Once again I woke before the Galehead crew got us up… my internal alarm clock again. Had some pancakes, Cream-o-wheat and sausages for our morning meal. We packed up quickly after grabbing a hut picture. Our trail that day was the Garfield ridge and I knew just how rugged that was from a hike in 1994.
The wooded ridge is pretty jagged and rocky… looking at the topographical map years before at Greenleaf Hut I noted how easy the ridge hike appeared to be. The experience was “jarringly” different than I had thought and planned. Our objective that morning was east of us. The first half mile of the hike was pleasant but then we began going up and down over those "bumps" in the ridge.
The second "bump" we went over I jokingly named “Mount Jessie.” (3,761’) She looked pretty tired by then and the major climbing was still ahead. I wish I’d given her my green pack to wear… it would’ve been much better than that thing she had. We went down into a pretty little col.
When we reached the bottom of the col we were 1,100 feet below the summit. We began the long rocky climb which grew steep on the cone itself. Despite tired feet and aching shoulders, Jessie did pretty well. Anne was having no problems at all. I felt pretty strong also. We reached the tumbled rock slide on Mt Garfield after passing the campsite and Garfield trail junction. On and on we climbed and scrambled to the rocky top.
I still say that the views from the top are among the best anywhere. Garfield commands an incredible vista. I remembered seeing it in the distance from the top of one of our peaks a day or two before, it rises like a sentinel in the wilderness. We sat in the shelter of the old tower foundation and drank in the views for a precious few moments. The girls wanted to move on and I knew what a long ride home it would be.
We carefully picked our way down to the trail junction and sat for a break in the warmth. We unpacked the last of our supplies. Jessie gave me a bag of salty sunflower seeds and they tasted mighty good. Our hike down was pretty uneventful. Garfield trail is a mild but long haul and by the time we reached the brook, Jessie was done with hiking for 2002, maybe forever....
I told a couple of stories to pass the time and soon enough we were out on the road. Here we had a long 1.6 mile walk back to the car. Anne and I left Jessie behind to grab the car and pick her up. She was only a half a mile behind us at that point.
Our three day hut-to-hut hike was over, we'd enjoyed good weather and had climbed Hale, Zealand, South Twin, Galehead and Garfield.