I love Garfield

I had been to Garfield twice before so I know it has a wonderful view. Both past visits were on the evil trek from Galehead hut to Greenleaf hut (or vice versa). This evil trek has all sorts of ups and downs and is quite the beast of a hike. Well it turns out there is an old fire wardens trail (Gsrfield Trail) that makes getting to Garfield a piece of cake! A local explained to me that any trail used by fire wardens is usually much easier with switchbacks and a generally easily graded path which may be longers but a lot less stenuous. I can attest that I did not have to stop often to ahem ahem, "take photos"!! The last 200 feet is on the Garfield Ridge trail so of course it was ledgy and steep. The nice open summit has the Pemi Wilderness from Galehead and the Twins to Franconia ridge. On the way back to my car I stopped a couple of times to talk to hikers. Bill from Cleveland had plenty of political opinions. Back at the parking lot I was speaking to a local (from Bethlehem) for a while and he suggested a hike that I did later on this trip. This would be a great winter hike except for the additional mileage because the loop road to the parking area is closed in the winter.

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