The plan today was to meet at the Tiger Mountain Cable Line trailhead at 7:30. I got there about 7 and texted Ken (above, closest to the camera) that I was going to start early. Ken and Greg are both faster hikers than me and I figured I would get a little start so they wouldn’t have to wait for me.
The Cable Line trail is justly famous around here among hikers for being rough (totally unmaintained and seriously eroded for most of the way) and steep. It is about 2,000 feet of elevation gain in roughly 1.5 miles. Check out the elevation profile (distance is in km, elevation gain in meters):
I kept wondering when someone would catch up with me but in fact I made it all the way to the summit, waited there a few minutes and started back down when I finally saw Greg coming up, with Ken right behind.
The summit was windy and a little wet so we retreated down the trail a little way to a former camp site, rested, and then hiked down via the Tiger 3 trail – the same trail I went up on Tuesday.
Here is the track with the ‘up’ on the right (east) and the down on the left:
Nice way to start a Saturday, very strenuous on the way up, a great stroll through a beautiful forest on the way down.