Climbing Table Mountain

A mound of snow at Artist Point

Even though the weather has been really warm for us for a while now, this pile of snow is still in the process of melting out at Artist Point, at the end of the Mt. Baker Highway. That's Mt. Shuksan over to the left, and the sheen on the pavement is caused by the rivulets of water from the melting snow.

Four of us met yesterday afternoon to take a trip up to the top of Table Mountain, which begins right at the parking lot. It's not long and not hard, but there is a bit of exposure going to the top, which is why neither I nor Al had ever climbed it before. It's a mere three-mile round trip, so it's not  really an appropriate Thursday hike. Not to mention the exposure one experiences on the way up is not for everybody.

Shuksan from the trail

The sheer drop-off from a moderately wide trail, as you can see here, took my breath away once or twice. Now some people think that just because I jump out of perfectly good airplanes, I shouldn't have any fear of heights. Not so: I have an exquisitely well-attuned respect for edges and high places. Plus I didn't have my parachute with me!

Shuksan towering over the parking lot

We quickly climbed upwards. If you enlarge the picture, you can see our starting point, the Artist Point parking lot, right in the middle of the picture. And the snow that still graces our High Country is dotted here and there. In another month it will mostly be gone, but that is just before the snows will begin to fall again. Artist Point is usually open in early July and will close again in late September because of the snow.

Mt. Baker behind Mary, Bob, and Al

We had to cross several snow fields, but none of them were in the scary places. I was really surprised by how many trees there are on the way up to the broad expanse at the top. I thought it would be barren, but between babbling brooks from the snowmelt and tempting little shady grottos, it was very pleasant and quite lovely most of the way to the top.

Got anything to eat?

We wandered around the top of the mountain for awhile, and I saw these ravens who watched us carefully, wondering (I surmised) whether we would be leaving anything behind. This trail gets lots of traffic and is traversed by plenty of people whose leavings are probably quickly consumed by fellows like these.

Heather and rock

There was heather everywhere, and I managed to capture this picture to show how pretty it is right now. I enjoyed the day very much, and the four of us stopped at the Beer Shrine in Deming to quaff a beer and enjoy pizza at the end of the day. If you visit that link, you'll see why it's such a popular place to visit after a day playing in Washington State's beautiful wilderness.
:-)