Story Photos
 A hiker nears the summit of Table Mountain in the Columbia River Gorge. Troy Wayrynen / The Columbian
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Scaling Table Mountain no easy feat, but worth the effort
Friday, August 29, 2008 5:05 PM PDT
By Allen Thomas
The Vancouver Columbian
Printable version
E-mail this articleNORTH BONNEVILLE — The final mile up Heartbreak Ridge Trail to the summit of Table Mountain is among the steepest and most-grueling in the Northwest.
And the views at the top of Table Mountain — hanging meadows of dazzling wildflowers, sheer vertical cliffs and sweeping panoramas — are among the most scenic in the Northwest.
“This is truly one of the top spots in the Columbia Gorge,’’ said Don Nelsen, a Vancouver hiker who logs about 1,000 miles annually. “This is such a magnificent, expansive view. But you have to earn it.’’
Indeed.
Most official maps show the route to the top of 3,417-foot elevation Table Mountain beginning at the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail parking lot on state Highway 14 at Bonneville Dam.
But, starting at the dam adds several miles of approach hike before arriving at the final loop to the summit. Those additional miles make reaching the top of Table Mountain — and then returning — too long and hard a trip for most hikers.
Starting at a parking spot on the west side of Bonneville Hot Springs Resort, and following a combination of trails and roads, the round trip to the top of Table Mountain and back can be cut to 8.7 miles.
While 8.7 miles sound like a very reasonable distance, don’t underestimate the route.
The trip includes a stretch of 700 vertical feet in 0.35 mile, that’s a 26 degree grade on average and 38 degrees in places. It also includes a scramble of 290 vertical feet in a few hundred yards of climbing on a talus slope.
Nelsen, a technical representative for an Ohio-based industrial abrasives company, first hiked to the summit of Table Mountain in 1985.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen more than three or four people at the top at one time, even on weekends,’’ he said.
Table Mountain is at the heart of the Table Mountain Natural Resources Conservation Area, managed by the Washington Department of Natural Resources.
Table Mountain and the surrounding lands became an NRCA in 1991, when the Legislature authorized buying 2,197 acres of state trust lands to be transferred into conservation status. An additional 640 acres were bought in 1996 and 1997 to bring the NRCA to its current size of 2,837 acres.
Carlo Abbruzzese, Pacific Cascade region natural areas manager for the DNR, said his agency has been working for about five years relocating sections of trail on Table Mountain outside sensitive meadows.
“It’s a beautiful, rugged trail,’’ he said. “It’s not a beginner’s trail. A lot of the long-time users like the steep, rugged nature. We tried not to deviate too much from the original trail.’’
There’s still some finishing touches needed, he said.
Kiosks are being built at the two locations where the loop to the summit connects with the Pacific Crest trail. More marker posts are needed in the talus slope portion, signs need to be installed at trail junctions, a large map needs to be added to the kiosks and paper maps should be available there, too, he said.
“I really like that area,’’ Abbruzzese said. “You can see five volcanoes, look out over the Columbia River and see the Bonneville Landslide.’’
Table Mountain has a fascinating geological history, as the south side has been sliding toward the Columbia River for millennia.
Scientists differ on the details, but debris from the Bonneville Landslide initially crossed and dammed the Columbia River, creating a lake that stretched as far as 70 miles east, to the present-day John Day River mouth. This temporary land bridge is thought to have given rise to the Bridge of the Gods legend of native Americans.
The debris dam apparently was porous enough to allow much of the Columbia flow to pass. Eventually, the river rose high enough to wash through the southern side of the landside, creating a new channel nearly a mile south.
The exact cause and date of the landslide is still in question. One theory is that a large earthquake triggered the slide. It is likely there were many processes acting at different times and in different places that lead to the slides, according to the Department of Natural Resources’ 2007 Table Mountain management plan.
Based on tree ring studies, it is believed the Bonneville landslide took place during the mid-1400s. Other evidence suggests it was triggered by an earthquake in 1700.
Greenleaf, Cedar, and Hamilton creeks drain the slopes of Table Mountain. They look almost untouched, and yet that’s far from reality.
The area burned in 1902 and again in 1929, Nelsen said.
Logging roads and railroads laced the area during the first half of the 1900s to get the timber off the slopes.
Nelsen has bushwhacked the area extensively and found piece of rail, spikes, abandoned steam engines and lots of cable.
He located more than 1,000 feet of 2-inch-thick cable in Greenleaf Basin to the northeast of Table Mountain.
“All these ridges and valleys on both sides of the Gorge have such tremendous history, both native American and from the logging period,’’ he said.
Despite it all, the area is spectacular today.
“Even after European settlement, extensive logging, road building and catastrophic forest fires, the area has returned to as pristine a condition as ever,’’ Nelsen said. “The earth will heal itself in an amazingly short time - it just needs a breather now and then.’’
Trail details
Park in the gravel area on the west side of Bonneville Hot Springs Resort and hike up the road to the west for 0.13 mile to an intersection with another road. Look for a small sign posted on a tree to the north denoting the beginning of the trail.
Follow this for .87 mile to Carpenters Lake, which is a meadow-swamp area, not really a lake. On the west side of the lake, the road forks. Take the left fork through a quick switchback to another fork.
At this second fork, follow the road straight ahead and uphill slightly right until it junctions with the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail. Leave the road and follow the PCT to a junction with the state Department of Natural Resources’ Heartbreak Ridge trail. The distance from Carpenters Lake to the junction with Heartbreak Ridge trail (marked by a sign) is 1.7 miles, bringing trip total to 2.7 so far.
Leave the PCT and head up Heartbreak Ridge trail gaining 700 vertical feet in 0.35 mile, some of the steepest grade anywhere. In another 0.16 mile, come to a viewpoint of the cliffs of Table Mountain.
Heartbreak Ridge trail continues to climb west and north to the base of a talus slope. At this point follow the red plastic streamers attached to trees anrd rocks straight up the slope, gaining 290 vertical feet.
It is 0.36 mile from the cliffs viewpoint, up the talus slope to a loop atop Table Mountain. Turn right (east) and go to the viewpoint.
After spending time at the viewpoint, head back north and east for 0.16 mile to the northern viewpoint off Table Mountain, then south for 0.33 mile to a junction. At this point head down the steep west leg of the Table Mountain loop for 0.7 mile to the Pacific Crest trail.
At the PCT, turn left and go 0.45-mile down to the junction where Heartbreak Ridge trail began.
From this point, return the route 1.7 miles down to Carpenters Lake and the final mile back to Bonneville Hot Springs Resort. Total distance is 8.7 miles.
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