Looking for a two day hike....involving Galehead hut. Day one would be backcountry camping..day two would be staying at Galehead hut. Would need a loop hike ..with 12 year old son. We've done backcountry camping before..suggestions?

Move to Northeast forum.

davidwbrown wrote:Looking for a two day hike....involving Galehead hut. Day one would be backcountry camping..day two would be staying at Galehead hut. Would need a loop hike ..with 12 year old son. We've done backcountry camping before..suggestions?

How much distance/elevation gain are you looking to cover each day?

MoapaPk wrote:Move to Northeast forum.

SP calls it the "Eastern US" forum, but unfortunately it does seem to be the "Northeast" forum. We need more people writing about the mid-Atlantic and Southeast.

Looking for a two day hike....involving Galehead hut. Day one would be backcountry camping..day two would be staying at Galehead hut. Would need a loop hike ..with 12 year old son. We've done backcountry camping before..suggestions?

Um, that'd be a three-day hike, unless your first night was ridiculously close to the road.

Unless you really enjoy bushwhacking, there's only two ways to make a loop that includes Galehead but doesn't involve much backtracking: from the south (Lincoln Woods) or from the north (Five Corners or Little River).

Suggestion 1: start at five corners, take garfield trail. night 1 at Garfield shelter, day 2 traverse east along Garfield Ridge to Galehead (can run up to South Twin summit in the evening if you like), day 3 down Gale River trail. A little road walking to get back to the starting point.

All the suggestions from the south involve some pretty significant distance; you could loop around Owl's Head along Franconia Brook and Lincoln Brook, that would be pretty flat, but not very scenic, and the western half of that loop is not well-traveled so the trail can be hard to follow. A wider loop along the tops of the ridges is called a Pemi Loop and might be a bit more than you bargained for.

Actually there's a loop from the west with only a little bushwhacking.

Start at Lafayette Place parking lot. Take Falling Waters up, turn north on the ridge, then drop down the slide on the east side of Mt Lincoln. Bushwhack almost a mile to Lincoln Brook trail; follow it north and east (reminder, trail is sometimes hard to follow here); camp at 13 Falls. Day two is short: up Twin Brook Trail to Galehead hut. Visit summit of Galehead, and also, if you have the energy, South Twin, and maybe North Twin or Guyot. Day three, follow the Garfield Ridge over Garfield and Lafayette, then descend Old Bridle Path to return to Lafayette Place.

I may have to try this, I love the idea of starting in the crowds of the Lincoln-Lafayette loop and ending up in the quietude of Lincoln Brook.