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Knob Hopping

August 8th, 2009

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Our goal on this hike was to summit up to 10 glacier knobs scattered around Glacier Basin. Ali stayed behind choosing instead to spend a good part of the morning relaxing and reading on the summit of Eagle Cliff. Sandy and I joined a group of 11 being led by Igloo Ed: renate1 (Staci), her family and two friends of their children, Jennifer (Grannyheart) and her son. We all met through the RMNP Forum. We got started from the TH at about 7:15AM. The planned route was to visit Zone Lake as we used several off-trail routes to reach the Mills-Loch junction. From there, we would continue on-trail to Mills Lake and climb Knob #10 from the south. Ed normally climbs the 10 knobs in the reverse order of this hike. However, since all of our group didn't have time for the entire route, he started with #10 first figuring those were the more interesting and scenic climbs and summits. From there, we would cross Glacier Creek to knob #9 and work our way clockwise around the lower basin to knob #1 back towards the TH.

View RMNP Glacier Knobs in a larger map

We started up the path to Nymph Lake and quickly reached the spot to turn off-trail. Our first obstacle was the outlet stream from Lake Haiyaha. After a few anxious moments, for some of us, we made it across. Very quickly we arrived a the north shore of Zone Lake. We stopped briefly for pictures. It's a very photogenic spot as evidenced by all the photos on the forum. From there, we continued passed Joyce's Pond and on to the fire trail (a short cut that by-passes Alberta Falls on route from the Glacier Gorge TH to Mills-Loch junction.) We followed the fire trail until it exited onto the main trail near the junction and then continued to Mills Lake. It was around 8:30AM when we got to the lake. At this point, the four kids decided they wanted to spend the morning climbing on the rocks at Lake Haiyaha. So after a break, they were off on their own adventure.

The remaining group of 7 scrambled up from Mills Lake reaching the summit of knob #10 (K10) at 10:15AM, roughly three hours after our start. The descent off K10 was interesting. We climbed down a steep gully that included passing through a short tunnel. We lowered ourselves into it as if on parallel bars, one at a time. Then, kneeling down, we crawled forward about 8-10 feet, emerging at the top of a couple of chock stones. There was a bit of exposure down climbing there, but plenty of help was available for those who needed it. Below the chock stones, it was easy going down somewhat steep grass and through easy woods to Glacier Creek. The creek was very wide, but the current was calm and the bottom was soft and sandy. We waded across carrying our boots. Once everyone's feet were dry and back in their boots, we headed up to the trail so Staci and Mike could round up the kids and head home.

Shortly after the 5 of us started the ascent of K9, Jennifer and her son decided to turn back reducing our crew to 3, Sandy, Ed, and me. Knowing my aversion to exposure, Ed had forewarned me about the route up K9. As it turned out, it wasn't as bad as he'd remembered, and I had no problem making the moves up the exposed section. Immediately below the summit, we climbed through a short vertical tunnel arriving on top at 12:30PM. It took a little over two hours to bag the second knob, although there were 30-45 minutes of breaks and the creek crossing in between. The weather was great all morning and remained so through the afternoon. We spent 15-20 minutes on the summit of K9.

The rest of the off-trail stuff was pretty standard through the end of the day. Most of the rock was slabby stuff you see in several of the pictures. The woods were generally modest, no wicked krummholz or angry trees. The only remaining steep sections were on the the ascent of K6, and the ascent and descent of K5. That's also where the only significant talus field was crossed. On the way between K9 and K8, we could see Joyce's Pond and Zone Lake to the north. We gained the summit of K8 at 2:05PM, a bit over an hour from K9. The knobs were getting closer together, and our trio moved well together through the off-trail terrain.

It was interesting to see this area from so many different vantage points on a single hike. The views from each knob were excellent and had their own unique character. We stopped for a bite to eat on K8 and then headed over to K7. It took about 20 minutes to reach the summit from K8. Last year we tried to follow directions in Foster to climb the West Glacier Knob. As it turned out, we had climbed K7. The West Glacier Knob is actually K8. We had nice views of The Loch and Marv Lake from K7. Back on K8, we briefly talked about skipping K7, but quickly canned that idea. As we were making good time between the knobs now, we didn't want to leave one out. And K5-6 looked just as quick to reach as K7 had been. As the afternoon progressed, clouds began to gather around Longs Peak, but the skies above us stayed fairly clear.

It took another 20 minutes to reach K6. From there, we got a nice view Marv Lake sitting below K8. After a brief stay, we were quickly up on K5 in about 10 minutes, at 3:35PM. Unfortunately, K4 was not so close. After a steep climb down a grassy slope, we crossed the only significant talus field on the hike. Thankfully, those sections were fairly short. Then it was a long, off-trail passage through the woods. It was 4:55PM when we reached the summit of K4. It was a nice finishing point, offering an overview of the day's hike. We could see Zone Lake and Joyce's Pond and all the knobs we'd topped. Though K3 was likely only 15-20 minutes away, the clouds were beginning to build overhead and a cool, evening wind was picking up. We were about an hour out from the TH so we decided call it a day after bagging 7 knobs. We finished up a little after 6:00PM, and were back at the cabin by 6:30PM ready for a shower and something to eat.

Many thanks are due Ed for guiding us on a great day of hiking. It was also especially nice to meet and hike with some other fellow RMNP forumers. Hopefully we'll meet again on a future visit to Rocky.

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