Galehead Hut to Zealand Falls Hut (7 Miles)

We did this hike on July 13, 2009.

Theme song for today is “Somewhere over the Rainbow” by Israel Kamakawiwo’Ole

Total hike time: 8 hours 35 minutes

I think we both slept okay last night. We shared a bunk room with a Norwegian family with 3 kids and an “almost” thru-hiker named Soaring . Soaring started a flip-flop thru hike in Harpers Ferry last year but then stopped because of all the rain. She was determined to complete the remaining miles this year.

We started off the day with breakfast consisting of oatmeal, pancakes and bacon.

The croo skit this morning was about a reporter who stumbles upon an alpine alligator. Of course the purpose of the skit was to remind guests to fold their blankets, pack out your trash, and please leave a tip for the croo.

We left the hut and proceeded to climb 1,000 ft in 0.8 miles with full water bladders and extra water in our bottles. We were not going to run out of water today.

Wonderful, more bouldering first thing in the morning. Ok, legs work with me here.

Once we got up to South Twin Mountain the views were great.

We had met a nice family that had been in all the huts so far with us. Sam, the son passed us going up the mountain and we met up again with him on top of South Twin Mountain. We asked him to take our pictures and he was such a nice kid.

His sister, Jes, was still hurting from yesterdays hike, but the whole family passed us at some point.

The views looking back from South Twin Mountain to Garfield and Lafayette were stunning. We couldn’t believe that we had come this far.

After we descended South Twin Mountain the trail leveled off and it actually felt like a footpath. We were hiking and making time again.

Python’s heart started racing and her heart rate monitor read 200 BPM at one point. Dirigo was very concerned, but we hiked on for a little and it still didn’t come down. We stopped and she sat on a rock for about 10 minutes and we started to hike again and it went up to 203. We sat down again, and took off our backpacks, and relaxed for about 15 minutes, all the while monitoring her heart rate until it went down to 140. Little scary for a while and she looked a little flushed but she came back out of it quickly.

We started hiking again and started to climb and we talked to a maintainer on the trail who said there was a false summitt coming up but once we broke tree line we would see a wonderful view. He was right. We came out of the tree line to a beautiful view and the summitt of Mt. Guyot.

Again more bouldering over the summit and dark clouds were coming in. The trail sign on the AT was very confusing and we had to go across some boulders that required some boulder hopping. We scrambled to the place where the trail turned left and kept hiking but Dirigo had not seen a white blaze in a while so we were confused as to what trail we were on.

We met 2 ladies who were out for a 15 mile day hike. These ladies, Trish and Fran, were peak baggers and they were staying at the Zealand Falls Hut (our destination for the night). Once they saw the dark clouds heading towards us they changed their minds about bagging peaks for the day. They turned around and headed back to the hut.

It started to rain so Python put on her rain jacket and we both put our pack covers on. Then it started to hail. It was crazy. It hailed and then the sun came out. We could see many dark clouds in the sky.

We spent the rest of the day descending. We came to a beautiful overlook in which you could see the Bondcliffs and Python had a nice pop tart lunch. From this view you could see Mt. Washington very far away. The clouds were getting darker but we sat on the rocks and relaxed for a few minutes.

Our feet were hurting and Python’s knees were aching. We are both tired from yesterday’s hike but are both still strong, and we must keep hiking. We climbed down over this really cool ladder.

We also came across a note near a rock that said that the large rock was loose and moved when you stepped on it. Thanks to the person who left the note cause it really would have scared you if you had stepped on it without knowning.

Python kept saying “Some how I need to lighten my load for the next section”.

The trail in this section is not well marked with White blazes so you really had to be aware of where you were and watch the trail signs.

Just before reaching the hut we had to cross the top of Zealand Falls, it was really cool, and Dirigo was so excited.

Everyone should know that water energizes her so she was ready to play in the water. The stream crossing was very fast moving water but there were nice big boulders to step on.

The hut had a pump system that tapped into the waterfall to bring water to the shelter.

The hut is very beautiful, over looking the wilderness and is right next to the falls.

When we arrived at the hut we went to the bathroom to get into our camp clothes and a man was in the ladies room. Dirigo walked back out to make sure that she was in the right place and the man asked if he was in the women’s room. DUH!!!!

Dirigo and I wound up sharing a small bunk room with Fran and Trish (the peak baggers). Fran told us that she leads trips for the Boston chapter of the AMC. It was nice sharing a room with only women.

After changing into our camp clothes, it started to rain for about 5 minutes and then the most beautiful rainbow appeared over the Pemi Wilderness and the mountainside in front of the hut. Pretty nice day.

Dinner tonight was Asian split pea soup, bread, rice, chicken Dijon and the secret dessert was “identity crisis” brownies (a cross between a brownie and a toll house cookie). The soup was delicious and all the guests wanted to know what made the soup “Asian”. Nate (the cook) looked at George (assistant hut master) and George confessed that he added “Asian” to the name to make it sound more exotic. Everyone laughed!

The Von Trapp family had not arrived by dinner time and we all started to get worried. It seems we all look out of each other on the trail. 3 of the children arrived after 6:30 PM. We asked where the rest of the family was and they didn’t know. Fran told us that the croo would probably go out and look for the family if they didn’t arrive by 8 PM.

Maria, mom and Nadia came in after 7:00 looking like they all had the beat down. When Maria walked into the hut, Soaring started to clap and then the entire room was filled with applause. Maria said that she needed to take a lot of breaks and sit down – and when you do that you don’t get very far.

The croo quickly set the table for the 3 ladies and got them dinner.

At 8 PM, George (the assistant hut master) gave a talk about the history of the huts. George was a very gifted storyteller and he had all the guests mesmerized by his stories of the huts, people who had perished in the Whites, and how the croo packed in supplies. George even showed us how he ties boxes to his packboard – he said the secret is to tie a diamond knot.

Just before lights out, the Von Trapp family got ready for bed. Mom gave each kid a hug and told them that they had done a good job today. What a great mom!

Python’s hike stats: 4,194 calories burned. Min HR 90, max HR 203, avg HR 126. # Vitamin I = 6.

Dirigo’s hike stats: 3,919 calories burned. 26,223 steps.