Gobbler's Knob

In the middle of all the heart-ache I've been having at work E and I still have kept up or awesome hiking weekend tradition. On Saturday I wanted to stay home because I was expecting something in the mail, and E was bummed we didn't go on a hike, so on Sunday between a Father's Day brunch with E's family and a Father's Day dinner with my family, we hiked to the top of the world.

So, here is the hiking log:
Gobbler's Knob via Butler Fork
Trail Length- 7.51 to peak and back
Elevation gain- 2660 feet
Stars- Five stars, this area is beautiful and there were lots of aspen forests which are my favorite. Peak hikes are always fun too.

After a great brunch at Market Street, E, David and I headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon. Butler Fork is on the North side of the canyon, which is a side that I haven't explored much. The trail climbed like a mad-man right off the bat, it was so darn steep! Quickly we started switchbacks through beautiful aspen forests where the trees were just beginning to bud. Up and up we went until we hit snow on the trail. We continued on, and reached a small ridge. Over the ridge the trail flattened out a little while we walked along a bowl. Pretty soon we could see a saddle connecting Big Cottonwood Canyon and Millcreek. Here we lost the trial due to snow and ended up climbing straight up towards the saddle. Each of us collapsed from exhaustion and decided to have a snack. Off to the right was Gobbler's Knob, a peak in the front range that reached 10,220 feet. As we sat there snacking on granola bars, almonds and beef jerkey we decided to continue to the peak, how long could it take? Almost two hours later we were finally on our destination - Gobbler's Knob. The hike from the saddle to the peak was the hardest of all because the trail was completely covered in snow, so we scrambled up over the rocks where the snow was melted. True exhaustion hit is once we reached the top.

Instead of taking the steep rocky way back, we decided to walk on top of the snow. It was melting and slippery which was great fun. We were laughing and sliding, and got off the peak in a fraction of the time it took to get on top of it. By the time we got back to the saddle we had two hours to make it down the trail, drop off David at home, go home and clean up, and go to Brandon's for the Father's Day party. Needless to say, we booked it down the mountain, and we were only 30 minutes late to Brandon's! We rock!

Here are some photos-
Near the bottom of the trail there was a spring happily bubbling out of the ground. The water was beautiful and crystal clear.
We climbed and climbed and the views got better and better. This photo I'm looking up Big Cottonwood Canyon, you can see the trail and the road why below.
The higher we got the more snow we saw.
Until we were finally at the top, what a view!
Here E and I are on the top of the knob - Gobbler's Knob.
The snow was deep on the hike down! E is not kneeling in this photo, but his foot fell through the snow and he was thigh deep! He said it was a very air conditioned trail indeed.
E heads down through an aspen forest in the late afternoon light.
Here is the GPS at the end of the day. The first number is how far we hiked (7.51 miles), which is a lot!