July 29, 2019
With Susan Mutter
#30 Lafayette (5,260 ft.)
#31 Lincoln (5,089 ft.)
#32 Liberty (4,459 ft.)
#33 Flume (4,328 ft.)
This hike nearly did me in. I let Susan dictate pace up Old Bridle Path, and I was tired but OK by the time we reached the hut. Dinner and the evening were fine; a group of very outré gay Canadian hikers stopped in en route and were amusing. The next morning we had partial fog, but that lifted as the day went on and we had good views from each of the big peaks except Lafayette.
Then it got hot, and I got tired. The trip out past Lincoln and Liberty to Flume was exhausting, and the pounding slog down Liberty Spring was brutal. The water from Liberty Spring was the coldest, most delicious I had ever tasted. Delirious, I convinced a father-son team that they MUST try the water (they agreed). By the time we reached the bottom my legs were as tired as they had ever been, and I had trouble going up a tiny incline on the Whitehouse trail to reach the parking lot.
August 24, 2023
With Susan Mutter
#38 Garfield (4,500 ft.)
The initial plan was to hike up Garfield, over to Galehead hut for the night, and then do the Twins in the morning, but incoming weather scuttled that idea. We'd spotted Susan's Mercedes at the Garfield trailhead, so the next morning we hiked down Gale River and along Gale River Loop Road back to the car, all in a driving rain. It was the 50th anniversary to the day of Susan's stay at the hut with her mother and father in 1973 (we found the logbook entry). A few hearty souls at the hut were doing the Pemi Loop or parts thereof, but the next day's rain and cold forced a few off the trail.
