Day 03 summary: hike from Garfield Ridge Camp over South Twin Mountain to Zealand hut and beyond.
06:12 I am waking up. It is rather warm. I visited outside at 21:48 00:18 and 04:25. The sky was dark, and no stars were visible. People are already turning in their bags and gathering their belongings in the dark.
07:07 I am all ready and we depart together with Swede (Karl). I am going ahead and quickly loose him behind and continue hoping down
07:42 Franconia Brook Trail – this is the first trail that goes inside Pemigewasset Wilderness all the way to Kancamagus Highway.
08:08 I’ve hiked 1.02 mi
09:08 I’ve hiked 2.12 mi
09:39 – 10:56 I’ve reached Galehead Hut after 2.65 mi. This is a great, large warm place with polished tables, clean toilets with toilet paper, and free drinking water and pastries, juices and hot drinks for sale. I take a good long break here. I entered a completely empty dining hall, but next minute a large crowd enters in and begins to chat, discuss, buy food and visit restrooms. . For the first time I am looking at how far the final hiking destination is – 14.6 mi.
10:56 Hike straight up 0.8 mi climb to South Twin from 3800′ to 4900′
11:58 -12:25 I am on the top of the local giant – South Twin. It is windy, it is cold, but sense of achievement is there. I see 6.2 mi till Zealand Hut.
13:25 – 4.4 mi remains. I did almost 2 mi in hour.
13:42 – Just a few minutes ago everything was great and cheerful, but suddenly I am out of the forest on the exposed ricks, rain starts pouring, wind jerks all around and now must look on the map on the phone due to trail split. I continued for a few more minutes and I realized that I was all wet and I forgot to put on rain cover on my backpack. Now I am crouching next to a tiny tree, half blocking the trail, trying to hold an umbrella above my head. It happens that 2 parties both with dogs are passing presently, and they must almost jump around me to go through. Now everything is wet, cold and completely gloomy. This time the wind came from the right, so my right pant is completely we, there is nowhere to hide. In few short minutes my perspective on the whole outlook changed from being confident to “what did I get myself into?”
At 14:25 there are 3.3 mi more miles to go today. So, even with all the delays and rain and wind I still completed 1 mile in 1 hour. Trail keeps going a bit up and a bit down but refuses to consistently to go down.
14:59 – 15:02 – Although I am at the boring, uninteresting dead-end trail to the artificial Zealand Mount, still how exciting it is to be here. All the inclement factors like rain and wind are under control now and only unstoppable cautious way down ahead. There plenty of young hikers from all over the world (students) very deliberately eating their American lunches that were bought and packed somewhere below in the valley. And I do not any food all day until I reach my destination somewhere at the end of the day.
At 15:25 I am getting a good speed and now only 2.1 mi.
Many side trails begin to branch off – Spur to Zealand Pond at 15:43, Zeacliff Trail at 15:53, Land-a-Hand Trail at 16:40.
The tail continues to drop precipitously from 4PM to 4:40. I am flying down now at 1.4 mi per hour speed.
16:44 – 16:59 – finally I reached Zealand Falls Hut (2700′). They do have openings, but the Saturday rate is $181.44 – Wow! I thought I would be able to negotiate with cash offer of $100. Anyway, they allow me to fill my water bottles and tell me where to look for great camping spots. Nice!
17:14 I am stepping out of the 0.25 mi FPA and now I start looking
17:24 after several hours of hiking I am finally at a free spacious camping area just 0.25 mi NoBo from the hut. This is a very large open area with access to water and people around. The rain is taking a break – just a few drops.
17:34 I continue wandering around and I find even better place – completely isolated, on the river edge – Whitewall Brook.
19:35 It takes about 2H to settle, to filter water, to cook and to eat in a perfect silence. It is not very cold. It is somber and dreary outside but moving in step with a plan is great!
20:10 I finally finished with all the camping duties and began to record my happening through the day. And at that time, I can hear the rain drops start again on the rainfly and on the tarp. But I am dry and comfortable inside the hammock.
Navigate through the List
- 01 Preparations for AT NH trip of September 2025 (2025/08/27)
- 02 08-28 TH - Climb to Liberty Springs (2025/08/28)
- 03 08-29 FR - Franconia Ridge in the rain and wind (2025/08/29)
- 04 08-30 SA - From Garfield Range darkening sky to Zealand hut (2025/08/30)
- 05 08-31 SU - Casual Zealand hike and lucky return to the car (2025/08/31)
- 06 Summary of three 2025 AT trips (2025/09/01)
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