Outdoor Diversion: Breakin' Trail Over the Twins to Galehead

With the weather forecast looking rather drab, dreary and less than optimal a group of us decided to hike North Twin and South Twin then down to Galehead. There was the possibility that we would be breaking out the trails to these summits. There's strength in numbers and I would be joining Guy, Mark, Jim, Jill, Robin, Amy D, Amy L, and Dolores for this hike today.

Our route would take us up the North Twin Trail to the North Twin Spur down the Twinway Trail to Galehead Hut and possibly to the summit of Galehead summit (depending how I feel) then down the Garfield Ridge Trail to the Gale River Trail and finally a road walk and shortcut to Beaver Brook parking area via the cross country ski trails.

We would be heading out into the unknown as far as the trail conditions and weather that we would encounter. There were no recent trail reports for these summits after the recent snowfall. It's also been my experience that weather conditions can change drastically from what was in the forecast either being worse or better than expected.

We gathered at Beaver Brook parking area on Route 3 then carpooled over to Little River Road where we would begin our hike. We arrived at the North Twin trailhead at 8:00 AM. A short break to put on some traction and we were on our way. I put on my Hillsound Trail Crampon Pro only because it does a good job of preventing wet, sticky snow from balling up. A little overkill but they worked great.

Mark and Jim followed the broken trail across the river crossing while the rest of us stayed on the herd path. Jim decided to come back across and broke through the snow bridge into the water but managed not to get too wet. Mark kept going and would be crossing the river three times. As we got past the turnoff to the Fire Warden's Trail the path was no longer broken out. We soon put on our snowshoes to help break the trail.

As we made our way along the herd path part of the group went far up the banking off the herd path, I stayed down low along the river on the herd path. I'm not sure I was actually on the path the entire time because at one point I had to walk out on the river then back in and found the path again. We all met up again before crossing the Little River. There was a good, solid snow bridge and it was the easiest crossing I've ever made on this river.

It was on the other side of the river that the uphill, unbroken trail began. Mark and Jim were somewhere up ahead leading the pack and breaking trail. At first it wasn't too bad but then the warmer temperature was making the snow sticky. This is where it started to get intense as the snow was balling up on the snowshoes adding several extra pounds to each foot. I found myself kicking each foot with every step to remove the snow. This lasted for a couple of uphill miles and was becoming maddening. Then just to make things interesting there was the occasional blowdown that meant going around, under or over.

I was hoping as we got higher the temperature would cool and prevent the snowballing effect. It did but not until we were almost to the summit of North Twin did it slack up a bit. We reached the spur path to the summit and outlook. There were no views to be seen just lots of gray. After a brief break we pushed on to South Twin. We dropped down into the col and the snow was less sticky and the going was a little better.

Mark and Jim were still up ahead. As we started to ascend South Twin we heard Jim shout out to not come the way they had just gone. They had turned onto what they thought was the trail but wasn't. The rest of us turned off to the right at what appeared to be the trail and it was. We took turns breaking the trail from here as one by one the lead hiker would drop into a spruce trap on the edge of the trail. I saw Dolores drop down into a deep hole and Amy took over breaking trail. It wasn't long before Amy found a spruce trap and immediately sunk up to her waist. Robin helped her out and I took the lead.

I managed to stay right in the middle of the trail where it was solid underneath. A misstep to the side meant quickly getting swallowed up by a spruce trap. Just below the summit I had to change gloves as the ones I was wearing were now ineffective due to being completely soaked through and cold. I put on a pair of "waterproof" gloves with liners. The group passed me while I made this change but I soon caught up.

We reached the summit of South Twin and were greeted with a howling wind and pelting rain. I managed to get a video but it was tough. There would be no lingering and basking on the summit today so we kept moving. I knew what was waiting ahead of us and I was contemplating a very tough descent. It did not dissappoint. Mark was in the lead, Guy and Jim passed me.

This is a very steep section of trail and as expected I was glissading down in my snowshoes trying to lean back in case my snowshoe traction hit something solid. There was about a foot of loose snow and it was very tiring on the thigh muscles as I tried to control my slide but most of the time I was just letting myself go. At one point I managed to do a nice face plant. I would've been surprised had I not fallen down somewhere along the way. It was a very soft landing and I picked myself out of the snow and kept sliding.

At one spot along the way I looked to the side of the trail and saw a very deep hole in the snow that went down out of sight. I carefully picked my way past this hole. More glissading and I mercifully reached the bottom in one piece where Mark, Jim and Guy were waiting. I took a short break and got something to drink. There was a short ledge climb that was a little tricky just before reaching the trail junction.

I was wondering if the Garfield Ridge Trail leading to Galehead Hut from the other direction would be broken out. Guy was just up ahead of me and I heard him groan. That told me what I needed to know, the trail was not broke out. We reached Galehead Hut and I took off my pack on the porch. Sure enough the cold wind and light rain was blowing right into the porch. I put on my down jacket, it was my last dry layer.

We waited for the rest of the group. When they arrived it was decision time as to who wanted to continue up to the summit of Galehead Mountain on the unbroken Frost Trail. Mark and Guy were the only ones that would be breaking out this trail. The rest of us decided to start our descent as it was cold and wet. We knew that Mark and Guy would catch up with us on the way down.

The Garfield Ridge Trail was unbroken as we started down. About halfway across to the next trail junction the trail was broken. Hikers had turned around before reaching the hut. That was a welcome sight and we enjoyed a broke out trail all the way back to the trailhead. As we made our way down the wind was howling through the trees. Mark and Guy had caught up to us as expected and we all got back to the trailhead at the same time.

The hike was not over and we had about one more mile of road walk and cross country ski trail before arriving at the parking lot where we had spotted some of the cars for the drive back to Little River Road. It was getting dark and some put their headlamps on. I just followed their lights in the darkness.

It was a sense of exhaustive relief and satisfaction when I saw that parking lot. The snowshoes came off after ten hours and it felt great to walk around without that extra weight on my feet. We loaded up the cars and drove back to Little River Road where the other cars were parked from where we started our hike early this morning.

Between frigid temps and challenging trail conditions this has been a very tough winter for hiking. Today was no exception although without the frigid temps. The warmer temps and rain made for a difficult hike through the sticky snow. I was completely soaked along with most of my other clothing that I had changed out of by the time we got to the parking lot. While I might have been wet I was always warm throughout the hike.

This hike added two more summits to my completed list of the Winter 48 with only 12 more to go. These two summits also put me past 40% on the Grid.

This was not a day for a solo hike of these summits. I was glad to be in the company of fantastic hikers that kept me motivated through some tough conditions!

Enjoy the photos and videos!