Friday, November 19, 2021
Start/End: Gale River Rd
Miles: 9.67
Elevation gain: 3268′
After double-checking the USFS seasonal road closures one last time, I drove to the trailhead on Gale River Rd and started out just before 4pm. Lower down, the trail was mostly bare of snow, with a light coating of snow. The trail was very wet, with running water down the center of the trail more often than not. It made for a lot of deliberate foot placement to keep my feet from being completely saturated. By the time I hit the trail intersection just shy of the summit, there was perhaps 6-9″ of snow on the ground. It was enough to cover the holes between rocks but not enough to fill them in. I stumbled my way up the summit cone and made the summit by 6:15pm. The wind was howling and I did not stay long. I quickly headed back down to the car, arriving around 8pm.
