My wife and I decided to find some ""year-round"" hiking in order to

celebrate the New Year. We thought the Gorge would be an excellent

choice to escape the snow in Spokane. Fortunately, we brought our

Yaktrax, which came in very handy. On Saturday we hiked the PCT

from Cascade Locks to near the top of Table Mountain. There were

lots of blow-downs on the PCT (surprise,surprise) but practically

no snow. The Westway trail up to Table Mountain was steep and icy

but our traction devices saved the day. The Eastway trail is no longer open. The day was clear, cold and windy. We turned around at 1:00 PM short of the summit so as not to be hiking in the dark. This is a long day hike measuring almost 16 miles. You don't need to make

it all the way to the top (3,417 ft.) in order to be rewarded with some outstanding views.

In spite of some sore knees from the previous day's hike we decided

to pop some Ibuprofen and do the hike up Dog Mountain on Sunday. This trail measures almost 7 miles round trip and climbs nearly

3,000 feet. We are obviously middle aged masochists. The weather

wasn't nearly as pleasant. Low clouds had blown in and there was a

stiff breeze from the East. The conditions were quite different from

the previous day. The trail was in excellent shape but the compact snow and ice started at much lower elevation. Once reaching Puppy Dog Mountain at 2,505 feet we had entered a different world.

The trail between Puppy Dog and Dog Mountain was covered with two

feet of wind swept crust at a steep angle. We were just about to turn

around when a group of Mazamas from Portland came along. We decided to let them break trail and followed them to the top. Needless to say

the lack of view and the wind chill gave us little reason to linger.

The steep hike down was another knee burner.

After two excellent but strenuous days of hiking, a couple glasses

of wine and a big Mexican dinner in The Dalles we returned to our

motel room with the intention of watching the ball drop. I think

we passed out at 10:00.

Ken Mondal

I parked at the Bonneville trailhead, but if anyone is interested, one can cut several miles of hiking by taking the trasnmission line road. Most of this hike follows the PCT, with some camping options at Gillette Lake, and a nice camp site about 1 mile beyond the lake at a creek crossing. The EAST trail up Table Mountain is closed, and for good reason. The west trail is the only trail to the summit now, and it's easier and more scenic anyway. About 350 feet shy of the summit the snow begins (as of March 31) but the trail is easy to follow and fairly safe (if the snowline is a few hundred feet lower, the trail could be very dangerous is a slip occurs).

We started by the slough, near the power line access road, rather than at the official USFS trailhead off WA 14. Starting here cuts out at least four miles of slogging through clear-cuts and logging roads from the hike; it also cuts out the insidious USFS Demo Fee. (Editorial content: Why are hikers willingly paying this fee when logging, mining, and grazing are all subsidized by below market costs AND some recreationists like hunters and boaters do not pay' ) We followed the power line road uphill to some flagging leading east around a beautiful meadow. Looking north across the meadow, we could see a striking rock pulpit below Table Mt. Continuing on east, we struck an old jeep track heading uphill, north toward the PCT. Turning NW on the PCT for a mile, we soon reached the start of the ""eastway"" trail, marked by a broken heart wooden sign. The trail commenced a steep upward section through timber for about a mile, breaking out of the timber near a saddle, where we donned more clothes. The wind was howling. Then we began the last steep section, Table Mt. summit looming above through lowering clouds, following a serpentine course up through grasses and wildflowers. The summit was so cold, we only tagged and returned the same way. Trail in good shape. No snow. Having hiked both ""eastway"" and ""westway"" trails to the summit, I'd say that the ""westway"" is more scenic and perhaps easier up. They are both ""quad busters"" on the way down.

A light breeze and 65 degree weather made this 9-mile loop trip a delight compared to what one can sometimes experience on this trail. The scotch broom during the first 300' of trail provides a gauntlet of allergic aroma to deal with as you leave the cars at the Columbia River slough trailhead near N. Bonneville. The broom is heavy stuff until you enter the woods; then, the stretch to the next road/trail is muddier than normal. We opted to follow the PCT as it contours up and around to the base of the SW Ridge of Table Mtn. Blowdowns were nonexistent. The 1,000 feet up the ridge is rocky, snow-free, and straight-forward until you reach the summit plateau. The snow there exceeds 5 feet still in places as one traverses eastward on the summit to the rocky outcropping above the cleavage point which dropped the mass of earth now called Bridge of the Gods. The normally gosh-awful descent by trail down the east side of the south-facing bowl to the Heartbreak Trail was a pussycat. The brush has not had time to spread out for the summer and the tread has little in the way of ball-bearing rocks and pebbles usually encountered. Descending this way must save at least 30-40 minutes over retracing the ridge. Only 2 other hikers besides our party of four.