The giant, slab-sided Table Mountain is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the Columbia River Gorge. It’s also one of the hardest hikes, for several reasons.
Because the trail passes over trails maintained by three different organizations, it’s tricky finding the route. And it’s fiendi
shly steep in parts, ascending 1,600 feet in about 1.2 miles, including a pitch of rocky talus.
Craig Romano calls Table Mountain one of the toughest of the 100 routes in his new guidebook, “Day Hiking Columbia River Gorge.”
However, the rewards are many in this state Natural Resources Conservation Area. The trail passes through a variety of landscapes, from deep woods to meadows. From the summit, a hiker can gaze up and down the Columbia River and to five snow-capped volcanos. The pair of rare peregrine falcons that nest hundreds of feet down the cliff may soar by.
Last week, Carlo Abbruzzese, natural areas manager for the Department of Natural Resources, led a four-man trail maintenance party up the mountain.
The hike used to be several miles longer; people started near Bonneville Dam and headed up the Pacific Crest Trail. However, several years ago, the Mazamas club from Portland built an access trail that starts behind Bonneville Hot Springs Resort. With the shortcut, the route is about 9 miles round-trip.
The first mile of the route follows the Mazama-built trail, which was muddy last weekend but should dry up if we get a dry season. “We’re hiking on the breakdown from the Table Mountain slide,” Abbruzzese said where the trail crosses gently undulating, wooded terrain.
He’s not talking about recent events.
In the 1400s, a huge chunk of Table Mountain slid miles and dammed the Columbia River, creating an immense lake that stretched as far as 100 miles to the east. This temporary land bridge created by the slide is thought to have given rise to the Native American “Bridge of the Gods” legend.
The exact cause and date of the landslide is still in question. “They still don’t know if an earthquake triggered it,” Abbruzzese said. “It think it could have been just heavy rain.”
The trail skirts Carpenter Lake, which is really a marsh. To the north looms the jagged, chopped-off side of Table Mountain. Turn right onto an old road, walk a short distance, then turn left where the trail forks.
At the next junction, go right and continue for a mile to a junction with the Forest Service’s Pacific Crest Trail. Turn left and go half a mile to a kiosk with information about the DNR’s Table Mountain Natural Resources Conservation Area. The 2,837-acre conservation area was created in 1991 to preserve rare plants and animals.
One of them is the Cascade torrent salamander, several of which Abbruzzese found under rocks in a stream the trail crosses. The critters “need clear cold streams,” he said.
The conservation area includes grassy “balds,” open areas usually found only at higher elevations.
The kiosk is at the bottom of the Heartbreak Ridge Trail, which climbs 1,650 feet in 1.2 miles. “This is where it gets fun,” Abbruzzese said cheerfully. Remember, it’s knee-shakingly steep on the way down, too.
The lower section of Heartbreak Ridge is forested; at 2,400 feet it comes to an open saddle near the jagged peaks of Sacajawea and Papoose Rocks. There’s an 800-foot drop-off on one side, over which a 24-year-old woman fell to her death in March of 2010. Someone erected a memorial cross at that point, which Abbruzzese said he had moved back from the edge for safety.
Last week, however, the memorial was no longer there at all.
Staying a few feet back from the edge, Abbruzzese spotted a pair of peregrine falcons that nest higher up on Table Mountain. Bred in captivity, the raptors were released in the mid-1990s.
Above that point, the DNR rerouted the trail several years ago so it no longer crosses a fragile meadow near the cliff. It’s still an extremely steep slog, including a 300-foot climb up a rocky talus slope. Abbruzzese has found signs of picas amid the rocks, though the chirping little rodents aren’t typically found that low in the mountains.
A group of 20 or so mostly middle-aged hikers stepped slowly down the rock; despite its difficultly, Table Mountain drew a good crowd on a sunny day.
True to its name, Table Mountain flattens out on top, at elevation 3,400 feet. There’s a spectacular view for miles up and down the Columbia River. On a clear day, the view includes the peaks of Rainier, Adams, St. Helens, Hood and Jefferson. That view, too, is atop a vertigo-inspiring 1,000-foot-tall cliff.
Last weekend, the peregrines swooped a few hundred feet off the vantage point, seemingly showing off for their admirers. Oddly, a great blue heron, a species usually seen near water, swooped by, too.
Hikers can descend either the way they came, or make a loop by taking a trail about one-quarter mile to the west. Though this Westway trail doesn’t have the talus, it’s still plenty steep, with loose rock. Hiking poles and grippy boots are useful; still, I went for a brief downhill slide at one point. I also wished I had brought bug repellent, as annoying little flies swarmed my sweaty head.
Despite the challenges, Table Mountain is still a must-do hike for experienced Gorge explorers, one that won’t be quickly forgotten.How to get there
To reach the Bonneville Hot Springs, the starting point for this hike, take Highway 14 east of Vancouver, and turn left on Hot Springs Road, which is 1 mile east of the town of North Bonneville. Drive under the railroad tracks, turn right and continue to the resort. The trail starts from the gravel parking lot behind the resort.
A USGS topographic map, which doesn’t show all the trails, is available at www.portlandhikersfieldguide.org
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