July 30, 2022

Start/End: Garfield Trailhead

Peaks: Garfield (4,500')

Elevation Gain: 3,000 ft

RT Mileage: 9.8 mi

Rock Difficulty: Class 1

I completed two more 4,000ers after Jackson-Webster, neither of which I felt notable enough for inclusion in this blog since I had done them before in previous summers. After these two, I decided to do Mt. Garfield, a decent-sized 4,000er in the shadow of the prominent Franconia Ridge to its south.

Arriving at the trailhead at at around 10:00 AM, I began making my way up. This was actually a very relaxing and enjoyable trail. It covers 3,000 ft of elevation gain in 4.9 miles, and the incline is extremely gradual. Many people are intimidated by the distance, but the gradual slope actually makes it very fast. This day, the hike was ideal most of the way to the summit.

Unfortunately, the weather deteriorated as I was ascending. What was a perfectly clear day in the morning had turned into overcast, making it feel quite a bit cooler. After the intersection with the Garfield Ridge Trail, the trail steepened significantly for the last 0.2 miles to the summit. I rated this hike a Class 1, but I did need to use my hands a couple of times. Around this time, the overcast lowered a bit, and the upper portion of the peak was now poking into the clouds.

The trail broke treeline just below the summit, but you couldn't really see anything because of the whole "inside the clouds" thing. I summited just after 1:00 PM, but the exposed summit was quite windy, and I only spent a couple of minutes before making my way back down into the shelter of the treeline and starting the descent.

If you came here for views this day, they were absolutely nonexistent and all you could see was a sea of white. A couple hundred feet below treeline on the descent, the trail broke back under the overcast, and the temperature warmed back up. The remainder of the descent was pretty uneventful, but very fast because it wasn't steep, and thus also quite fun. I was back down by just before 4:00 PM, and I stopped near the base of Cannon Mountain on the way back home to get the only decent photos from this day.