| Distance | 7.53 mi |
| Elevation Gain | 1,755 ft |
| My Time | 4 hr 16 min |
| Difficulty | Moderate |
| Closest Town | Golden |
| Food Nearby | Cast Iron Tavern |
Mount Galbraith
Mount Galbraith is a Jefferson county open space located on Golden Gate Canyon Road. I don’t think this was the best hike for me. The hike itself is pretty but there is a lot of loose rock, rocks to walk on, and the trail itself gets tough to follow from time to time.
For me it was the fact that for a majority of the hike you are walking on a ledge that is roughly 18 to 24 inches wide with a pretty steep drop off immediately to the side. Now I’m not a big fan of heights so this gave my legs a little extra wobble that I wasn’t comfortable with. More on that to follow. Because of the above I wouldn’t recommend this to someone on their first hike. To me, there just wasn’t that “wow” moment. Hikes can be challenging if there is that moment but for me this was more challenging than rewarding. Would be great to test yourself though.
The Hike
As far as the hike it went pretty well. Made it to the top of Mt Galbraith and there is a cool panoramic view of the mountains. Then mistakes were made. On my way down I decided to take an off shoot trail called the Nightbird gulch trail. This took me to another smaller peak that I think is the sister hill to Galbraith that I call “don’t do it hill”. So I did it. Then I took another trail probably called “now that isn’t smart trail” and I descended some more. Finally I turned around and saw the two places I had just come from and knew I was in trouble.
This about when I realized that I needed to take the hike back up to these to get to my car. After a moment wondering if Uber could find me here I trekked back up just to get down. If you do this hike I would recommend one or the other but don’t make the same mistakes I made!
Now before the gallery here is a new segment I’m working on. Here is the first edition of “last words”.
Distance and Elevation
If you don’t have the AllTrails app you might want to check it out, I really love mine. It records your progress and is a great way to search for hikes that are nearby and gives you difficulty measurements. According to AllTrails today’s hike was around 7.53 miles and had a total elevation gain of about 1,755 feet including undulations. That put the high point at around 7,254 feet. I was also moving for a total of 4 hours and 16 minutes.
After the hike I had a great meal at the Cast Iron Tavern and they are doing good things for medical providers right now. Check them out if your in Golden.
If you have a suggestion for a hike that you would like me to try, feel free to email me at fatmanlittletrails@gmail.com or you can follow me on the below social media platforms. I have also added this hike and the rest of the hikes to the interactive map that you can find here.
Sounds like you had quite an adventure, whether you set out to have or not – LOL Looked like pretty rugged trail so glad you made it back:)
I’m surprised you had no “wow” moment…. It’s one of my favorite short hikes. Especially the back (West) side. And the large rock outcropping at the top.
I think It was a combo of the difficulty and the heights had me too much on guard
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