Mount Garfield

Date: 9/12/2020

Elevation: 4,500’

Miles: 10 miles

Time: 4 hours, 58 minutes

Trails: Garfield Trail to Garfield Ridge Trail and back

Two weeks off and the third time trying to hike Garfield and I’m back! Between bad weather and a move to Boston, I haven’t hiked in a while, but it was so good to be back.

I got the heads-up that I would have Saturday off kind of late on Friday night, so after a predictably-unsuccessful scramble to try to find someone to hike with, I decided to just go solo the next day. After Sarah and I had to switch to hike the Osceolas, I had planned to hike Garfield with my cousins the next weekend, which was also foiled by rain and gloomy clouds. So with perfect weather forecasted for Saturday, it was time to actually get Garfield and its amazing views.

Since I’m coming from Boston now, my drive is a LOT longer. Rip. What would have been an hour and a half drive from Hanover turned into a two and a half hour drive from Boston :/// Add in the fact that I’m now starting my hikes super early to avoid the weekend crowds and it’s a very different experience than earlier this summer. But you know, it’s worth it.

So I woke up at 4:15am when it was still pitch black out and got all ready to go. By 4:45 I was in my car and on my way. With a quick pitstop for gas, I was at the trailhead a little bit after 7am. The parking lot was fairly full, especially considering the time, but it made me feel better about hiking solo knowing other people would likely be nearby if I needed.

At 7:21 I was on the trail. EARLY start. As the sun continued to rise, it shown through the trees and I got those beams peaking through in such a pretty way. It was a really good break from being in the city for sure.

It was a pretty uneventful ascent, but Garfield was definitely one of the easier hikes I’ve done so far. No incredibly steep sections like most of the other hikes have—at the very end you get a bit of an increase in incline, but it’s really short and not difficult. So I was feeling good! I made good time too and summitted at 9:30.

The peak of Garfield is amazing. Good size, gorgeous 360 views, amazing. The weather was great, but it did seem a bit hazy or something so the visibility probably wasn’t as perfect as it could have been. But it was pretty darn close to perfect up there. It wasn’t too busy either, just the usual friendly hikers and their very cute dogs. Since I was solo, I didn’t have any friends to take pictures of, so instead I asked a woman if I could take some pictures of her and her very cute dog.

I’m not psyched about the pictures from this hike, but I was more focused on soaking it all in anyways. I spent a long time at the top and had a really great morning.

Hiking down was a pretty different experience than going up. By now it was past 10 and many more people had hit the trail. I passed around 15 people when I was ascending, but coming down was a different story; I kept taking my mask off to just have to put it on a minute later . I also realized it was ‘Flags on the 48’ day, so maybe that added to the number of people. I was kind of bummed that I missed the flag raising, but I think that by then the summit would have been really crowded and less enjoyable for me.

I felt really good coming down—having ‘good days’ hiking is such a great feeling. I was making good time and then ran into a man during my last .5 mile or so, who maybe made my “time” a bit slower but who cares about that and having someone to talk to made the last bit go faster. I was back to the MUCH busier parking lot at 12:19 and already thinking about my next one :)