16 miles of hiking • 3250' elevation gain • 1 night
Camped overnight again this weekend at Gillette Lake, this time for my friend Shane's birthday outing. We hiked in during the late afternoon, hauling hunks of wood from the clearcut above the lake down to our camp spot. We had a great fire, I caught a trout and cooked him over the fire on a stick, and consumed much beer.
The next morning, we headed off to Table Mountain! I'd never done this hike before, and so was particularly excited. The PCT is such easy cruising that it didn't seem like it took any time at all before we hit the first kiosk for Table Mountain. There's a small landslide along the PCT that confused us for a moment (go above it), but otherwise the trail is in great shape.
We took Heartbreak Ridge up the mountain which was ridiculously, ludicrously, steeper-than-Ruckel-Creek-which-is-saying-something steep. The snow didn't start until maybe a half mile from the summit, and was icy. The steps kicked in the ice were well appreciated, though. The north side of the summit is covered in roughly two feet of snow, but the actual cliff face and most of the south end is snow free and beautiful. I didn't expect it to have such an excellent view! We came back down the back route (not sure the name), on the other side of the drainage from Heartbreak Ridge. We glissaded in a couple spots before getting to the horrible scree-filled trail. We jogged much of the way back to the car on the PCT.
Every spring, there's that first hike when you finally make it up to a reasonable elevation, see a grandiose view, bask in the sun, and realize summer is right around the corner. Last year, that hike for me was in early June. This year, mid April! It's promising to me that despite the heavy snowpack this year, it appears to be shaping up for a normal spring. Then again, as I look out the window today (Sunday) and it's wet and chilly, I may have just been duped by the two days of superb weather.
Comments
Kyle Meyer
April 24, 2011
Yep! What a great day for this hike.
Justin Wright
April 25, 2011
Great report, can't wait to do Table one of these days. Just curious, is there a camp spot at Gillette Lake or do you just camp where ever?
Kyle Meyer
April 25, 2011
There's a great campsite there with a metal fire circle. There's also a couple more set back into the woods along the creek if the main one on the lake is full up. It's on the PCT so there are frequent camping opportunities along the way to Table.
Bosterson
April 24, 2011
As of Saturday the 23rd, all the snow on the south side of the summit (seen in your 8th picture) is gone!