Day 11 Information
South Puyallup River - Night Two - 0 WT Trail Miles
Sunday, September 15th 2002
Day hike to Gobblers Knob

It is 3:40 pm. I am on the top of Gobblers Knob. I got up here at about 3 with an excellent view of the mountain.


Derek Rowley at Gobbler Knob with a Great view of Mt. Rainier



Panorama of Mt. Rainier from Gobblers Knob

There was supposes to be some sort of a storm today, but I didn’t see anything. I’ve been up here 40 minutes now. The hike wasn’t too hard but it wasn’t easy. At .6 miles before Round Pass coming from South Puyallup River there is a split in the trail that connect to the main road or you can stay on the trail to round pass all uphill On the other side of Round Pass parking lot is the trailhead for Gobblers Knob.

I left today at about 12:40 toward Gobblers Knob. I figured the mountain would be covered in clouds and not visible. I was planning on just coming here for lunch and maybe reading a little. But I got up here and the view is excellent. It is absolutely beautiful. I took my panoramas and am now eating lunch. I really love this view because it is not just a view of the mountain but a view of the Tahoma Glacier that has the “golden rocks” on it. I will probably stay up here a little longer but not past 5 p.m. I should get back to camp about 2.5 - 3 hrs later. When I got up here the west side was covered in low clouds. It was like everything right behind me was clouds, but everything to the east, the view of Rainier, was clear.


Emerald Ridge from Gobblers Knob

I can see where I was standing at yesterday. It is really cool to see where I was at less than 24 hours ago.

The west side road is closed but I did see a ranger’s truck at Round Pass. I haven’t seen a ranger but maybe he or she is at the lake. About 1 or 2 minutes after I finished taking panoramas at Gobblers Knob, a light cloud came rushing in and put a mask over the mountain. Now the mountain is totally covered . It is a complete whiteout.


Derek Rowley at the Gobblers Knob Fire Lookout

Every time I hike to a fire lookout there has been whiteout conditions within a few minutes of arriving at the top (Tolmie several times – Fremont and now Gobblers Knob.)


The Marine Mamorial

The Marine Memorial is a rock carved out to fit a large metal plate with 32 names of the Marines who lost their lives December 10th 1946, “While under orders and enroute from San Diego, California , to Seattle, Washington. Their plane crashed on the glacier due to no visibility and their bodies now lie on the South Tahoma Glacier.

There were some big horse flies when I got to the Marine Memorial at Round Pass. One horsefly bit me and immediately I felt the pain. He didn’t even land on me. I’m eating my Wheat Thins with PBJ. And I’m going to make some drink from water and cool aid.

It is Sunday Night at 8:30. I hiked to Gobblers Knob, left at 5:20 from the Gobblers Knob reaching the lake at 6. I spoke with 2 guys there for about 30 or 40 minutes about camping and how to fix my foot. He was a massage therapist and a Scoutmaster. He told me he wanted to have his scouts ride their bikes up to round pass and lockup the bikes then it’s a one mile hike to the lake. Then the fire lookout is 1.6 miles from the Lake George.

I think I hiked about 9.1 or closer to 10 if I count the times I walked to the river.

One thing I forgot to mention was a log that Rachelle and Alex had carved their names into. And judging from the sunflower seeds I could tell they sat there for a while.

They came up on Saturday; she obviously didn’t look at the paper good enough for which day I would be there. I figured she would when I found out that the 15th was my second night (Sunday). I feel bad but I think she got to see the mountain. It was very cool to see that view from Gobblers Knob. I think it made my Wonderland Trial hike much better even though it wasn’t actually part of the Wonderland Trail. I took several panoramas, hopefully at least one will turn out. I will probably stitch those panoramas first when I get back.

He told me how to put my foot in place. And then, I left Lake George at 6:40 p.m., and I hurried down, I didn’t run, but I hurried down and I made it back to camp by 7:45. So about an hour and 5 minutes later, as I was walking into camp, I passed the toilet, so it was about 600 feet past the camp, and then I was coming around the corner, and all through the hike I had been turning my head back because it was dark, turning my head back every 10 minutes or so just to make sure no one was behind me. I was a little paranoid, even though I usually try not to be since I know, most likely, that there is not going to be anyone out there actually, but you never know. But anyways, I was a little spooked; it was starting to get pretty dark. I was doing alright. I was hiking in, and I was just entering camp and I came around the corner, and then bam, there were like two ladies there, standing there. Actually they were walking. We both scared each other, all three of us scared the crap out of each other, and we were just like, “Ah!” And then, I think they were headed towards the bathroom, but other than that, it worked out. They went and took their crap, and I went and cleaned my dishes. I put my back pack in my tent and I grabbed my pots and pans and went up to the little stream, washed them out, came back, I grabbed my food off the bear pole. And then after I got it down, it took me a few minutes to get the pole back hooked on, which always seems to be a problem, especially when it is dark. In the day light usually there’s no problem, but when it is dark, you really can’t see anything, it’s pretty difficult, but I got it back on after a few minutes. And then I brought that back to my tent, and that was pretty much it. I haven’t eaten anything really tonight. Just at the top, I had my wheat thins with peanut butter and jelly on them, which was a pretty good lunch/dinner, and some drink. I had lots to drink. I pumped 3.5 to 4 liters today. I pumped some here at the little stream. And then on my way up to Lake George, I pumped another liter or so. Probably less than a liter, but, I don’t know, somewhere right around there, so I could hike it up to the top and have some to drink up there, since I knew there wouldn’t be any water.



Although, actually, there is a small lake, or pond I guess it is, about ¾ of the way up there, so those who don’t want to hike water up all the way, they can just take some just the upper little part. I don’t know if I said this and it got on my other one or not, but I saw Alex and Rachelle’s name carved into the wood log between two rocks up at the top at Gobblers Knob that someone had put there to watch the sunset probably and to eat on.



I took a picture and carved my name in it. Rachelle and Alex had probably sat there for a few hours eating sunflower seeds I am pretty sure, because they were on the ground and around. I think today I did about 9.1 miles or so, hiking everywhere. And if you count the little bit between the stream and stuff, it probably totals up to 10 or so, I don’t know. Ok, what else? I think that’s all. It is probably about 9:50 by now. I’m tired and ready for bed.


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Extra 10 Miles is from hiking from the South Puyallup River to Gobblers Knob and back.