Gauging by the way Table Mtn looked on Friday afternoon, I quickly began plotting and scheming an opportunity to do one of my favorite big-mountain loop runs. Even last weekend, Table was still covered in quite a bit of white towards the top, but with another week of warmish temps, I could tell that it had been melting off rapidly with each passing day and there was a good chance that the surrounding areas to the south (Hurricane Pass) would also be mostly clear. I had an inkling that Alaska Basin might still be snow covered as it tends to hold snow longer than most other areas, but I would not be crossing the basin, only skirting its north boundary, and by knowing the trail system well, I was confident that I could get through it easily.
Part of my thinking was accurate.
My ninth month in a row on Table Mtn.
(At this point, I'm only speculating, but it's sure seeming to look as though there are only 4 maybe 5 months where snow devices of some kind are not required to get up to the summit.)
Shirtless on the summit! (that wouldn't last long)
The summit block (the "table") was teeming with marmots!
Curious little buggers
And only a little shy. Their curiosity overcomes their shyness especially when it comes to an opportunity to nab those cookies out of an open pack.
Only one of them was black. I tried to think if I had ever seen a black one before and wasn't sure if I ever had.
Shortly after leaving the summit, the sky turned dark and began to rumble, a cold wind blew in, and it began to hail. With maybe an hour to go still up above the treeline at +10,000ft, I was hoping it would blow through quickly so as to make my exposure seem a bit less of an issue. Thankfully, it was over and past with the hail lasting only 5-10 minutes. I flattened myself up against the slightly overhanging leeward side of a house-sized rock in an attempt to avoid the pelting. I was mostly successful.
Getting ready to descend south off Hurricane Pass. The thunderstorm remnants still lingered, but most of it had either moved east over the big peaks or was continuing to rumble on further south. If there had been even a little more snow than this, my travel would have been much more difficult. This was definitely the earliest possible time I would have wanted to be up here.
There's ALOT of water pouring off these mountains! Just about every section of trail had parts that were flowing with runoff.
What's a trail runner without the proverbial skinned knee? I fell through a weak spot in the snowpack and landed pretty much directly on a boulder hidden underneath. For someone who has already been waging a battle to keep my patellas healthy and happy, this definitely didn't help. I could feel it swelling and it gave me pain all the way back to the car. The pain and swelling is still there tonight (Sunday).Overall, a great run. Finally got some decent extended time above 10,000ft (including a brief hiatus to wait out a small hailstorm as well as some snowfield negotiating and routefinding) and ended up with about 25-ish miles in aout 5 1/2 hours.
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