Galehead Mountain

Mount Galehead is just over 4,000 ft, flanked by Mt. Garfield and South Twin, and features an AMC hut that is open seasonally. Views are limited to the area just in front of the AMC hut, and the summit is well forested. Mount Galehead is a wooded peak flanked by Mount Garfield and South Twin Mountain. While the summit itself is entirely forested with only a small cairn marking the high point, Galehead is notable for the AMC Galehead Hut located just to its south at 3,800 feet. This hut, opened in 1932, is the most isolated of the Appalachian Mountain Club’s hut system. It was constructed from native logs (a Herculean task given its remote location) and famously survived the Great New England Hurricane of 1938 with only minor damage. By the 1990s the original hut was showing its age, and in 2000 a new Galehead Hut was built on the same site, incorporating solar panels and other modern features while still offering rustic mountain hospitality. The peak’s name “Galehead” likely derives from the nearby Gale River or the old Gale River logging camp – the word “Gale” itself might refer to a person (possibly a 19th-century logger or surveyor named Gale). In the early 20th century, the slopes around Galehead were logged by the Gale River Lumber Company; a logging railroad grade crossed just below where the hut now stands. When the area became part of the National Forest, logging ceased and the trails came in. Views from Galehead are limited to a spot near the hut’s porch, where one can gaze out to the craggy face of Garfield and the Twin Range. In a way, Galehead’s history encapsulates the evolution of the Whites: once logged and abandoned, then protected and now hosting outdoor enthusiasts in a regenerated wilderness.