Gobblers Knob - July 4, 2025

scatman

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Dec 23, 2013
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Gobble, gobble, gobble! That can only mean one of two things: One is that there are turkeys lurking about, the other is that I have decided to hike up Gobblers Knob.

I started my hike around 6:15 in the morning, and chose the Bowman Fork route in Millcreek Canyon to reach Gobblers. Taking the Bowman route, makes it about 6.2 miles to the summit, so roundtrip, just under twelve and a half miles. I always mentally break this hike into segments. First, is Bowman Fork which has its own microclimate, kind of humid, cool with thick undergrowth. It kind of reminds me of hiking in the Smoky Mountains a bit. The second segment begins as you start climbing out of the fork itself, and this part of the trail runs through a conifer forest that is very shady and pleasant. Third, one hits what I refer to as the "dry segment." The trail is more exposed once you've crossed White Fir Pass and make your way along Yellow Jacket Gulch. As you make your way out of Yellow Jacket there is an unnamed highpoint (elev. 8272) that makes for a good place to take a break. At this point, you get a good view of the north side of Mount Raymond. I ate half a Cliff Bar and put some sunscreen on while enjoying the view. Fourth, as you begin hiking again above Pole Canyon, the scenery changes to aspens until you reach Baker Spring. At this point you climb up a small ridge before hitting the fifth segment which traverses the lower slope of Gobblers Knob all the way to Baker Pass. There are expansive views along this stretch. The sixth and last segment is just the climb up the ridge of Gobblers. Once on top, you'll find that the views were worth the effort to get there.

Now once again, the wildflowers were spectacular right from the get go, and lasted all the way to the summit. So in this report you are going to see a lot of pictures of wildflowers. I'm sorry, I just can't help myself. :) I ended up taking over 800 pictures on this hike. I hope you enjoy at least some of them.

I did get drizzled on while making my way up Bowman Fork, and on my return, when I entered Bowman aging it began the thunder and lightning. I almost made it back to the main road up Millcreek Canyon before it started to rain. Once I arrived at my car, it really started coming down, and when I got inside my car is when the hail started. I ended up pulling off the road for about five minutes on my way down the canyon as my wipers couldn't keep up with the deluge.

Anyway, enough of me yacking, here are the shots from my hike.

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Hike overview map

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They are working on the road in upper Millcreek, widening the road in spots and upgrading some of the trailheads.

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Right off the bat I knew the weather might be iffy, but this rainbow by Grandeur Peak was worth the drizzles up Bowman

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Take a right for Bowman Fork

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Bowman Fork

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Typical of the trail down in the Fork

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Crossing over into the Mount Olympus Wilderness

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Wood rose

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Thimbleberry

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Streambank globemallow

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A bumblebee taking shelter under some cow parsnip during a drizzle. This reminded me of a Bob Dylan song called "Shelter From
The Storm," which was then stick in my head for the rest of the way up. :)

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More Bowman Fork Trail

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Cow parsnip

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A monkshood bloom that is not quite there yet. This was the only monkshood that I saw on the entire hike

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Fall colors already?

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Now in the conifer section of my hike

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A rust or fungus on these maple leaves?

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Columbine are plentiful along this stretch

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So pleasant through here

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Once you hit White Fir Pass the views become bigger

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Lupine

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This was the best looking mule-ears that I saw on this hike. They are definitely past their prime now.

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Common yarrow

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Skyrocket

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Grand Colomia

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A view of what I refer to as the "dry section"

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Diamond clarkia

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Rosy paintbrush

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Sticky geraniums

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Fleabane

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American vetch

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Wyoming paintbrush

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A bumblebee on some spreading dogbane

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Richard's geraniums, ninebark and lupine, along with some horsemint

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Lupine

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Bumblebee navigating a sticky geranium

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Horsemint and some American vetch

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Another wood's rose

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Jacobs ladder

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Larkspur. I only saw two of these on the hike.

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Side shot of some columbine

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Few-flowered pea

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Columbine

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Sticky starwort

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Trail crew please. :)

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A gathering of large black ants on the trail

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Mount Aire (where I was last weekend) across the canyon

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The aspen section

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Rosy paintbrush and columbine

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Rocky Mountain dwarf sunflowers

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Mount Raymond and some dwarf sunflowers

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Mountain ninebark

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Ragwort

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I'm heading to Baker Pass

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Through these aspen stands, the cow parsnip was numerous. I took a lot of shots to try and capture the feel of it, but this one
turned out to be the best of the bunch, and it still doesn't quite do the trick.

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Rosy paintbrush

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Columbines

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Sticky cinquefoil

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Bluebells

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Few-flowered peas, columbine, lupine and some paintbrush

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View across Porter Fork toward Grandeur Peak, with Thayne Peak in the foreground

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Lewis flax

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Tons of bluebells

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Canada violet

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Baker Spring. I stopped and refilled my water bottle here on the way back down

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Wasatch beardtongue

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Another look north towards Mount Aire

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Mount Raymond as I get closer to Baker Pass

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King's flax

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Skyrockets

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Yellow jacket on some king's flax

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Mountain coyote mint

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Bumblebee and an ant enjoying some beardtongue

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Paintbrush, geraniums and lupine

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The Millcreek Rudge from L-R - Grandeur Peak, Church Fork Peak, Birch Hollow, and Mount Aire

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Horsemint

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Sticky cinquefoil

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Blue stickseed

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Mount Raymond

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Monument plant

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Desert parsley

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Currant

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Summit of Raymond

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Wild buckwheat

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Zoomed in on the summit of Grandeur Peak

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Looking up at the false summit of Gobblers

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Mount Raymond to the west as I begin my climb of Gobbles Knob

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Dwarf sunflowers

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Zoomed in on Broad Fork Twin Peaks

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Mount Raymond to Broads Fork Twins

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Still making my way up the ridge, with plenty of paintbrush to keep me company

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Majority of Wildcat Ridge, unfortunately Mount Olympus is out of view

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The Cottonwood Ridge

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Clematis

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Summit of Raymond

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Zoomed in on the Robinson's Couloir for the Robinson's Variation of summiting Broads
Fork Twin Peaks

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False summit ahead

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Wasatch beardtongue

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Zoomed in on Mount Aire and unnamed peak 8490

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Zoomed in on the summit of Church Fork Peak. If you squint, you might be able to see the yurt on top. :)

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Tuber starwart

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Western wallflower

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Paintbrush galore

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True summit ahead

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Bikini pose on the summit

Some wide angle views now from the summit.


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And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

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View down into Porter Fork

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Geraniums on my way back down

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Group of rosy paintbrush

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And beardtongue

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My favorite wood's rose shot of the hike

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Spreading fleabane

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These were biting flies, and they drove me nuts on the way down

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Canon Rebel T7i for this hike

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More columbine

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Fireweed

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Solomon's plume

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Heart-leafed Arnica

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Richard's geranium back in Bowman Fork

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Thunder clouds are building up

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I got just around the bend of this road when it started to rain

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No access to the upper canyon

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I had to hide the t7i under the car while I put my gear away.


The End.
 
nice!!
my older kid hiked Gobbler's today. I didn't tell him about the false summits.

What route did he take to the top? There were a father and son up top (the son took my bikini pose shot) who came up Alexander Basin. I asked if they had just walked up the road to the trailhead and the father said no that they had parked at the Birch Hollow Trailhead and walked up the Pipeline Trail, but the Pipeline Trail spits you out at Elbow Fork. Is there a trail on the other side of the creek that heads up to the Alexander Basin Trailhead? I always thought the Terrace Trail ended at Elbow Fork too, but maybe it continues on?
 
What route did he take to the top? There were a father and son up top (the son took my bikini pose shot) who came up Alexander Basin. I asked if they had just walked up the road to the trailhead and the father said no that they had parked at the Birch Hollow Trailhead and walked up the Pipeline Trail, but the Pipeline Trail spits you out at Elbow Fork. Is there a trail on the other side of the creek that heads up to the Alexander Basin Trailhead? I always thought the Terrace Trail ended at Elbow Fork too, but maybe it continues on?
my guy and his friends walked up Butler Fork today. of course I had to tell them about the time I did Gobblers and then since I wasn't that tired, did Raymond too. but I was younger then :). I'm definitely not ambitious enough to hit these peaks from the Millcreek side with the road closure now!
 

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