that I found interesting because of the green shoots of grass coming out of it.

We got to bed nice and early the second night.