i was given the day off on friday and thought i was blessed with the perfect day to give table rock a try. ive asked about it a couple times and called a few weeks ago to keep getting the expected "snowed in" answer. i headed out of salem with my girlfriend at 10am, a little later than i had liked but oh well. i pointed table rock out to her for the 20th time as we headed toward the molalla exit on the freeway (woodburn exit). i had been there before, a couple times in the snow and completed it once. its a good hike if there isnt snow. we got to the trailhead, my pack weighing in at a 30-40lbs to get used to the weight for longer summer trips coming up, and her with no pack and some treking poles. we walk about 30 minutes, passed the first section which is an old road and we head through the first section of forest with the nice view of the drainage to soon encounter snow and more snow, we found the person belonging to the one car at the trailhead and the set of foot and dog prints we were following through the snow, he told us he couldnt find the trail so he headed back after a couple hours.
^this is the trail right where we turned around.^
i had been through that game before so we headed back to find another hike in the area before we wasted more day. almost back to our car we decided to join two older men (who one of which knew the area very well) in their snow scramble up the hill and onto the mountain. at about 4000 ft it was all snow until the top which was mostly clear. our day of hard work was rewarded as we gazed upon the sisters, mt jefferson, mt hood, mt adams, mt washington, mt st helens just to name a few, i also spotted downtown portland in the setting sun. i wish i could have taken more pictures but i will and hope to cover the trail better next time.
