North Twin, South Twin, and Galehead. January 24, 2016

John Myers came with us on this hike.  It was great to hike with him!  We went up North Twin, then we went over to South Twin, then to little Galehead, and then down.  Here is the trip report:

In the winter, to reach the trailhead for North Twin -- you park on a side road, then you walk across a bridge which brings you to the herd path.  That herd path brings you to a road.  Once you finish the roadwalk, you reach the trailhead.

It was very cold, and I was hoping to warm up when I started hiking.  Once I start hiking for a little while, I usually warm up significantly.  My face was especially cold when we started out.

On the herd path!  Still waiting for my face to warm up.

The herd path is well-packed out--you could bring snowshoes if you wanted to, but they aren't really needed.

Out of the herdpath and on the short roadwalk to the trailhead.  My face was feeling warmer.

There's the trailhead!  Now we could officially start the hike.

There is Sage...

...Mom...

...and John!  All ready to go.

Trailhead picture!

And...we've started!  The trail was definitely packed out -- as you can probably tell.

Ice!  There were a couple giant clumps of ice on the trail like the one you see in this image.  So pretty!

There is John, I believe, up ahead.

Here are some slight-views-through-trees pictures.  I love the look of the bright and early morning sky!

Going fast...

The snow really puts a lot of weight on some of those tiny trees!

Continuing...

Here is another mound of ice along the trail!  I took many photos...

After we took our many photographs we traveled on!  I couldn't wait to see some views once I got up to North Twin!

I tried to get some action pictures of Sage as I was walking -- she was behind me, so it was a little difficult to manage.

We crossed a river that was snow bridged.  There were some pretty little ice patches like these...

This is what the river looked like...

There was another, larger one to our right...

And...great action poses.

Crossing another snow bridged river!  We had to be careful so that we didn't break through the ice and fall into the water.

Part of Sage's hair was white because of the snow.  Mine was as well, but not quite as much as hers.

Crossing the river...

Whew!  Off the ice and snow and back on trail!

Another picture of Sage...

Quick selfie!

Onward through the snowy trees...

I like this picture.  I made the pine needles really clear, I think.

There's an idea of what the trail was like...

Enthusiastic John!

Onward...

Yay!  My favorite blue-bird sky.

Here's that section of the trail that you sometimes have to go around.  We're figuring it out...

And onward again!

Ahh...!

We're above treeline!  It felt so good to finally see some lovely views.  Also, it seemed like the trail up to North Twin took a very long time!  Perhaps that was because there weren't many intersections.

We met some people up here--their names were Guy and Garry.  They were very nice!  After we looked around, we continued up to North Twin, which was right there.  I sat down at the viewpoint and took the below picture of my microspikes.

Then, I went back to the summit and snapped some photos.

There's Sage...

There's Mom too!

I got a cool shot of Sage moving a branch.  The snow was coming off as I took this picture.

Going up to South Twin!  I couldn't wait to get there!

Another close-up of ice on pine trees...so pretty...

Up, up, up!

Action shot with views!

More up...

Some ice too...

There is gorgeous South Twin!  It really seemed to take two seconds to get from North Twin to South Twin...I have to say, I like South Twin better!

Here comes John...

There is the summit sign...plus tiny Mom standing on it.

There's Sage...

Ah, so beautiful...

Cool picture of the sign!

We sled down from South Twin to arrive at Galehead Hut.  It was so nice to be able to set down our packs and go up Galehead without them...

There is a picture of John with South Twin behind him!

Me sitting on the bench outside the hut...

Snacks and the mountains!

There's a shot of the hut.

Sage!

Be ready to crack up as these series of pictures get more and more intense...

Anyway...there's Mom!  Action shot going up Galehead.

Our G cheeses for Galehead!  Yum, yum, yum.  Very good.

Mom and John smiling!  We were all happy to get up to Galehead -- our last peak of the day!

So was Sage!

Nice views from the viewpoint coming down Galehead...

The hut looks like a bird house on a branch.  How do my photos manage to look like this?!

Very enthusiastic John!

Trees...

Going down Galehead...it was pretty flat some of the time.

Selfie!

We're getting pretty far down now...there's some views...

Sage is doing something else with snow!  This time, she's using her little sled to toss some into the air.

More ice for the ice lovers!

Heading down...

I tried to get Sage behind me again.  It worked!

Mom...

Mom and John in this picture.

This part seemed to take a really long time!  It was very flat.  Walking to the trailhead of Galehead...

We got to the trailhead!  I took random pictures of Sage, Mom, and John in mid-conversation...

There's an interesting bright picture of my tiny sled and my gloves.

Trailhead pictures!

Then we had a roadwalk to do.

Then, we had to take a herd path back to John's car.

Me walking...

After a long day, we made it back to the car!  The whole hike was around 15 miles with about a 4,000 feet of elevation gain.

Until next time!