Summits: North Twin Mountain (4,761'), South Twin Mountain (4,902'), Galehead Mountain (4,024')
Trail route: North Twin Trail, Twinway, Garfield Ridge Trail, Gale River Trail
Trail conditions: Spring conditions with wet trails, mud, slick rocks and roots, rotting monorail, some water crossings slightly high
Weather: Cool start turning warm with full sunshine
Total miles: 12
Total time: 8:48
This would be my final hike to grid out May and will complete hiking all the 48 4,000 footers during this month. I would be joining Lisa and Scott for these three summits today. The month of May can be very tough for hiking with a variety of Spring conditions on the trails. It was going to be nice to get this done today before hot and humid weather arrives this weekend.
We met at Gale River trailhead parking lot and spotted a vehicle then drove over to North Twin trailhead parking lot. We started up the trail at 7:30 AM. The trail was quite wet and the Little River was slightly high and flowing fast. We used two large trees to cross over the river and kept our feet dry.
About a mile further up the trail there were remnants of intermittent ice and snow becoming a narrow rotting monorail. We stopped at the North Twin outlook briefly before moving on to South Twin. Since the descending trail off North Twin gets lots of snow there was very little remaining monorail but going up to South Twin there was plenty of unstable monorail to contend with.
There was a cool breeze on the summit of South Twin and we spent a few moments there enjoying the views. We then began the steep drop to Galehead Hut. It was a slow and careful descent on wet rocks. We had to assume each one was slippery so we took our time. We reached the hut with no mishaps.
The hut was open despite a closed sign at the trailhead. We dropped our packs at the hut for the hike up to Galehead Mountain. It was a quick up and down to this viewless summit without any problems. We took a brief rest at the hut and then began the long hike out. It was all downhill from here.
There was some remaining monorail between the hut and Gale River Trail junction then not much of anything after this. The water crossings were not a problem but the black flies were very annoying even with a breeze blowing. We arrived back at the parking lot to find it almost full.
It was very nice to get this hike done today. I now have only five more hikes this year for a total of eleven summits toward the grid, two hikes in July and three hikes in December. I'll need to expand my hiking destinations over the next six months. I'm looking forward to some different summits and views! Current grid count is 545/576!
Enjoy the photos and videos!
Hike starts here and Lisa is in the lead far up ahead
Little River
Crossing a brook
Good flow of water in the Little River
Lisa has crossed the logs and about to dismount
Scott makes the log walk look easy
Scott and Lisa water walking
A narrow rotting monorail
North Twin
North Twin outlook
View from North Twin outlook
Galehead Hut far below
South Twin
On our way to South Twin
South Twin summit ahead
A look back at North Twin
Walking on an unstable narrow monorail
South Twin summit up ahead
On the summit of South Twin
North Twin
Franconia Ridge
South view
A very narrow monorail
Mount Lafayette beyond Galehead Mountain
View from Galehead Hut
On the summit of Galehead
View from the Galehead outlook
Starting our descent from Galehead Hut and it's all downhill from here
Hobblebush
Painted trillium
Easy rock hop on this water crossing
Bright leaves and blue sky
Final water crossing just before the end of the hike
Hike ends here after 12 miles and the hut is actually open despite the sign
Having Fun in the Great Outdoors!
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