Russell Orzachowski & Ryan O'Brien
Octoctober 19 - 21, 2018

After a long period of relative inactivity, reborn this Spring was a renewed interest in the woods and my quest to complete the 48 four thousand footers in New Hampshire.  

I've had my eye on a 6 Peak, 25 mile point to point hike for some time now.  With my good friend Russell Orzechowski on board, a date worked out, months of preparation done, and a break in the weather, the day had finally arrived.  I headed up to the White Mountains a little early to scope out trailheads and access road gates.  Russell and I agreed to meet at the Mount Hale trailhead to drop a car off there first.  Unfortunately, there was no cell service there so after darkness had fallen, and waiting beyond the expected time for Russell to arrive, I got in the car and headed down the mountain in search of cell service and then it happened!  Off in the distance my low beams picked up some strange white movement near the ground.  So I flicked on the high beams and those white things were hooves on a HUGE full rack bull moose entering the road from the right and trotting down it ahead of me.  I quickly turned off the high beams and stopped the car as not to alarm the beast.  "Way Cool!" I thought while basking in the glory of the experience.  Shortly after the moose headed into the woods on the left, I continued down the access road.  I was finally able to communicate with Russell from the end of the road.  He had got stuck and traffic and was seconds away from my current position.  We organized gear, observed the colder then expected temps of Zealand Valley (upper 30's), dropped off a car and headed to the Garfield Trailhead about 12 miles drive to start our journey.

At 7:30 pm on Friday Oct. 19, 2018 under headlamp power, 55 degree warmth, and a base elevation of 1,500 ft, we headed up the Garfield Trail.  As John Muir best said, "And into the forest I go to lose my mind and find my soul."  After a solid hour fifteen plus of easy hiking and about 2 miles, we scoped out a nice trailside stealth site at about 2,500 ft on the mountain approach to Garfield and made camp for the night.  It was a beautiful night, clear, warmer then expected, and low wind at our location.  By 9:30 pm the tent was setup and dinner was underway.  After a satisfying meal of instant rice combined with instant blackbean soup plus dried salami, we hung our food up in a tree 10 ft off the ground and 5 ft out from the trunk to protect it from criters (aka a Bear Hang), and headed to bed for the night.  Comfy and cozy, the hours went by but there wasn't much sleeping to be had for me.  Between my known inablity to sleep well in new places, anticipation of the huge day tomorrow, and in retrospect the crazy amount of salt in the dry salami, I didn't sleep much if any.  By 6:00 am we were both awake and thinking we needed to get this day started if we were going to ever reach camp 2 by dark.  

Friday night we achieved about 1,000 vertical feet over 2 miles in a little over an hour of hiking time.

Sat morning dawned, camp was broken down, breakfast consumed, gear packed, and we were back on the trail to Mount Garfield by 7:45 am with many miles to go before we reached our campsite for Sat night.  By 9:00 am the warmer moist ground had given way to a thin layer of snow and some ice, we had reached the Garfield Ridge Trail, dropped our packs, and were headed up the last 0.2 miles to the summit of Mount Garfield (4,500 ft).  3,000 vertical feet up from our starting location last night we arrived at a great above treeline rocky outcrop with an old fire tower foundation and what surely would have been fantastic views if not for dense cloud cover.  Of course I forgot my phone with my pack so Russell captured the summit on his and we headed back down the Garfield Ridge Trail to where we dropped our packs.  By 9:30 am we had our packs and were continueing the descent down the Garfield Ridge Trail headed towards the Galehead AMC Hut and more immediately a water source to refill our depleted reservoirs.  We stopped briefly to slip on our microspikes due to the steep and icy terrain.  Moving towards water at the Garfield Campsite, we encountered a trickle of water directly on the trail and decided to refill here not knowing how far off the trail we would have to go at the campsite.  Russell made a small dam to pool the water and I pumped the water filter slowly as not to instantly drain the pool, we filled our resevoirs and moved on.  Of course less then 5 minutes later we hit the turn off to the Garfield Campsite and at the junction a beautiful flowing river of water.  Oh well, a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush.  Continueing the descent from Garfield we came to some impressively steep sections requiring some minor rock climbing to descend.  Eventually we completed the 1,000 foot vertical descent from Garfield and started heading uphill again.  After removing our microspikes, a 150 ft ascent, 150 ft descent, 150 ft ascent, 150 ft descent, and another 300 ft ascent we arrived at the Galehead AMC Hut (3,800 ft) bringing our day total to 5.9 miles.  It's noon time (just as Russell predicted it would be) but we have 7.2 more miles to go before we hit camp, only 6.5 hours left of light, and a LOT of elevation gain to be done.  Doable but no time to waste so we drop our packs at the Hut and head up Frost Trail to the Galehead Summit (4,024 ft).  After a nice view on the ascent we arrived at the summit rock pile surrounded by trees and a glimmer of sunshine.  Some quick pics and texting and back down to the Hut for a short rest, food, and water refill.  Another mile completed and 224 vertical feet gained.  It's amazing how fast you can move without a 40 lb pack on your back.  Nice views and a little sun made the Hut a nice place to take a rest.  While resting & eating we were greated by two very friendly and eager to help you eat your food year round high peak residents of the White Mountains, Gray Jays.  So eager in fact they will land on your hand to feed as demostrated by another hiker.  Also happy to help themselves to your unattended pack while you are inside the Hut for a moment refilling water.  Fortunately some other hikers stopped that potential siege before it happened.  After a brief resbit we were on the Twinway trail headed up the notoriously brutal 1,100 foot 8 tenths of a mile assault to South Twin Mountain summit, our highest peak on the journey topping out at 4,902 ft.  I found myself needing to stop multiple times and struggling mentally to carry the weight.  I could tell Russell was starting to get annoyed with my slow pace and constant reference to how heavy my pack was but being the good natured guy he is, he kept it to himself, with exception of offering to carry more of my gear (sorry Russell).  But eventually after many stops and struggles met with glimpses of sunshine just when I needed it, I made it to the summit where we are met by an above treeline granite outcropping and 40+ mph winds with a little sunshine.  Not the most pleasant place to be when soaked and exhausted so we headed towards North Twin with haste after some quick pics.  After the better part of a mile and 300 vertical feet of gentle descent we started to head back uphill so we dropped our packs here.  Feeling recovered from the South Twin ascent and free of the pack weight we made quick work of the last 3rd of a mile to the North Twin summit (4,761 ft).  Some quick pics and texting to Christina, I realized my phone was at 20% battery life so I shut it down for the remainder of the day.  We then retraced our steps, grabbed our packs and feeling confident I would recover again we pushed back up the 300 vertical to South Twin summit again.  After a quick chat with some fellow hikers we headed down the Twinway trail and a 500 vertical foot descent towards Guyot Mountain 2 miles away.  With tired legs and snowy rock cover we put on our microspikes.  After a fairly steep and long descent I realized my legs were not recovering from the last ascent and overall I was starting to feel pretty wiped.  Forced to stop multiple times to recover and eat, the 2 mile journey to Guyot was the most difficult part of the trip for me.  Exhasted, out of energy reserves, cold, and not processing food very well, stopping to rest was the only thing that kept me going.  That combined with Russell letting me know we are doing well on time and optimistic sunshine just when I needed it, I kept going and the closer we got the more confident I got that Guyot Campsite was within our grasps before nightfall.  When you push yourself to the max, it is curious what enters your mind.  I couldn't help but think somehow my father was in heaven bending mother nature to provide that ray of sunshine just when I needed it the most to turn the tide from frustration to optimism and motivate me to keep pushing onward.  Between the rests, the refueling, the shorter distance left, and the clearing skies, I was in better spirits by the time we reached Mount Guyot.  Where we were met by some of the most beautiful mountain scenes in the perfect diminishing light of the evening.  Truely spectacular!  I wished I had enough juice left in my phone to take some pics but I more importantly needed to have enough left to contact Christina in the morning.  Onward down another 250 vertical feet we finally arrived at camp 2, the Guyot Campsite located at about 4,200 ft.  What a site for sore legs: suns still shining, a nice water source, available tent platforms nicely separated from others, an outhouse, and no more busting our hump for the day!  Site chosen, tent up, waters boiling, dry warm clothes are donned, food is consumed (no salami for me tonight), star gazing has commenced and a winged visitor has arrived.  A small owl cometh hither, is it for a meal or companionship?  This seemingly friendly creature followed us around campsite with our headlamps lit periodically purching on branches within close plain sight but when our lights went out its more sinister intent became obvious, dive bombing Russell's head multiple times.  Throughout the day I saw multiple small mouse like criters making their home in the cold harsh climit of the high peaks.  No doubt the primary food source for this hungry owl.  Apparently in the dark, headlamps look like food to a hungry owl.  No harm done, all is well, but be weary fellow hikers of hungry owls.  By 8:30 pm the temps were coasting down and our satisfied bellies were full and bed was calling.  I was lights out by 9 pm and slept soundly until 2 am afterwhich I didn't sleep much.  Temps continued to coast down during the night and by 4 am I was beginning to feel a chill through my 20 degree sleeping bag with 10 degree liner and a pair of long johns and microfleece top and bottoms on.  My thermometer read 20 degrees in the morning.

Saturday's achievements were four 4,000 footers and 4,575 vertical feet gained over 13.3 miles hiked in a total time including stops of about 10 hours with fully loaded packs which equals about 45 minutes per mile pace.

Sunday brought renewed spirit and energy as well as colder weather, high winds, white trees, and light non-accumilating snow all day long.  By 5:30 am we were both moving but at a much more relaxed pace then yesterday morning.  By 8:15 am we had ate, got water, packed up, done our business, and were hitting the trail back up to Mount Guyot and the Twinway East.  Two hundred and fifty vertical feet later near the summit of Mount Guyot we were being battered by some of the fiercest winds I've ever encountered (Mount Guyot is 4,580 ft but not a legit 4k Peak due to it's less then 200 vertical feet of prominence).  I was pushed well off balance by the winds more times then I could count and thrown to the ground a couple of times and nearly blown off the mountain once.  The Mount Washington summit weather archives indicated a steady 60 mph wind average for the day with gusts well above that on Sunday.  It's a guess but I believe the winds were gusting well in access of 75 mph during our summit and possibly closer to the century mark.  Heading down the East side of Mount Guyot into the shelter of the trees we descended about 500 vertical feet before starting the 230 vertical foot climb up Zealand Mountain (4,260 ft), a small rock pile in the woods with no view.   At some point we donned our microspikes, saw a reddish unknown bird, and of course had pleasant conversation.  On Sunday as a general rule we made regular stops for water, food, and to rest as well as traveled over more moderate terrain at a comfortable pace throughout the day.  Descending about 600 vertical feet from Zealand summit over some pretty cool terrain we arrived at a fantastic view off Zealand Cliff just after the Cliff Trail intersection (follow the sign for "view" from the bog a tenth of a mile or so to the view).  Continueing the descent another 1,320 vertical feet or so we arrived at a great stream to refill our water, shortly later we crossed the large stream noted on the map, and just after took the left onto Lend-A-Hand trail.  Heading up Lend-A-Hand trail a small stream either followed, crossed, or was on the trail at least 50% of the way to Mount Hale.  Not taking into account the over 1,500 vertical feet of descent from the Zealand summit I was confident we would easily conquer Mount Hale (4,054 ft).  After what seemed like the right amount of time and several sections of moderate terrain followed by steep ups, we optimisticly believed we were nearly there.  Then we started back downhill again, "Ahah!  We finally reached the unmarked summit..." but Mount Hale's 1,320 vertical feet over 2.7 miles up the Lend-A-Hand trail kept smiling back at us demanding the respect deserved by all the 4,000 footers.  A true false summit and after a short descent we headed up another short steep section to the true summit... WRONG!  Another fake out.  After another couple "this must be it's", we finally arrived at the REAL SUMMIT, a HUGE pile of rocks surrounded by trees and all doubt vanished.  After following a few trails looking for a view, we both decided it was time to head down our last descent to Russell's truck.  Down, down, down we went over mostly moderate and consistent slopes over a series of switchbacks down 2,300 vertical feet stopping several times to eat, drink, and more importantly rest the legs.  The closer we got to the finish the more eager I was to get there.  After several stops from the downhill abuse, we finally arrived at our destination, the Hale Brook Trailhead parking lot at about 2:50 pm.  While Hale is not a particuarly impressive summit, nor high peak, don't be fooled, it's the real deal requiring significant effort over realitively short distance to achieve its summit.  

Sunday's achievements included two 4,000 footers gaining 1,980 vertical feet over 10.1 miles in a total time of about 6 hours 40 minutes including stops or about 40 minutes per mile average.  

Our full adventure included two nights, 25.4 miles, 7,555 vertical feet climbed, 6 new 4,000 footers added to my list, a wide range of climit conditions from 55 degrees above to temps near 0 with wind chills well below, sun, snow, brutal wind, great companionship, and time in the White Mountains... PRICELESS!  Forty-four peaks completed, only four 4,000 footers left to complete my quest for the NH 48.

Special thanks to Christina for letting her husband go do "Stupid Things", and to Russell, a good friend and a great hiking companion.

One has to truely appreciate the woods to fully grasp what John Muir meant we he said, "And into the forest I go to lose my mind and find my soul."  Considered father of the National Parks system and founder of the Sierra Club I think John knew something about what he spoke pationately about many, many times.  Deep in the wilderness of the White Mountains surrounded by high peaks and countless miles of the best mother nature has to offer, it is hard to not feel the way John did every time he explored our natural wonders.

May we all find such gratification in the things we do.