Table Mountain or it is fondly known in Idaho as Table Rock. It is located in the Jedediah Smith Wilderness, near Alta, Wyoming. Cindy had hiked Table Rock 3 times, and the last time we hiked it, was in 2004 when our kids were teenagers. We knew this would probably be our last time, as our knees aren’t what they used to be. So since the “Iowans” were in town, we had them join us.
We stopped at Artic Circle to fuel up and then loaded into the motorhome. We had reserved a camping site hear the trail head
The Iowans first view of Table Rock. You access the trail from Idaho, but the mountain is in Wyoming, just below the Grand Teton.
At our camp site in Teton Campground, we set-up camp and made foil pack dinners. (Everyone is eating, except Jade who posed for the picture).
After dinner we played some games and explored the area.
While we explored we found a visitor in the campground…
The next morning we drove to the nearby trailhead. There are two ways up Table Rock, the Face and Huckleberry. We chose to hike up the Face as we had heard there still might be snow on the Huckleberry trail, even though we were hiking in the middle of July.
We left our son Jade behind at camp, as he was still recovering from knee surgery.
The Face trail is 5.5 miles and has a 4000 foot elevation gain. An uphill hike the entire way.
The Face is a steep rocky climb. About halfway, everyone was still smiling.
We stopped at the “look-out” for Hurricane Pass. In honor of Jade, there was a “Conquer the World” pose.
We could see the Teton Valley below as well as Driggs, Idaho.
We stopped to refill our bottles, with fresh, cold water from a melting snow bank.
The scenery was simply breath-taking
At the top of the Face, you cross the Saddle. We stopped for lunch, overlooking the Huckleberry Trail
The Saddle is covered in shale rock. Hikers have placed rocks to create rock piles. The kids had to stop and add a rock to the pile.
The Saddle has red snow, commonly known as Watermelon snow. This is caused by a species of harmless algae. The redder it is, the more it tastes like a bitter watermelon. Wyatt volunteered to grab a hand full so we could have a taste.
It is a pretty insane scramble up to the top of Table Rock from the Saddle. The mountain is fairly flat, not very wide, and has sheer drop-offs on 2 sides. The top is 11,106 feet above sea level.
We made it…these are our awesome adventurous Peeps!! That is the Grand Teton in the background. Since it was the middle of the week, we were the only group on top of Table Rock.
In honor of Jade…another Conquer the World” on top of Table Rock, with the “Grand” looming in the distance.
Marmots at 11,106 feet
As we began our descent off Table Rock, we went down the southwest side
We noticed the wildflowers were just beginning to bloom
On the way way back across the Saddle, we decided to have a snowball fight at 10,400 feet in the middle of July…lol
We stopped for snacks and discussed our options to go back down the Face or attempt Huckleberry.
We decided on the Huckleberry Trail, go big or go home, right??
Miss Whitney at the Huckleberry trailhead sign, no turning back now
The top of Huckleberry was a sketchy section of trail. We had to cross a small snow field and a muddy section, with an 800 foot steep slope. Small steps, some hand holding, and lots of encouragement got us through.
It was incredible how fast you descend
Normally this stream is small enough to cross without getting your feet wet, but not this year. It was very fast and very cold.
Our second stream crossing had tree limbs across it that we were able to step on.
The bottom of the canyon had an incredible view of where we hiked down.
We didn’t take any pictures the last 2 miles of the canyon, as we encountered a Mama Grizzly and her cubs just off the trail. We were able to quietly by-pass her and we walked quickly and made no rest stops. Jim turned on his phone and played music for noise. When we finally reached the bottom, we were relieved and tired but we had made it!!
