White Mountains: From Galehead to Zealand Falls

Prior Day - Greenleaf to Galehead
Next Day - Zealand Falls to Mizpah Springs

After breakfast Tuesday morning, we hit the trail towards Zealand Falls.  We knew that today's hike would not be as difficult as Monday's.  It involved a steep climb out of the gate, but was more down than up the rest of the way, with some spots that were even a bit level.  It ended with a very steep descent of over 1,000 feet to the hut.  Here is the elevation profile.

And here is the track.

To start, we dropped about 100 feet, then climbed about 1,200 feet in seven tenths of a mile to the peak of South Twin and its magnificent views.  Here is the rest of my group taking a rest break part way up the climb.

Life is tenacious!

Once we got above tree line, I got a brief look back to Galehead Hut.

The view from South Twin was amazing, and 360 degrees.

Looking back to yesterday's hike: Mount Garfield on the right, and Mount Lafayette to the left of center.

The rest of the crew joins me on South Twin's summit.

From South Twin, we agreed to all meet up at a lunch spot near Mount Guyot, and Mike and I started hiking together towards that spot.  Once we got down off the heights, we ran into a male spruce grouse on the trail.  He was not concerned about us as long as we stayed at least 20 feet away.

Soon enough, we were treated to more great mountain views.

Mount Guyot reminded us a bit of Ireland.

Josh and the others joined us at the lunch break, then Chris and I started hiking together.  We arranged the next meet-up spot to be where the Zeacliff Trail meets the AT.

Here is Chris on the trail.

Much of the first part of the afternoon's hike was at the tree line.

After a while, we ran into a female spruce grouse.

Even though the hike today was not as tough as yesterday's, there were still plenty of steep parts.

I made a side trip of about a quarter mile to look at Zealand Pond, which was lovely.

The day was getting on when we reached the next meeting point.  This time, Chris went ahead, carrying a few of my things, so that he could make dinner, and I would wait for the others.  I waited about an hour for them as the black flies merrily sucked my blood.  But it was a beautiful and peaceful spot.  At one point, a northbound through-hiker asked me if there were water sources.  I told her that I didn't think so until one got close the hut, which was in 1.2 miles.  I gave her about half of my remaining water, as she had run out a while back.  When the others caught up with me, I knew that I would not be in time for dinner but I gave it a pretty good shot.  The final 1.2 miles to the hut dropped over 1,000 feet.  Here is one section where boards allow you to walk across a wet area.

Near the Zealand Falls Hut is a great stream with various waterfalls.  The hut generates some of its electricity by water power.

Here is the view from the porch of the hut.

My berth in the bunk room was the third level bunk, but it had a high ceiling and was easy to climb into.  I put my stuff up there and joined a table, late, for dinner.  All of the delicious bread sticks were gone, but I got everything else.

The other three arrived about 40 minutes after me and got served late.  The huts are really good about that.  This was a beautiful day of the trail with great scenery and weather.  While it was not as tough as the day before despite being about as long, there were plenty of steep spots and plenty of climbs and descents.  From the day's high point of South Twin at 4,902 feet, we had descended nearly 2,300 feet net to the hut, with plenty of short climbs and descents along the way.  Tuesday night was the last night that all five of us would be on the trail together.