I walked up Table Mountain yesterday, and here's a few photos. I followed the route detailed in William Sullivan's book. There is apparently a re-opened trail that goes close to a 800 foot cliff. I didn't have a real good topo of this new route, so I just went with Sullivan's recommendation.
Here's the sign at the bottom of the newly rerouted trail- oddly, there are two trail signs at this location, and both of them have a "You are here" mark, and neither one's marking is correct (this one, though it's at the intersection with the PCT, is marked as if the sign is supposed to be up on the top of the mountain somewhere- also, the wood on which this sign is posted is not attached to the ground; could it have been moved down the mountain for some reason?)
This is the rock at the intersection of the PCT and the Heartbreak Ridge Trail:
There was quite a bit of snow on Heartbreak Ridge, and I found myself kick-stepping and occasionally postholing:
I think with the snow predicted this weekend (Argghhh!), if I was hiking this again next week, I'd take my snowhoes, or at least my gaiters. A snowfield at the top of the ridge, right about the plateau:
At the top, I saw a falcon sitting guard over the void. I also saw what looks like very recent erosion (the trail at this spot has lost several inches of width, and is over a long fall!):
From the top, I can also see the large landslide in the Greenleaf watershed:
On the way back down, I passed this rock cairn. This marks about the lowest point of the snow fields:
Here's the rocky spine of Heartbreak Ridge. Does anyone know the origin of this name? I thought Heart Attack Ridge might be more appropriate.
Looking back toward Table Mountain, I caught a little shaft of clear sky. I thought it was very interesting that from this ridge and from Carpenter Lake, the Mountain doesn't look nearly as impressive as it does from the Columbia River.
All in all, a good afternoon trip.
Thanks for reading,
Charley