Table Mountain, Jul 10th

The grueling hike to table mountain is one of those that, after you’ve done it, you really think about it before attempting it again. To get to the summit, there are several routes, the short and hard, the long and hard and the approach via Aldrich Butte (also hard). For this hike, I was just following the directions of Zach, a new hike leader in the group. He decided to take the Aldrich route via a connector trail that shortens the approach a little bit. We started on a gorgeous sunny day thru the forested area that leads to the Trail of Two Chiefs and soon departed on the PCT towards Table Mountain. This first section, been all under the canopy, doesn’t offer a lot of views until you get to the ridge. Once there, you are welcomed with a nice panoramic view of the Columbia River and Mt Hood peeking between the trees. After a short brake, we continued up the hill to the ridgeline and found the spot where Kate Huether had an unfortunate accident and fell, a clear reminder that you have to respect the outdoors always. Soon after that, we came to the rock field, a section of the trail where it’s better to put your trekking poles away and use your hands and feet to scramble up the rocks. The jaunt doesn’t stop there though. AS you pass the rock section, the trail continues up steeply until it reaches a saddle with the top of Table Mountain to the right and wonderful vistas that include Mt Hood, Mt Adams, Mt Rainier and Mt St Helens. We followed the ridge to the top of Table and unexpectedly were welcomed by an incredible flower bed. That plus the views of the Gorge from the edge were just fantastic. For the return, we hiked back up the ridge line to the back of Table Mountain to do the north trail which is almost as steep as the south trail but offering a different panorama of the area. Just before heading down though, we decided to stop for lunch at that end, enjoy the views and the sun. Yes, my knees were hurting a bit the following day!