Gobblers Knob — Monday, Nov. 5, 2007

Mount Rainier Area > SW - Longmire/Paradise

12.5 miles round trip, 2700 gain. 6 hours. A few friends walked out the Westside road with me for a brisk fall hike to the old lookout on Gobblers Knob. As we started out shreds of mist were blowing through the trees though patches of blue sky were showing. It looked very iffy for views of Mt. Rainier. I had not been out the Westside Road since last years' storms. Things have really changed starting about a mile out. Where the road used to ford Tahoma Creek is a completely different landscape. What used to be the road is now the river. Boulders and bent culverts line the stream bed along with soft glacial silt pocked with boot marks, bike prints, and blue-flagged survey lath leading up the raw river cut. Trail crews outlined a temporary trail along the river bottom. It is so raw and so different I had to pull out my map to make sure we were in the right place. The temporary trail alternates between the stream and the forest for another mile until the road begins to climb out of the tahoma creek valley. The road wanders pleasantly pas old rock walls, tourist view points, and picnic areas. The forest is slowly taking over in a gentle planet-of-the-apes sort of way. Occasional glimpses of Rainier from the old view points were tantalizinf. But clouds still shrouded most of the peak. We arrived at Round Pass after 3.2 miles and found the Lake George trail. This trail is in great shape, like any well maintained, often visited park trail. Ironic since it's so far from cars! The trail switch backs up a hill and over a small forested ridge to Lake George about 1.5 miles from Round Pass. There was sun and nice blue-green water rippled by a cool fall breeze. we enjoyed the lake for a bit and headed up the trail. Soon we met a hiker coming down who said he saw a mother bear and cub on the trail about ten minutes up. We continued up, making plenty of noise to alert the bears. We never saw them nor signs of prints or scat. The trail got steeper and views began to show through the trees. Above 4300 feet we found patchy snow and a frozen tarn. The trail came to a junction signed left to Goat Lake 1.1 mi. and right Gobblers Knob .2 miles. Soon we were at the base of the rock out crop. The trail got rougher and narrow. We could see the lookout building from the switch backs. We round the west side of the knob with a view of Beljica, Glacier View, and Goat Lake. A few more steps and we were on the ridge with a great view of Mt. Rainer, Puyallup Cleaver, Tahoma Glacier and Pyramid Peak. We ate and stared as the wind stretched a cloud cap over the summit. Clouds blowing from Beljica blocked the sun and cooled our perch on the ridge. The chill inspired us to hoist our packs and head back. In just a few minutes fog blocked the views. We took another break at Lake George but the breeze was colder. So we hurried down. We were back to the cars by 4.