Two hikes this week: Gobbler's Knob and Bald Mountain

This week I climbed to the top of two mountains. On Tuesday I went hiking with Ben to the top of Gobbler’s Knob. The trail begins at Bowman Fork in Millcreek Canyon and is pretty smooth and shady for quite a distance. Then about .9 miles from the top, the trail changes and becomes a monster of steepness and really wears you out. Up on top though, the view was amazing. We could see all the way to the Uintas in the east, and to the far side of the Great Salt Lake to the west. We also saw a couple of hawks soaring around below us, and then a third hawk dived out of the sky from above to join the others. It was really awesome. I was sore though for several days afterwards, and can still feel the effects in my thighs.

The other hike I went on was with Sam and Brad (Richmond), and that was to the top of Bald Mountain in the Uintas. The hike is two miles up to the top, which sounds easy until you realize that the trail is quite steep in some parts, and very rocky over much of it. We also came unprepared for the wind, which made it very chilly. I guess we should’ve planned on that as the weather is always unpredictable up there, and there were scattered storms in the weather forecast for the entire state. Still we made it up there, and like Gobbler’s Knob, the view was amazing. Far to the west we could see the skyline of the Wasatch Mountains, and we could see nothing but mountain ranges as far as we looked in any direction. Many lakes were in view in all directions as well. We didn’t stay up there very long though, because a storm appeared to be heading quickly in our direction and none of us wanted to be caught in a downpour up on top, nor did we want to be exposed to lightning should that occur. On the way home, we stopped at what used to be Dick’s Drive-in, but now is called the Uinta Drive-in, although they’ve kept the name “Dick’s” up on the outside of the building. It used to be a place that we would always stop at and get a shake on the way home from a camping trip or something. Sam said that it wasn’t as good as Dick’s used to be, and I agree though I’m not really sure...I don’t know how long ago it was that I tried the original Dick’s food and couldn’t really remember it, only the shakes–and I didn’t have a shake this time to be able to compare. One thing that we saw on the way to the trailhead that morning though was really awesome. As we rounded the corner on the highway, just past Trial Lake, a bull moose was in the road and I had to slam on the brakes. We watched as the moose finished crossing and headed up into the trees. Simply something you don’t see, but maybe once or twice in a lifetime.