Mount Galbraith

Mount Galbraith

Overview

Mount Galbraith Park is a great all-season area to go hiking, and running. This is my first visit to the park, though I expect more visits in the future. There are only a few trails that compromise the park area, my trip was from the north entrance, there is also an entrance on the east side. I will caution you that there may be icy sections of the trail on the north side of the park, so packing along some micro spikes in the winter months may be a good idea. I hope you enjoy this trip report and find it helpful in planning your next adventure in the hills.

Directions/TH Information

Golden and Denver

Mount Galbraith Park Trailhead has an approximate location at the coordinate’s—latitude 39.773424°, longitude -105.254050°. This is a Jefferson County Open Space Park, where more information such as additional trails and park regulations can be found at—Mount Galbraith Park. From your location make your way along CO-93 N to Golden Gate Canyon Rd near Golden. Head west following Golden Gate Canton Rd for 1.3 miles turning left into the marked parking lot of Mount Galbraith Park. There is a small parking lot with restrooms, and an information booth with printed maps of the park. The parking lot is quite small, it may hold 20 cars and there is no parking allowed along Golden Gate Canyon Rd. This appears to be a heavily trafficked area and I would expect the lot to be full on weekend days at an early hour.

Mount Galbraith

The Climb

Today’s objective was to ascend Mount Galbraith from the north park entrance. I wasn’t sure on the mileage or approximate elevation gain, but my goal was to complete the climb car-to-car in two hours. I dropped Alexa off at day care and was ready to start my hike about 11 AM. I headed up Cedar Gulch Trail, which had extensive patches of ice making progress slow in places. Micro spikes would have been handy in a few spots, but the trail could be managed without them. The trail seemed like it was getting a lot of use for a weekday, but this may be a fairly popular area being right outside of Golden. After 1.3 miles the trail intersected with the Mount Galbraith Loop Trail.

The Mount Galbraith Loop Trail as you may expect loops around the mountain. This section of trail was really good hiking. There were narrow rock sections and open forested sections to offer a nice mix. I took the trail to the right, heading north around the loop. That’s the direction I would recommend as there are some steeper sections in the rocks that may be better ascended rather than descended, but that’s all personal choice. Near the intersection of the southwest ridge there is an unmarked trail on the map, but the GAIA map shows the trail that leads to the summit. This was a nice stroll to the top through some neat pegmatite veins that sparked my geologic curiosity at bit.

Me on the summit

After a few minutes on the summit I headed down the trail toward the southeast ridge of the mountain. This unmarked trail eventually intersected the Mount Galbraith Loop Trail which I followed back to the intersection of the Cedar Gulch Trail. I noticed the nice trail to the east called Nightbird Gulch Trail with an unnamed trail heading up to a point of interest. I will check out this trail next time I come to the park. The hike down the sections of ice-covered trail were more challenging than on the ascent, but they were over quickly and I was soon back to the car. My roundtrip time was 1 hour and 52 minutes, so I reached my goal of completing the hike in under two hours. I was happy with my performance, and feel I’m progressing in my training to climb bigger mountains in the near future.

Parting Notes

This is a great place to recreate. The small parking lot could be an issue during busy times such as the weekends, but this is a park worth coming back to and exploring in greater detail. I may try and get out on the Dinosaur Ridge hogback tomorrow, but if not, there should be something coming down the pipeline soon. Until next time, cheers!

GPS Track

Date: January 9, 2019

Trailhead Elevation: 6,296 feet

Mount Galbraith: 7,247 feet

Total Elevation Gain: 976 feet

Class: 1

Distance: 4.3 miles

Moving Time: 1 hr 43 min 

Stopped Time: 0 hr 8 min

Climbing Partner: Solo

GAIA GPS Link: Mount Galbraith (2019-01-09)

Jefferson County Open Space Map Link: Mount Galbraith Park