Garfield Ridge Shelter to Zeacliff Pond stealth camp

Day 11
Saturday, June 8 2019
Garfield Ridge Shelter to Zeacliff Pond Stealth Camp
7.4 miles

Wow!  The descent off Mt. Garfield!  A waterfall ran right down through the trail from the top of the mountain.  The trail was a series of big boulders, slippery boulders at that.  I slid down on my backside most of the way.  It was a slow go.

We stopped at Galehead Hut for lunch and our free pastry from the AMC pass card.  There were lots of hikers at the hut.  Some were doing the 4000 foot mountains, which seems to be a thing around here—South  Twin Mountain ahead of us being one of them.  We hiked right along with them – or rather they passed us by and we followed them up South Twin.  At the top we were treated to a very nice view of Mt. Garfield and the Franconia Ridge behind us. 

After South Twin we crossed a boulder field similar to LeHigh Gap in Pennsylvania with a trail veering off and going to a bald mountain, presumably another 4000 footer.  Several groups of hikers were going there.  We were pretty much alone after that. 

In the afternoon we had a nice trail with frozen snow on the ground in lots of places.  We had to resort to eating snow for water since we had depleted what we got at Galehead Hut.

We ran out of time and had to stop at Zeacliff  Pond to camp.  We went down the hill toward the pond to find water flowing and pitched our tent tightly between trees in a small space beside the pond.  

YouTube of Garfield Ridge to Zeacliff Pond