Table Mountain Trail

An exciting, steep, and very short exposed trail leads to a broad summit plateau between Mount Baker and Mount Shuksan. We carried one of our babies in a backpack to the top when she was less than a year old, and I met a father leading a four year old who had also been carried there in a pack when he was younger, but was now walking it for the first time. I overheard a small girl on her way up the cliffs ask, “Mother, how are we ever going to get down?” The trail may not scare all children, but it does frighten some parents, who find it alarmingly exposed. Parental guidance is needed. Although hundreds of families climb Table Mountain every year, if you are not comfortable on the trail, don’t take your children. There are other trails. But rest assured, the blasted rock inclines are wide and gentle. Arriving at the summit cairns (piles of rocks) rewards children with a sense of achievement and satisfaction. Sometimes this trail does not thaw out until mid-August, and some years not at all. Do not attempt it until the snow is gone from the cliffs.