Garfield/Galehead via Garfield/Garfield Ridge/Gale River/Frost Trails

vftt.org

Help Support vftt.org:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Tarencil

New member
Joined
Jun 28, 2005
Messages
20
Reaction score
2
Location
So. Maine
Date of Hike: Saturday, July 11, 2009

Route: Parked at Garfield Trail and took it to Garfield Ridge Trail to Garfield summit to Galehead Hut to Frost Trail to Galehead summit, back to the Gale River Trail, down to its trailhead, roadwalk back to the car.

Trail Conditions: Some mud, but not boot-suckingly deep. Only got the bottoms of my boots wet at the water crossings.

Special Equipment Required: Boots are probably a good idea, your feet would probably get muddy/wet in sandals. Tevas not necessary but may be helpful. Probably a good idea to bring them especially if it rains again tonight.

Comments:

Judging from recent reports, things have dried out in a hurry. The Gale River crossing where the bridge is out only required walking on some wet rocks and maybe an inch of water at one point. I was wearing boots with Goretex and my socks stayed dry.

You can tell that the mud was recently a lot worse on the Garfield and Gale River trails. Overall, the trails have held up well through the rain. The Garfield Ridge and Frost trails are in fine shape, too.

My 1992 WMG mentions "good but restricted" views from Galehead--I guess things have grown in a lot in the past 17 years.

A yellow-blazed trail left the Garfield Trail L about a mile in and a yellow-blazed trail left the Gale River Loop Road about halfway between the trails. Looks like they are indeed the same trail, wish I'd checked this site: http://home.earthlink.net/~ellozy/gale-garf-shortcut.html or this thread: http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=13794 before the trip! From what little I saw, the old road(s) still looked easy to follow and not overgrown.
 
Top