Yesterday (Sat. 11/28/20) I hiked Gales Creek --> Storey Burn --> Gravelle Brothers --> Gales Creek, starting from the Gales Creek Campground gate. Going from the closed gate added ~1/2 mile each way. Temps were cool (and lightly foggy in the morning). There were a reasonable number of people on the trail, but well dispersed, and everybody seemed in a good mood. More than a few friendly dogs!
Entering Gales Creek campground; day use area on the right:
Gales Creek, not far out of the CG, headed toward Storey Burn:
Climbing Storey Burn and catching up to a pair of mountain bikers:
Small waterfall perhaps 2/3 of the way up Storey Burn:
Topped out on the Storey Burn climb:
Nearing the end of Storey Burn and close to start of Gravelle Brothers:
Crossing an OHV trail. There were quite a few rigs in the OHV parking lot, but I seemed to be passing through during their lunch hour and didn't see any out:
I cleared 4 logs, plus this widowmaker (over Gravelle Brothers) for the day. Two large trees across the trail remaining. One of the large trees is easily stepped over, the other easily gone under. Mountain biker in the distance was lead rider from the pair I passed earlier:
Gales Creek from the summit parking lot back down to the CG needs tread work. Quite a few places (none very long) where it doesn't drain well. This was about the worst...
Great day overall. The loop maxes out at just over 1900 feet and apart from the slorchy spots on Gales Creek between summit and CG makes a great all weather outing.
Happy Hiking,
Rob