Greetings All -
Today's adventure involved visiting Greenleaf Peak and Table Mtn as part of a long hiking loop. I wish to thank those adventurers that have gone before us in vetting this loop: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=17589
Our hiking group of SamL, Rigby the Hiking Dog and myself started from the Bonneville Hot Springs Resort/Spa TH. We headed up the Two Chiefs trail on a cool, crisp and windy morning:
Table Mtn hiding behind the forest:
Beautiful views approaching Greenleaf Falls:
Our crossing at Greenleaf Falls wasn't too bad - a bit icy, but a suitable spot was found to jump across:
Instead of immediately heading up the ridge after the creek crossing, we continued around on the forest road and ran into a massive rock slide:
We needed to get up on the forested cliff in the upper left of the above photo.
I realized we had gone too far around the ridge, but what a view of waterfalls!
The rock slide we scrambled (bouldered) through seemed to be very recent. No moss, no significant growth, and the rock field seemed somewhat unstable. We crossed the rock field, climbers left and headed offtrail up the forested area to the left of the multiple waterfalls:
We passed Upper Greenleaf Falls on our left:
There was a nice game trail that lead us past the upper falls. We left the game path to reach the cliffs we had seen earlier:
The massive rock field below the cliffs - the same field we had entered earlier:
We moved inland and into the forest and encountered the camps mentioned in earlier trip reports:
We intersected with the old forest road and continued further south, towards Greenleaf Peak:
We found the 'ol railroad rail with the 1887 date stamped on it:
After crossing through the forest, we came out to the powerline alley and headed up towards Greenleaf Peak, patches of snow/ice around us in 29F air temps:
It took about an hour to make the long trek up to Greenleaf Peak. Very icy on the trail leading to Greenleaf Peak summit:
Some wonderful views through the forest just before we hit Greenleaf Peak:
Almost to Greenleaf Peak summit! Past the shack about 30 yards from the summit:
"OK Dad, we are here now at the summit. It's cold and windy. Can we go now?"
Greenleaf Peak is forested in so no great views from its summit. Still, we had reached our first objective!
Our way back down from the peak, past the shack - big drop off to the right:
We descended the 800-900 ft ascent back to the powerline alley, had a quick bite to eat, then crossed the powerline alley:
Our objective was the reach the ridge in the distance, then head left to Table Mtn:
Three creeks ran through the powerline alley, including Greenleaf Creek. None of which were hard to cross.
Once up on the ridge from the powerline alley, we headed south towards Table Mtn:
Approaching the "back" (north side) of Table Mountain, patches of ice and snow on the trail:
Coming up the back of Table Mtn - very icy here:
Walking through the north section of Table Mtn appraching the viewpoint area:
At the table at Table:
then the viewpoint at Table Mtn where it was very windy:
Then down the Westway trail and back to the car by 440pm. What a fun adventure! Must go back again to see more things up on the plateau!
Distance: 16.6 miles
Ascent: 5450 ft
Elapsed Time: 8:32:13
Greenleaf Peak and Table Mtn loop Nov-28-2015
- MarsIsCobra
- Posts: 569
- Joined: November 27th, 2012, 7:57 pm
- Location: Camas
Re: Greenleaf Peak and Table Mtn loop Nov-28-2015
really enjoyed this post, thanks
Re: Greenleaf Peak and Table Mtn loop Nov-28-2015
Nice! Rigby the Hiking Dog is one tough little dog dude! Clearly my cat is NEVER going to show such ethusiasm for anything other than food, naps, and a good poop. And there's now a table on Table?
Re: Greenleaf Peak and Table Mtn loop Nov-28-2015
Thanks for the reply.VanMarmot wrote:Nice! Rigby the Hiking Dog is one tough little dog dude! Clearly my cat is NEVER going to show such ethusiasm for anything other than food, naps, and a good poop. And there's now a table on Table?
Yes - there is a table on Table, at the summit junction. Someone hauled it all the way up there.
The Westway trail has noticeably more erosion than I remember 2 years ago.
Rigby is a little beat up from bouldering, but he should be OK in no time.
- Splintercat
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Re: Greenleaf Peak and Table Mtn loop Nov-28-2015
Cool report, Craig! The slide is, indeed, very new -- just a few years ago -- and a mini-version of the one that created the Cascades. Don Nelsen scouted it just after it happened and posted some photos here. Hard to believe nobody heard or saw it, given the proximity to Stevenson!
Thanks for posting!
Tom
Thanks for posting!
Tom
Re: Greenleaf Peak and Table Mtn loop Nov-28-2015
Thanks Tom!Splintercat wrote:Cool report, Craig! The slide is, indeed, very new -- just a few years ago -- and a mini-version of the one that created the Cascades. Don Nelsen scouted it just after it happened and posted some photos here. Hard to believe nobody heard or saw it, given the proximity to Stevenson!
Thanks for posting!
Tom
When we scrambled up the first ridge from the rockfield, we could hear small rocks coming down. Possibly in the streams and/or because of the strong east winds. Either way, that whole area is still moving. Still, an amazing sight! There was a rather well-marked game path up the right/east side of Greenleaf Falls. Without that, we would have spent a lot of energy getting up to the plateau.
Sincerely,
CraigG
Re: Greenleaf Peak and Table Mtn loop Nov-28-2015
Great, detailed report! I've been contemplating this loop - now I don't have to try so hard. Very nicely laid out!
Re: Greenleaf Peak and Table Mtn loop Nov-28-2015
Great report Craig, I just missed you that day as I was at the falls. Thanks for sharing
Re: Greenleaf Peak and Table Mtn loop Nov-28-2015
You are welcome! That is quite a scramble on the west side of the falls!Rustygoat wrote:Great report Craig, I just missed you that day as I was at the falls. Thanks for sharing
- woodswalker
- Posts: 835
- Joined: November 25th, 2012, 4:51 pm
Re: Greenleaf Peak and Table Mtn loop Nov-28-2015
Great report! I've been curious about the north approach to Table, but I'm not letting myself explore it until I have a chance to climb it from the south. As for cats I find them very helpful in packing for the day. That is when they aren't sleeping on my wool sweaters. Thanks for posting this. I've been curious about the Greeenleaf Basin for awhile.
Woodswalker
Woodswalker