Pemi Loop: day one

I planned to do this hike last Fall and got rained out. It was looking like that would be the case again. This trip was originally planned for June 28th and 29th with an overnight stay at Galehead Hut. I watched the forecast deteriorate, read about some recent search and rescue efforts in the Whites and decided to attempt this as a day hike on Friday the 24th. 

When I called the AMC Reservation line to cancel, the representative offered me a Thursday night stay at Greenleaf. It was about a mile off the trail, but the only logical option because it was Wednesday afternoon. I still had to pack and drive to Lincoln. 

4AM wake up call...

After six and a half hours in the car, I was eager to stretch my legs and maintained a good pace for the first three miles...then the up hill party started (about 2,000 feet gain over the next two miles). I tagged Mt. Flume, Liberty, Lincoln and Lafayette...ten and a half miles in four hours and twenty minutes, which allowed me some time to relax and take it in before heading down to Greenleaf Hut.

On the descent, I began to question my decision, wondering if it would have been better to have made the six mile push for Galehead, which sits right on the ridge, instead adding two miles (1,000 feet down and then back up) to this thirty-three mile hike. 

The view from Sunset Rock was worth it...