Trail to be used: Garfield Trail. 5 miles one way. 10 miles round trip. Roughly 3000 feet of elevation gain.
Directions
Follow I-93 north through Franconia Notch and take exit 35 for Route 3. Continue on Route 3 for about four and a half miles and turn right onto the Gale River Loop Road (also known as Fire Road 92). You’ll know you’ve missed the road and gone too far if you reach the Gale River. When the road is open it’s a 1.2-mile drive to the Garfield Trail parking area. Try not to get sidetracked on the way in as there are a bunch of side trails and turnoffs along the way. The trailhead will be on the right, and the best I can say is you’ll know it when you see it as the trail is well marked. It’s also worth noting that there’s a U.S. Forest Service fee for parking in the lot.
I have a flag and flagpole assembly but if you would like to bring yours as well, that is okay.
My crew has about ten persons hiking but we will all be leaving at different times because we all hike at different speeds.
If the weather is nice, i’d like to meet everyone at the trailhead for 7:45 and be on the trail for 8:00. That would get us at the summit for 11:00 and our flag up and flying by 11:30. I plan on bringing a telescope and we can watch all the other flags go up around noon time. My guess, if the weather is nice, we should be able to see perhaps 10 other flags.
We could use some help with hiking the flagpole up. We trade it back and forth amoungst ourselves every half mile or so. We could also use some help with setting it up at the summit. Sometimes it is very challenging in windy conditions.
Comment below if you have any questions.
