Galena Summit is a high mountain pass in central Idaho, United States, at an elevation of 8,701 feet (2,652 m) above sea level. The pass is located in the Boulder Mountains, in the northwest corner of Blaine County, within the Sawtooth National Recreation Area of the Sawtooth National Forest.
The summit is on State Highway 75, the Sawtooth Scenic Byway, and is 29 miles (47 km) northwest of Ketchum and the Sun Valley ski resort. It is the highest summit of a highway in the Northwest.
Galena Summit marks the divide between the Big Wood River and Salmon River drainage areas. A little more than 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the summit is Galena Overlook, a scenic viewpoint at 8,400 feet (2,560 m). It offers views of the Sawtooth range to the northwest and the headwaters of the Salmon River in the Stanley Basin of Custer County, which SH-75 follows north to Obsidian and Stanley, then east and north towards Challis.
The Galena Lodge (in historic Galena) is at 7,289 feet (2,222 m), on the Ketchum side of the summit.
Galena is a mineral, lead sulfide, an important lead ore; deposits of galena often contain silver.
Famous quotes containing the word summit:
“The tops of mountains are among the unfinished parts of the globe, whither it is a slight insult to the gods to climb and pry into their secrets, and try their effect on our humanity. Only daring and insolent men, perchance, go there. Simple races, as savages, do not climb mountains,their tops are sacred and mysterious tracts never visited by them. Pomola is always angry with those who climb the summit of Ktaadn.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)