Table Mountain

It has been 21 days since my last post.  I went hiking on the 11th and the farther time goes away from that date the less I feel like writing about it.  Here we go anyways, knowing there are a couple of you out there waiting to hear the report.
As you may recall from a previous post I was planning an over night back country hike on the west side of the Teton range.  Setting out from the Teton Camp ground with our packs full of gear my father, Dale, and I went up the Huckleberry Trail to Table Mountain.  This was meant to be the high light of the hike.  Then from Table Mountain we were going to drop into the valley tot he South and camp over night.

Table Mountain from the valley floor

Well, things didn't work out as planned.  As we drove to the trail head it was obvious that snow blanketed the hills we were going to be hiking.  I kept telling myself it was just a dusting and it would hardly slow us down if at all.  But only a mile or two up the trail the snow was more than a few inches deep.  With packs full of gear (and lets be honest we packed way too much) on our backs, it wasn't long before we were huffing and puffing our way up the trail.  My dad unfortunately started to be affected by the altitude and began to stumble a little bit.  Then the gradual trail came to a bowl in the mountain that had to be climbed to a ridge, this then led to the summit of Table Mountain.  So with tired backs and wet feet we stashed our packs and took very minimal gear, up the switch backs of the bowl, in a stuff sack.

In front of the Grand on top of Table Mountain.  Notice no sunburn!

As my dad stayed on the top of the ridge I continued on, for two hours, until I was able to summit.  The snow at the top was at least 12" deep.  If I wasn't wearing gators I had just purchased I don't think I would have cared to continue on my own.  At the top the wind was brutal, I wanted to stay and rest, but only lasted about ten minutes.  The views were awesome though, I plan on doing this hike again,  in better conditions.
The hike wasn't a total loss though.  there were many lessons learned.

               

Dad making one of many crossings

1.  Things almost never go as planned and even if they do no trip will never be as perfect as hiking the Cascade/Paintbrush in 2009
2.  Don't over pack.  Even if you might need it you probably won't, so why have the weight on your back?
3.  Wear sunscreen even when you don't feel burned.  Because we stashed our packs I didn't have sunscreen to apply when heading down the mountain facing the sun, in the snow, with no cover.  The next day my face was swollen, eyes puffy and skin blistered.  Eventually my skin leaked fluids and after almost a week I scrubbed the dead skin off of my face.
4.  Always look at the bright side.  Even though the trip ended early I did summit the highest peak in my life, at just over 11,000ft.