Galehead Hut

Day three to Galehead was most probably one of the most difficult days of my life. My legs were tired after the first two hours it took to climb Mount Lafayette at 5249 feet with 3000 vertical feet to its exposed peak. It was cold and windy at the top. I had spoken to several people about this next hike. It was labeled challenging and believe it surely was for this flatlander. One croo member when asked, told me it was a great deal more difficult than the climb I had done the previous day, which for me was about what I should be doing. I was ready to climb back down the mountain and then I met Peggy. Several of the guys I had been talking to about my possible continuation on the trail were a bit worried for me and hooked me up with Peggy Harris, a AT section hiker who turned out to be the perfect hiking buddy. She is a retired middle school teacher who also loves Eckhart Tolle and everything about nature. We had much to talk about, but much more importantly, she stood by me every step of this long ten hour hike.

 

After Mt. Lafayette we had to climb Mt. Garfield. To reach this summit, we first spent two hours descending (from 5260 feet down to 3600 feet), before beginning a two hour long ascent to the summit of Mt. Garfield (4600 ft). Cold with low visibility at the top it looked quite desolate.

 

But it wasn't long before the sun came out and we took off our cold weather gear. We stopped for short periods, never more than 15 minutes or so to grab a bite and rest a bit. About 8 hours in my body was exhausted. I thought we had to be getting close and then saw the sign that said we still had 2.7 miles to go. I could see the hut midway up an adjacent mountain meaning we'd have to continue down the mountain we were on and then climb back up the next one. It was about this point that I told Peggy I couldn't go any further. I was afraid that my body would give out and I would fall. Along one section of the trail, we came to a rock face, approximately 15-18 feet high.  Angled up the front of the vertical rock face was a ledge about 12 inches wide. Searching for hand and foot holds to get up over this rock face felt much more like rock climbing than hiking and with a 25 pound bag on my back it was getting scarier and scarier to continue. At one point I told her I was going to stay there by the trail in my mummy bag and continue on in the morning. But Peggy wouldn't let me. She pushed me on every ridiculously slow step after the next. I was using my poles as canes now as my legs were completely shot. I had not prepared enough for this trip. But if I given up and retreated back down the mountain instead of moving ahead I never would have had the Galehead and Zealand Falls experience. I owe so much to Peggy. She was incredibly patient with me and quite selfless. She could have easily made the trip much faster without me. We got into the hut an hour after the 6:00 dinner. So we had hiked from 9am to 7pm. So exhausted, I ate what they had saved for us and went directly to sleep. The next day she told me my trail name, "mummy bag". We laughed as she told and retold this story to our fellow hikers who all understood my pain.