Table Rock, Table Rock Wilderness

A rare find in the Cascade Range that Mike and I fortunately stumbled upon last January. It was a standard Oregon day, raining...overcast...we could only sit and stare at each other for so long before we decided to find a nearby hike. I don't remember how we discovered this one, whether it was in our Moon Hiking Book or the Portland Hiker's blog...either way, we were both surprised by its beauty. At the summit, we were able to get above the cloud cover and see St Helens, Mt. Hood, Jefferson, Washington, Three Fingered Jack and The Sisters, quite the welcomed sight in January.

The hike is 7.6 miles roundtrip, taking about 3.5 hours.  To get there head to the town of Molalla, take Highway 211 for .5 miles, turning right on South Mathias Road for .3 miles, then left on South Feyrer Park Road for 1.6 miles. Then, take another right onto South Dickie Prairie Road for 5.3 miles, at the junction stay right and cross over the Molalla River. Follow the paved road for 12.8 miles to a fork, go left on Middle Fork Road for 2.6 miles, take a right at the sign for Table Rock Wilderness. Follow this road another 2 miles, taking a left toward the wilderness pointers. You are almost there! 2.4 miles left to the parking spot at the first landslide. You have to hike 1.3 miles to the trailhead, this is a remote hike, but the benefit of this is there are few people out here. Once you make it to the hard earned trailhead climb 1.9 miles on the Table Rock trail staying to the right to see the laval cliffs of Rooster Rock and meander up to the summit.

For more information and other trailhead routes see here: http://www.blm.gov/or/resources/recreation/files/brochures/TableRockBrochureWeb.pdf