Gobbler's Knob Hike

First of all, I love the name—Gobbler’s Knob, but actually it’s a pretty nice peak.  The 10,220 ft. elevation makes an excellent platform to see both Mill Creek and Big Cottonwood canyons, as well as the Salt Lake valley. The hike is a 3.5 mile lung burner going up. And because it’s so steep going up, you can plan on another 3.5 miles of toe-jamming, knee-straining torture going down.  My GPS said that the Alexander Basin trailhead (40.6967, -111.677) elevation is roughly 6,000 feet.  Flowers were in bloom at higher elevations. 

In the picture of me, off to the left you can see the Big Cottonwood road leading to Brighton and Solitude.

Late hike to Donut Falls

I got started at about 7.45pm. The sky was raining with occassionbl lightening. As I started hiking the rain slowed to a sprinkle. The trail is pretty easy until 100 yards before the falls. Them it's a boulder scramble to where the stream drops into the granite hole (hence the name). The slick boulders made climbing harder than it needed to be. It was dark by the time I got back to my car.

The trail is pretty short--about 2.5 miles round trip. I saw lightening in the valley as I drove out of the canyon. Awesome! Anyway, enjoy the pics and vids.

From the Left Fork (Subway) Trailhead, Kolob, Zion National Park

 

I was planning on hiking this morning, but a freak storm hit Southern Utah and left six inches of snow at the trailhead.  The funny thing is that I was the only person on the road driving to the trailhead (because there were no tracks in the snow).  About two miles from the trailhead, I passed a car coming the other way.  Obviously, they had been up there all night.  Sure enough, their tracks originated from the Subway trailhead.  They had been camping in the canyon and hiked out this morning.   I followed their tracks back into the canyon for about a mile. It was so cool.