9.27.2007

Galehead & The Twins

tMail the Tornado is at it again, smacking down one after another. Holy crap. His tentative plan for Sunday is to take the Gale River Trail up and the North Twin Trail down. I plan on bagging the Hot Pepper (Leaf Peeper Half Marathon) in favor of this trek, which I'm pretty sure will do less damage. This 12.x mile banger will knock 3 more of his list.

tMtT: name the start time and we'll work backwards for a meeting time and place. We'll drop a car off at the end of Haystack Road (where the North Twin Trail trailhead is) and save about 2.5 miles instead of backtracking from North Twin back to the River Loop Road.... unless you want to do a down-and-back.

[Update 9/29] tMail the Tornado has called it: 8:30 at the Haystack Road parking area where we'll leave a car and shuttle to the starting point on the Gale River Loop Road. It may be pretty chilly in the morning, so Yours Truly will be sporting a big pack with lots of insulation - possibly even a few rolls of R19 pink fiberglass insulation and a can of urethane foam.... oh yeh, and mittens. tMail has also made it official: this is to be a hike, not a run. I'm wearing my leathers to protect my first metatarsal.

[Update 9/30] What a terrific day. Newbie Westie joined tMail and me on the trek and a good time was had by all. Westie's apparent addiction to baseball was overrated - he's not addicted, he just lives it with every breath. The remaining parties to this adventure (The PM, Treadmill, Steph and the Winnipeg Jet) came and went like the fluffy little clouds in the bright blue sky. We met up with them at Galehead and again at the hut, but on South Twin I asked tMail where they were and he said "Mutha, I don't think they're coming." Bummer. We didn't even get a chance to say "goodbye" and we had assumed that the summit of South Twin was where we'd meet The Jet.

On another note, Galehead Hut strikes again, winning another point in its bid for Weirdo Magnet extraordinaire. Recall that on the Hut234 we encounted a pair of lunatic hut panthers. Not to be outdone, another hut freak showed up. This time in the form of a bearded serial killer, but one that suffered the same affliction: An inexperienced hiker who has no clue, but yet has a deeply planted opinion on everything. This time it was on poles ("My dad and his buddies use them - I don't get the point"), fashion ("Do you have the poles because they match your pack?") and footwear ("You shouldn't hike in sneakers"). As Westie pointed out, the problem wasn't that he was new, it was that he wasn't nice about it - how fucking weird is that? (Amber Alert: In the pic above, it's the guy on the left w/ the sunglasses).

tMail has posted his pics [Link] and I've posted mine and a selection of his as well [Link].


[Update 10/1] I created a time profile of the route (Elevation vs. Time). Summits were bagged at 120, 170 & 210 minutes into hike. We made the summit of South Twin only 30 minutes after leaving the hut.

9 comments:

  1. MZ...I second that Gale River up to the hut then summit Galehead blast down to hut change into my alpaca socks...then tag South Twin and North Twin descend via North Twin Trail....MPM what time would you like to meet at the park and ride? we will have a newbie coming with us friend of mine from work that I did Mount Marcy with in N.Y.

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  2. What's your buddy's name? Also, we may have frosted rocks Sunday morning - let's be on the lookout for icing.

    I'f you guys want to speed hike, I'm up for it but will take the rear-guard position and see you when i see you if i can't keep up.

    Went to the doc this morning about the foot. He thinks it's a fracture but w/out an x-ray there's no way to tell if there's anything else. I doubt it so I turned down the x-ray. He confirmed that pain is a good guide and hiking will just prolong the healing at worst. I'll bring an ice-pack and ibuprofen (mini-maddog).

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  3. My buddies name is David Westcott...aka as Westie...once MPM confirms meeting time I will let you know what time we can all meet I figure we should meet at Haystack Road drop a car and drive back to that parking lot at the trail head for Gale River Trail does that make sense?

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  4. Sounds like a plan. I'm sure we can fit 4 guys in my little subaru. I might bring a larger vehicle. What time, tT? 8:30am at the Haystack Road parking area?

    Weather: We'll probably have light winds, w/ highs around 50F by mid-day. The frost likelihood is hard to guess. While things could be cool on the summits, I still may go light and rely solely on a windbreaker.

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  5. I'll meet Tmt at 6am (or maybe 5:30am?) at the usual P&R.

    What's the speed factor on this hike? Treadmill is on the fence and doesn't want to run all day... just hike.

    MuthaZ read below...

    "Metatarsalgia is a generic term used to describe non-specific forefoot pain in the region of the metatarsal bones. Most clinicians agree that metatarsalgia is actually pain from the metatarsal bones that is the result of overuse, overloading or use of inappropriate shoes for a particular activity.

    Metatarsalgia may be considered a precursor to a stress fracture of the metatarsal bones. The 'algia' or pain of the metatarsal bones is a symptom of stress or fatigue of the bone. Therefore, if we consider metatarsalgia to be an overuse syndrome, cases of metatarsalgia that fail to repair themselves over time may result in a stress fracture of the metatarsal bone."
    -Dr Ed U. Cation

    Bought a new winter pack. I'd strongly suggest that everyone buy the same one and then we have a party where we sit around with our like packs and hum songs of love.

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  6. MPM...you bought a new winter pack what a tease what kind???

    I saw some girl yesterday with a nice pack at South Station...it was a McKineley I think...

    Tell Treadmill she better be in car at the P&R I am terming this a hike see you there at 5:30AM...going to be a beautiful day I want to make most of it...

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  7. MZ see you at 8:30AM Haystack Road Parking area...

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  8. Here's a hint... a bird of history is a bird prey and a bird of pray is not a bird at all...

    Riddle me this.

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  9. Heard it on the mountain:

    AA denotes (Amber Alert man)

    AA: Do you have those poles because they match your backpack?
    Tmail: No
    AA: How come you don't use them?
    Tmail: If it was really steep I would use them. (The real answer should have been I want to rip apart every muscle in my leg today up South Twin).
    AA: My dad and his buddies use them - I don't get the point.
    Tmail: They decrease muscle / knee fatigue going up/down steep stuff and act as extended arms when desending. I use them more in the winter when there is not exposed rock to grab onto.
    AAwife: I couldn't sleep last night in the hut because people snore
    Tmail: Sleep in a tent.
    AAwife: she laughs I should have
    AA: To MPM you shouldn't wear those you are going to slip...it was slippery coming down South Twin yesterday
    MPM: Yeah

    I am down with Galehead Hut well at least until the Pemi next summer...

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