Galena Nature Trail

The Galena Nature Trail has a nice parking lot at the trailhead with a bathroom, good cell service, and the ranger station is there. Its right up the road from the Galena Visitors Center too and has an inside area with bathrooms, gift shop, educational programs, etc. The start of the Galena Nature Trail  crosses Galena Creek over a footbridge, then follows the creek upstream on a well marked dirt trail with interpretive signage so its hard to get lost. The trail goes up hill for about 15 minutes about 300 feet elevation gain, then loops back down and around in a loop. One nice feature on this trail is a boulder with a crack large enough for kids to walk through and makes for a fun stop. After completing the 1.2 mile loop there’s a quick 10 minute walk up wooden steps to Marilyn’s pond that you can do too, a small scenic pond you can walk all the way around in a few minutes. If you have little hikers, I suggest carrying them or holding hands at the beginning of the hike uphill till you get past the creek and past the steep drop-offs to the creek. Once up the hill they are fine my 2 year old has walked the second half. Also there is a steep drop off at the top of the hill to Marilyn’s pond careful with little hikers.