#mt guyot

[vintagecamping]

A party of nine members of the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club make an eight day trek of over 30 miles along the main crest of what would become the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Mt. Guyot, North Carolina

1932

[sailor-arashi]

Mt. Guyot - White Mountains, NH - The Appalachian Trail

[glacierbandits]

White Mountains - Day Three

Luckily, noone rolled off the platform that we slept on the night before. Had we done so, we may still have been rolling downhill. Or at least until we hit a tree. That would have been tragic. We would have been unconsolable losing one of our own - for at least 5 minutes, but then we would have gotten over it, surely.

The campsite with the platforms is about a 200' drop in elevation from the trail hugging the top of the mountains. It was only about 30 minutes, and we were on top of Mt Guyot.

Since it was morning, the winds were very calm. Almost unsettlingly calm. Very little breeze since they were shifting from the nighttime winds to the daytime winds. That would change by lunchtime.

Here we are just below the peak of Mt Guyot. I believe that this was shot to the East, but after 12 years, who can remember? I mean, really, my daughters were only 2 years and 6 months old. So much has happened since then.

The trail continues from Mt Guyot, through a saddle onto the top of South Twin mountain. We crossed the saddle, and ascended South Twin in time for lunch. During lunch, a marmot was scurrying around trying to obtain some of our food. 

Lunch doesn't get much better than this. Of course, you could have made Coq au Vin and prepared it, and although that would have been much tastier than Ramen noodles and crackers, you can't compete with the view. Getting a table here was next to impossible. Really, there were no tables to be found - just rocks.

Those of you familiar with backcountry can see that although it's sunny, and September, we have some pretty warm gear on. At altitude, and completely exposed on the rocks, it can be rather chilly. I would suspect that it was mid-fifties temperature wise during lunch. Chilly enough for a hat and a fleece jacket. When you are moving, you are putting out heat and energy, but when you stop for a break (such as eating lunch), you will cool down quickly. So, you put on an extra layer for lunch, and then remove that when you are ready to hit the trail and begin hiking again.

The descent from South Twin into the saddle towards Galehead Mountain was a steep descent. On the way down, we passed two ladies in their sixties coming up, both with full packs and trekking poles. So, I figure that I will be able to torture you all with my adventures well into my sixties. If they can do it, so can I.

The trail took us around Galehead, and we dropped our packs to summit Galehead and make the "six peaks in two days" challenge. From the top, you can see the AMC Hut in the saddle between the two mountains.

We passed several waterfalls and stream formations, arriving at our campsite by late afternoon. Camp was nothing more than a level dirt area which allowed us to lay down and sleep. In the middle of the night, we walked into a clearing in the middle of a nearby stream and with the help of fellow campers, watched satellites pass by overhead in the clear night sky. Very cool evening. Our fellow campers had pulled satellite informaiton from a website called heavensabove.com, and used the list to find when and where satellites were going to pass overhead. That helped with knowing where to start to look.

Our campsite