Finally! HikerBob's #48 -Garfield

[HikerBob]

I know, this trip report has been a long time coming. I apologize for the delay.

I sat down several times to write this and even got started more than once, but w*rk interfered or I just wasn't sure where I was headed with what I was writing. Then, Tom wrote that very moving first post about his own quest and completion of the 48 and suddenly all my words seemed inadequate.

Anyway, here goes nothing. I'm just going to write until I stop

HikerBob

(I may have to give a patch for those who finish this report!)

 

[HikerBob]

A little over two years ago I found myself approaching a milestone birthday - in September of 2003 I would be 50 years old. How the hell could that happen? The years seemed to have slipped by without my knowing but a number like 'five-zero' you can't ignore.

I decided I needed to get more active so started making use of the free gym at the college where I work. While this provided some much needed physical therapy it was emotionally unexciting. I needed more.

I had done some hiking, far less than I would have liked, in my younger days in the UK and always loved the outdoors and mountains in particular. Here in Western Massachusetts we have the Holyoke Range over which the Metacomet-Monadnock trail runs. That was it! I would hike!

Karen, who works with me at the college, and I went for a quick ramble up to the Summit House on Mount Holyoke. We never made it! We quickly discovered that sneakers, jeans shorts, cotton T-shirts, unfit bodies and vigorous exercise are not a good combination! We also learned that one 20oz bottle of water is not sufficient.

As the weeks passed we got better prepared, better equipped and tackled more, and more adventurous hikes. At the end of July Karen, Lisa and I hiked a seven mile circuit route from the Jones Nose trail head to the summit of Mt Greylock and back.

Back in the UK I had hiked in the Lake District and North Wales where, despite nothing being over 4,000ft, most of the hiking was above tree line with constant views. On one of my now regular visits to a local EMS I asked where I should go to get 'above treeline' hiking. The answer was easy, "The White Mountains."

I bought the AMC White Mountain Guide, another guide book and started planning. I had no idea how long it would take to even get to the White Mountains so on a whim one Saturday I drove up to Franconia Notch, a 400+ mile round trip, just to see how far it was. I find myself smiling again as I recall how I felt that day as I stood in the parking lot at the foot of Cannon Mountain and gazed in awe at the cliffs and clouds. I knew then I would be a regular visitor to the Whites.

I set a date, August 10th. Karen was busy but Lisa was free so, on an ominously grey day we headed North for our first White Mountain experience. We had still not decided where we would actually hike and I am amused to read the notes for that hike which read, "Hike options at this point are The Greenleaf trail to the hut, Cannon Mountain from the Notch or the Coppermine Trail to Bridal Veil Falls." !

On the way up into the Notch we hit seriously bad weather so, rather fortunately I believe, we opted for Bridal Veil Falls. It was a damp hike, and didn't get me above treeline, but it was a start and just being in the presence of the mountains was reward enough.

 

[HikerBob]

It would be another month before a return to the Whites. After our 'warm up' hike what does one tackle first? Madison via the Airline of course!

I was fully aware this was a tough hike but I needed to know if I had it in me to tackle something this big. The plan was to get to the hut and decide then whether to push on to the summit.

We had a glorious day but climbing the Airline was grueling and Karen decided she was done at the hut. Lisa and I carried on to the summit and bagged our first 4k. Only, at that time we didn't know it!

I'm not sure exactly when I became aware of the 4,000 footer club, or at what point I decided I would attempt to do them all. I'm sure I had browsed the list in the back of the WMG. That probably planted the seed and this was nourished by reading others exploits on the AMC bulletin board, and later on VFTT.

I do know that by my very next trip, when I soloed the Franconia Loop, I was talking about 4,000 footers in the write up.

I do remember fairly early deciding that Garfield would be my summit of choice for a finish, assuming I ever got that far. Garfield sits at the head of the Pemigewasset Wilderness and affords clear views of many of the 4,000 footers. It's also a fairly easy summit to get to and is rocky and open enough to host a small crowd without impacting the environment.

While chatting on the porch of the Greenleaf hut I remember asking about hiking in winter and being told it was great, "No bugs, no rocks." I was concerned about dealing with the cold, but decided I would just keep going and see how things went.

On my very next hike I got a taste of winter conditions. October 4th I did Eisenhower via the Edmands Path. It was cold and wet at the trail head and freezing, snow covered and blowing hard at the summit. Visibility was down to a few yards. I overdressed and learned that wearing too much was as bad as wearing too little! I was toasty on the summit but as I descended I realized I was soaked under my shell from sweat. Despite a quick change in the car and running the heat on full tilt I got a bad case of the shivers before warming up again.

I asked all the newbie questions on both the AMC and VFTT boards, read Freedom of the Hills (should be on every hikers bookshelf), and read trail conditions and trip reports to gain as much knowledge as I could. I was, and still am, a regular visitor to the web sites of Dave Metsky and Mohamed Ellozy both treasure troves of White Mountain information.

 

[HikerBob]

Unlike some peakbaggers I never really scheduled my peaks. Most hikes were decided on weather, whim or having read something that peaked my interest.

My first group Hike was North Kinsman in November of 2003. I knew I was slow, but seeing the pace of many of the participants really drove home how slow I was. I did however have great company for that hike, our very own Seema. We took it at our leisurely pace and ended up hiking out under headlamps. It was a blast!

The group hike was a lot of fun and somehow it fell to me to organize the next and so "Fun on Flume on the Fourth" was conceived. This would be an all points assault on Flume and Liberty by regulars from both the AMC and VFTT boards.

This too was a lot of fun despite my being sick as a dog with the flu. I should probably not have ventured out that day, but I did make it from Lincoln Woods to the Whitehouse trail head eventually

And so the weekends came and went and as often as I could my Saturdays would be spent hiking in the White Mountains. With my slow pace I would often hike solo, half of my summits were completed as solo hikes although there were only a few where I would not see a soul the entire hike.

For Flags on the 48 in 2004 Lisa and I hiked Carrigain for my 28th 4k. It was then that I decided I would try to finish within two years.

 

[HikerBob]

2004 ended with me getting quite sick, something I hope not to repeat this year! December 18th I intended to hike either South Twin or perhaps just Galehead but could not figure out where to park at that end of the Gale River road so ended up hiking in on the Garfield Trail. I got to a little way above the Garfield Ridge trail junction by my turn around time of 1pm and decided not to push on to the summit. I had, after all, intended that this would be my summit to finish on.

2005 arrived and I hiked the Cabot Loop with a great group as part of the VFTT Winter Gathering festivities. It was a very interesting hike

The weekends came and went and my remaining peaks dwindled until only Owl's Head and Garfield remained.

I briefly toyed with the idea of a grand finish by doing both as a single trip, bushwhacking down from Owl's head to 13 Falls and then up to Garfield. I even had a few folk say they would join me! (Your secrets are safe with me)

Common sense prevailed and I did Owl's Head at the end of July with Lisa and a speedy MichaelJ who started over two hours later but caught up to me just short of the summit.

So then all I needed to do was pick a date for Garfield, perhaps the hardest decision of all. I had hiked with many people over the previous two years and to my surprise many wanted to be there for my final 4k. No date suited everybody so I picked August 13th.

 

[HikerBob]

And so we come, finally, to the original purpose of this thread! My final 4k, Garfield.

Having already done 99% of Garfield by way of the Garfield Trail I wanted to take a different approach. Doing a traverse from Lincoln Woods seemed like a good alternative, and certainly not a common route. It was settled, I would hike in from Lincoln Woods while Karen drove my van to the Garfield Trail and would hike up that way with Poison Ivy. Others would also hike up the Garfield Trail. Bob and Geri were to head up a group coming in via the Skookumchuck but potential storms had them fall back to the Garfield Trail.

I hit the hay at 8:30pm on Friday night and almost immediately it seemed the alarm sounded - it was 1am on the big day. I had slept better than I'd expected, and a good job too!

I loaded up the van and headed out, picking up Karen at her house at 2am and heading for the highway. Most of the 200 mile drive to the Whites involves heading north on I91. It was a cool morning and very cloudy. As we hit higher ground in Vermont the rain started, and it poured. I knew a front was blowing through and the forecast called from scattered t-storms to end around 6am, my intended start time.

Thankfully we ran through the rain into drier, but still muggy, weather as we neared Lincoln. With the cloudy morning it was quite gloomy as we pulled into the huge parking lot at Lincoln Woods.

Poison Ivy arrived and presented me with a smiley balloon to accompany me on my trek, as I had done for her final 4k on Carrigain, I named him MiniBob. His hair was slightly less messy than my own.

At 6:11 I stepped onto the suspension bridge across the East Branch and started on the final leg of my quest for the NH 4,000 footers.

 

[HikerBob]

I had almost 11 miles ahead of me and I had said I'd hoped to be at the summit for 1pm, 2pm at the latest. The Wilderness and Franconia Brook trails both follow the routes of old logging railroads so much of the early part of the hike would be on very easy grades. This I can cope with, I have trouble on the steeper stuff. As I knew I'd be slow on the steeper stuff at the end of the hike I had to make good time on the flat stuff. I settled into a good pace. A good pace for me that is

After having the trail to myself for a while I heard voices and a jogging couple caught up to me. They asked about the balloon and I told them of finishing the 48. They introduced themselves as Fluffy and ultrastevep and said they were doing the Pemi Loop along with a couple of other guys who were a little way behind them. We wished each other success in our endeavors and off they went. I wondered if I would reach the Garfield Ridge before them

A short time later MiniBob snagged a branch and attempted to escape. He got hung up on some foliage and I retrieved him and tied him down more securely. At the same time the two other Pemi Loopers came by and disappeared as fast.

It's a shade under three miles to the Franconia Brook but I reached the bridge in exactly an hour so I was doing pretty well. The water level in the brook was low which boded well for the latter stream crossings.

I turned onto the Franconia Brook trail, retracing my route form a few weeks earlier on my way to owl's Head. The large trunk crossing a small stream on the beaver activity bypass was slick with moisture. It had rained in the night and the air was very humid. I decided falling off at this stage was not a great idea, neither was wading through the water.

A few yards upstream however there was a narrow section with enough rocks to enable an easy hop over. The hardest part was dealing with the thick, black mud on the opposite bank on the few yards back to the trail.

Shortly before 8am I reached the Lincoln Brook Trail junction and from there on would be on new territory. Just a few minutes further on is the most wonderful large pond right at the trail side. If you are heading out to Owl's Head it is well worth the slight detour to visit this pond.

At about this time I am starting to be eaten alive by bugs. Mosquitoes mostly suddenly become a real pain and get me on my back, lip, cheek and arms before I manage to get doped up and hat and headnet on!

The trail comes to another area of beaver activity and it quite flooded. Several long logs are placed over the water to provide a rudimentary bridge. Using poles for balance I slowly make my way across. When I place a pole in the water instead of on a log it goes down quite an alarming way!

The trail continues on at an easy grade. Hellgate Brook is passed over easily as is Redrock Brook. Both of these would be rather interesting to tackle in high water!

At around 9am the sun makes an appearance and when I reach Twin Brook at 9:16 I decide I am way overdue for food so stop for a snack. The rushing water helps keep the air cool and the bugs seem less intent on devouring me. I covered the 7.6 miles to Twin Brook in a shade over three hours.

 

[HikerBob]

Next stop, 13 Falls where I longed to tarry some and take a zillion pictures but I content myself with only a few as I need to keep going if I am to reach the summit on time. I meet a hiker coming down from the testsite, the only person I would see before attaining the ridge.

I was expecting it to get steeper after 13 Falls but instead there were many flat spots with a few steeper grades thrown in between. It did get a little steeper towards the ridge and somewhat rockier as the trail seemed to follow a streambed. Most likely it was erosion from the trail that created the stream.

In one particularly oozy, muddy spot I placed a pole and had a large green frog leap out of the way accompanied by a wonderfully icky plop. I apologized for having nearly speared hm and he allowed me to take his picture before hopping away.

I reached the ridge at 11:42. In my haste I had overheated and compensated by drinking too much and was now feeling quite ill, having what can only be described as "sloshy belly" syndrome. I stopped at the Garfield Ridge junction to eat and relax for a while. As I did so one of the solo Pemi Loopers arrived. I asked how the others were doing. The other guy was ahead of us and setting a blazing pace, Fluffy and ultrastevep were about an hour behind. Incredible.

Despite how I felt I wasn't doing so bad myself, at least for me. Book time to the ridge is 6 hours 15 minutes, I got there in 5 hours 30 minutes.

I now realized that I was going to suffer as, with a little under a mile to go, I still had 1,000 ft of elevation to gain! Things got steep almost immediately. The benefit of the steep trail was that it opened up views back towards the Twins. I admired these views often!

It was while taking one of many breathers that Fluffy and ultrastevep caught up to me. Still going strong and looking a lot fitter than I felt at the start of the day They sacrificed a few minutes to stop and congratulate me again and take my picture before flying off up the trail again.

I kept hoping the sign for the Garfield Trail would come into view signifying only 2 tenths of a mile to go and just when I'd given up hope of every seeing it, there it was. I stopped for another breather and was chatting with a group heading up when a familiar figure came bounding down the trail. It was Sherpa John.

 

[HikerBob]

It was a few minutes after 1pm and the welcoming crew were getting a little antsy I guess so after hearing from Fluffy that I was getting close John was dispatched to see how I was doing. The answer was that I was struggling, but making it. John offered to carry my pack, but I said I wanted to go the distance with it and for him to head backup to let folk know I would not be much longer. Watching him bound up the trail made me feel even more tired

My next surprise was to see Alinista at the top of an open stretch of rocks. She snapped away as I slowly made my way up and then presented me with a lei, the subject of many obvious and well tested jokes later.

She, unfortunately, had to make tracks to be in Boston later for a function but we chatted for a while as I tried to recover enough energy to not be too embarrassingly slow over the last few feet with an audience in attendance.

I wish Alpinista a safe trip down and head up the final few yards. Emerging onto the ledgey summit I get a great welcome and am all smiles. I forget the pain and fatigue for a while and can do nothing but smile. I also completely forget to take any pictures of my own on my arrival!

I clamber up the slabs to the highest point next to the old fire tower foundation and Sherpa John presents me with a 4,000 footer patch. Thank you John! I won't have truly earned it until I arrive back at the Garfield Trail head under my own steam, but I think I can make it.

A group of about 16 VFTT family are there to share the moment. SAL has brought bubbly (again, many thanks) and with everyone ready for a toast I find myself speechless. "Thank you" just doesn't seem enough.

The crew consists of Bob and Geri, Karen, Poison Ivy, Geneva, SAL, Mtnmamma and Mtnpa, Hikerfast, Sherpa John, MichaelJ, Stevehiker, JohnS, Drewski, Outabreath and another gentleman who's name eludes me. I am terrible with names. Please, if you read this get in touch via PM or email so I can thank you accordingly.

The weather could not have been better, especially as Karen and Ivy had been on the summit from about 11am! It was a little hazy but the views were magnificent. Garfield must offer one of the most comprehensive views of other 4k's going.

There was much sharing of munchies but I stuck with icy water as I was still feeling the effects of the previous 11 miles and those last 1,000ft.

I was pleased to have made the summit close to my intended time and to later find out I did it in almost exactly book time!

 

[HikerBob]

After an hours lounging, chatting and absorbing the views it was time to head down. Just off the summit we bumped into Sherpa John on his way back up for at least the third time in order to accompany LenDawg to the summit. LenDawg had started later at Lincoln Woods, wondering why nobody else had showed up. He thought everyone was going in that way. Luckily he made it when he did because he might well have headed back the same way rather than down the Garfield trail - that would have made for a very long day!

The quicker folk (everyone else) were way ahead as Karen, Poison Ivy (going slower just for us) and I brought up the rear. It seemed an awful long five miles and the last stretch along the small ridge to the parking lot seemed to last forever. A little after 5pm I managed to elicit a beep from the remote starter button and I knew we were almost done.

The whole crew had waited for me to arrive and MichaelJ presented me with a wonderful book of aerial photographs of the AT. Thank you Michael.

Bob and Geri had to run but most everyone else headed to the Woodstock Inn for well deserved munchies and drinks. Karen and I booked into our motel and had the luxury of a shower and fresh clothes before walking (yes -walking!) down the road to the Woodstock Inn where the others were waiting on a table for fourteen

We had to wait a while for the table but they did a grand job and sat us all together and with good beer and conversation we just sharpened our appetites some. Dinner was great and several of the guys attempted the 'Man burger' which tries to wedge over a pound of meat inside a bun. Stevehiker ordered something called 'Death by Sandwich' which appeared to be an entire loaf filled with the contents of a deli counter! This guy has an appetite because he cleaned his plate - wtg Steve! There should be a patch for that

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I seriously doubt I would have achieved this without the advice, support and friendship of you all. While I soloed half of the peaks your strength and knowledge helped me on every step of each journey. I never hiked alone. When I had the pleasure of hiking with you (or more often some way behind) I learned much and enjoyed many great adventures.

I thank you all.

Bob

 

[Outtabreath]

Awesome

 

[sapblatt]

Excellent!

Bob -
What a great thread...all of it. That was some day and I am sorry I had to miss it. Again, congratulations. You are making me think of taking a longer route to Jackson when I finish!

 

[bobandgeri]

Great trip report Bob! We were happy to have been able to join you. Thanks for the great weather that the day turned into. We are looking forward to you future accomplishments and the wonderful photos you always take.

 

[Mad Townie]

Bob, great job! And what a TR! Sorry to have missed the hike . . . REALLY sorry!

 

[alpinista]

Bob, you are a true inspiration. You deserve to bask in the glory of this incredible accomplishment. I am certain that you will still head to the mountains and continue to take in all that they have to offer.

Full disclosure: while I did have to head back to Mass. for a prior engagement, I was heading down mostly because of nausea from the heat on the summit. And I must confess, I did linger long enough at the trailhead to share some Long Trail Ale with SteveHiker and JohnS!

 

[MichaelJ]

It was a pleasure and an honor to be there for your grande finale. You've written some beautiful words in this trip report, and I hope you save them for a long time to come.

Congratulations, and enjoy the shorter drives to Vermont ... there's no time to relax before going on to finish the 67!

We won't discuss the drives to Maine...

 

[sli74]

CONGRATS . . . I am so sorry to have missed your big day but I am glad to know it was a great one !!! I look back fondly on our Kinsman hike and keep hoping our schedules will allow us to hike together again very soon. Keep me in the loop for any of your Vermont and Maine hikes . . .

sli74

 

[HighHorse]

Congrats HikerBob. I am very ahppy to see you finish, and I have always been happy to read your reports and view your photos. For quite a long time we seemed strangely on the same pace, and even more oddly, climbing the same mountains just a day apart. You started to outpace me this fall and winter, as I started grad school, but I view your finish as a happy and gentle call over to join the club. Take care my man.

 

[Camper58]

No, Bob. Thank You! For your pictures and your words over the past couple of years and the humble way you present them.

I, too have hiked most of my 4k's solo, and like you, I too feel that I've never hiked "alone". I've never hiked with anyone here, but have met a few of you on the trail, but because of this site, and the notable others', I've gained the skill and desire to push on. I'll bet you'd be the last person to realize it, but you and your excellent trip reports have been as much of an aid and an inspiration as any.

A hearty congratulations to you.....

 

[bpschroder]

Congratulations Bob!

I wish I could have been there to help you celebrate. I look forward to reading and seeing your pictures from your adventures after #48.