High pressure building in behind a cold front which is now offshore, will bring sunny and mild weather to the region today. It will remain clear tonight, but look for clouds to increase tomorrow, along with a chance for more rain showers, as another low pressure system slides west of the region, into the St. Lawrence Valley.
Tim
Markle
Staff Meteorologist, Mount
Washington Observatory
After the usual 5 hours of sleep, it was time to hike again, beginning
with a car drop at the Seven
Dwarfs Motel parking lot, where we would exit North Twin.Despite the cheery forecast, dark clouds were still brooding over the Pemi as Andy and I met up with Jeff and Cath at the Gale River lot on Route 3.
A drying wind the previous night had taken care of some of the pools of water that were rumored to be gracing the Garfield Trail, as the first few miles were sporting long sections of bare ground. Soon enough, we were barebooting along on a firm trail as the trees grew frostier, with the air taking on a much more arctic tone.
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 Frosted Forest on Garfield |
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Barebootin'
on The Garfield Trail
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Pounding
and Pondering
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Frosty
in Stealth Mode
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Nearing
Garfield's Summit
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Summit
Dash!
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Feel
the Chill
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Down
in A Hole
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The descent from Garfield was tricky and tiring, a thick breakable crust over deep unconsolidated snow, made all the more difficult by the steep terrain.
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The
dramatic and remote Summit of Galehead, a lofty alpine goal only
attainable to those equipped with a Snickers bar and 30 minutes
to kill, was finally wrested from the icy grip of the Whites at
slightly after noon on this momentous day.
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Leaving
the hut, we broke out into gloriously crisp winter conditions on
the route to South Twin. The puffy clouds smashing into the summit
and the snow plastered spruce trees contrasted with a vivid blue
sky, making for a dramatic backdrop as we climbed up the steep chute
to South Twin's summit.
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Chute
to South Twin
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Summit
of South Twin
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View
from South Twin
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After a flurry of photo-snapping on South Twin, I caught up with our rag-tag bunch somewhere just shy of North Twin. Before long, we were descending into a ridiculously warm and sloppy valley, crossing the Little River just as it seemed to be threatening to break wide open. As it was, we were feeling a bit beat up from the rough descent from Garfield over a semi-frozen trail that had only seen several recent users, a steep minefield of slipping and plunging in difficult to gauge snow conditions. Back at the road a little after 4 pm, we considered the deteriorating snow conditions and scrubbed the tentative plan to hike Waumbek this afternoon, favor of getting some extra shuteye for tomorrow.
Our 8 day plan was now a 9 day plan.
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They
Went Thataway!
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The
Mighty Drewski
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North
Twin Ho!
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Near
Summit of North Twin
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Leaving
Twinland
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Tomorrow...The
Wildcats and the Carter-Moriah Range.
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All
images Copyright Tim
Seaver © 2006