Sunday, March 3
Summits: Galehead, N/S Twin
Start/Finish: Beaver Brook Picnic Area
Miles: 16.2
Elevation gain/loss: 4577′
After a full day and a later bedtime yesterday, I let myself snooze once before getting up and driving to the trailhead. I also treated myself to some Dunkin’ on the way – calories and caffeine helped boost the mood! I started out at 6:30am from Beaver Brook, after I made use of the open privy (first time it’s been unlocked during the winter in 3+ years). I made quick time, mostly avoiding the black ice on trail until I finally put on traction once I was partway up the Gale River trail climb. I made it to the hut by ~9am, tagged Galehead and chatted with two guys who had camped out by the hut overnight in the rain, and then headed for South Twin. I summited by 10am just in time for an amazing rainbow, and then headed over to North Twin. Conditions were still firm enough from overnight temps that I made do with spikes.
I ran into my first hiker in the col between the summits and he was aloofly friendly, though I think I caught him staring at my two-tone Janji pants – I’d sweated through them and it kind of made it look like I’d peed my pants. But he didn’t say anything, so that was nice; and he gave me info about the creek crossing, which had been my main reason for intending to do an out-and-back. But I didn’t want to go back up and over South Twin so I was happy to head forward. As I descended North Twin, I ran into many other hikers. One of them questioned me about the hiking stickers he’d seen on my car – “That’s a lot of hikes. Did you actually hike all of those?” After a few deep post-hole drops, I changed into snowshoes.
After a flying leap over the creek’s ~4′ gap, I had a nice walk out. I passed at least 10 people who clearly didn’t understand the gear required by shoulder/spring season in the mountains – none of them had snowshoes despite daytime temps well above freezing even on the summits. They were all very nervous about the creek crossing, and many said they were planning to turn around there.
At the road, I tried to hitchhike but no one stopped until I was less than a mile from my car, but I appreciated the ride regardless!
Transcending Mountains 