Gobblers Knob and Circle Mountain
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2019 8:24 pm
I've been itching to take my first trip to the high country this year and drove out to Wrightwood on Sunday. I also just bought a 4Runner, so I've been itching to get it off road.
We drove up Sheep Creek Truck Trail (3N31) to the PCT. The road was in surprisingly good condition although I wouldn't drive it in a low clearance vehicle. When we parked at the PCT, we saw two groups of PCTers relaxing under trees. From there, we did a quick but steep hike to Gobblers Knob (1 mile with 500 feet gain).
After Gobbler, we drove back down to the valley and did another short but steep hike: Circle Mountain (3 miles with 800 feet gain).
The views from Gobbler and Circle were some of the best I've seen in the San Gabriels. You get 360 views of the Mojave, San Gabriels, and San Bernardinos. Those peaks might be overlooked because of how short they are -- but if you combine them with other hikes in the area -- they're totally worth it.
I think my next trip to Wrightwood will be for Pine Mountain and Dawson Peak.
Snow on north side of Baldy (from Gobbler)
Looking east from Gobbler
Stretching before the next hike
Hiking out of the valley to Circle Mountain
The summit of Circle is amazing
Looks like the register bandit struck again
Rain over the Mojave
We drove up Sheep Creek Truck Trail (3N31) to the PCT. The road was in surprisingly good condition although I wouldn't drive it in a low clearance vehicle. When we parked at the PCT, we saw two groups of PCTers relaxing under trees. From there, we did a quick but steep hike to Gobblers Knob (1 mile with 500 feet gain).
After Gobbler, we drove back down to the valley and did another short but steep hike: Circle Mountain (3 miles with 800 feet gain).
The views from Gobbler and Circle were some of the best I've seen in the San Gabriels. You get 360 views of the Mojave, San Gabriels, and San Bernardinos. Those peaks might be overlooked because of how short they are -- but if you combine them with other hikes in the area -- they're totally worth it.
I think my next trip to Wrightwood will be for Pine Mountain and Dawson Peak.
Snow on north side of Baldy (from Gobbler)
Looking east from Gobbler
Stretching before the next hike
Hiking out of the valley to Circle Mountain
The summit of Circle is amazing
Looks like the register bandit struck again
Rain over the Mojave
Those are fire break signs. These are benchmarks. Many of the Sierra club peaks have benchmarks. Some peaks have anywhere from 1 to 3 of them. They are placed on peaks by the geological surveyors. Some of them are reference marks or triangular stations. Perhaps Sean can do a better job at explaining them. I get very excited when I find them. The oldest one I found was dated 1930. 
I've seen a lot of geological survey benchmarks, though I don't recall seeing one on Circle.