Outdoor Diversion: Gridding Out the Twins and Galehead

Summits: North Twin (4,761'), South Twin (4,902'), Galehead (4,024')

Trail route: North Twin Trail, North Twin Spur, Twinway, Frost Trail, Garfield Ridge Trail, Gale River Trail

Trail conditions: Dusting of snow at the start with some occasional ice up to six inches of snow at higher elevations

Weather: Cool, sunshine with lots of blue sky

Total miles: 12

Total time: 8:30

The month of December is here so it's back to hiking my grid summits after being gridlocked for the past six months due to having completed all summits for those months. I got an invite to join Rick and Lisa for a hike to the Twins and Galehead. With good weather in the forecast I jumped at the chance to hike these summits with them.

My first concern was whether or not Gale River Loop Road and Haystack Road would be open or the gates would be closed and locked which would add extra miles to the hike and a ten dollar parking fee. To my relief I drove by Haystack Road and the gate was still open. I continued on to Gale River Loop Road which was also open and met Rick and Lisa at the trailhead parking lot. I left my car there and rode with them to the North Twin Trail parking lot.

We started out in just a dusting of snow so no traction needed at this point. At the first brook crossing we put on microspikes since there was no easy way to cross on icy rocks. At the Little River crossing once again there was no easy way to cross so we continued upstream to the log crossing. Someone has done a lot of work on these logs creating a nice railing with the upper log. Even with a coating of icy snow I considered it to be an easy crossing.

When we got back onto the trail the steady climb up began. The depth of snow increased slightly but never more than about six inches and it hung heavy on the trees. After the relentless ascent we stopped briefly at the North Twin outlook and enjoyed the spectacular views. We then headed over to South Twin.

The hike over to South Twin with its dip down into the col and back up is really not too bad. The snow depth continued at about six inches. We arrived at the summit to a cool breeze that had a slight bite to it and more spectacular views. A few photos and we were on our way down to Galehead Hut. It's a steep drop with a few spots that had some ice under the snow but was not as bad as I was expecting.

We arrived at the hut and dropped our packs for the hike up to Galehead. There's no views so a quick photo at the summit to prove we were there and we descended. Back at the hut we stopped long enough for a snack and then continued our hike down to the trailhead parking lot. It's about a half mile to the next trail junction and another four miles to the parking lot after that.

There was another slightly significant water crossing due to having to cross on icy rocks. The traction worked well and we all crossed with dry feet. The microspikes came off shortly after that. There is one last water crossing before the the trailhead. I stepped on slightly submerged rocks to avoid the icy rocks and got across without a problem. Back at the parking lot my car was waiting for us.

This was a spectacular day to hike these summits. The weather was fantastic, the trails were in good condition and best of all the roads were open saving us some extra hiking miles and a ten dollar fee to park at the Seven Dwarfs Motel on Little River Road.

I have now hiked these three summits in every month of the year. It was great hiking with Rick and Lisa, I enjoyed their company on this long, tough hike!

Enjoy the photos and videos!