September 16, 2023

Start/End: Gale River Trailhead

Peaks: Galehead (4,024')

Elevation Gain: 2,610 ft

RT Mileage: 9.81 mi

Duration: 5 hours, 36 minutes

Rock Difficulty: Class 1

With the end of the season fast approaching and good weekends remaining hard to come by, I decided to shelve the two technical hikes I had left for another time. In the meantime, I decided to get some more forgiving 4,000ers out of the way. When I had done the Twins, Zealand, and Hale Loop earlier in the year, I had left Galehead hanging, so I decided to get that taken care of first.

Waking up at 6:00 AM and leaving at 6:30, I was at the trailhead at 8:45 and on the trail by 9:00. The trail started off smooth and gradual, especially by Whites standards, and progress was fast. There were a few stream crossings within the first couple of miles, all pretty easy. Around 3.5 miles in, the trail curved away from the Gale River and began to resemble a typical Whites trail. After another half mile, I reached the junction with the Garfield Ridge Trail.

The effects of the hurricane-force extratropical cyclone off of Nova Scotia became much more apparent after gaining the Garfield Ridge Trail as it got significantly windier, despite being below treeline. After a half mile on the Garfield Ridge Trail, I reached Galehead Hut, where the first decent views of South Twin, the Bonds, and Galehead itself presented themselves.

It was quite windy at the hut so I didn't linger and continued on to the final half mile to the summit of Galehead. There was another decent viewpoint just below the summit. The summit itself, which I gained at noon, was rather anticlimactic, but it was another 4,000er in the books regardless.

After a quick snack on the summit, I began making my way back down. The first 1.5 miles of the descent were unsurprisingly mediocre, but it was smooth sailing the rest of the way. I was back at the trailhead at 2:30 PM, and 4,000er #18 was in the books.