Pogwatigue Perambulations: South Table Mountain

Pogwatigue Perambulations

Pogwatigue: A Pottawatomie word meaning 'running water.' Early settlers chose this word as the original name for my hometown, Niles, Michigan.

Perambulation: roam, stroll, inspection of an area on foot.

My intent for this blog is to catalog my various local, regional, national, and perhaps someday international explorations. Originally, I found the blog a good vehicle to publish Google maps on the internet and all my initial posts have such a map embedded, but I don't limit myself to that genre. Almost all the posts will have a personal, geographic element. For the title, I chose Pogwatigue due to its ties to my roots roots and perambulations as a fancy, alliterative word to describe the content.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

South Table Mountain

After a late lunch yesterday, I took advantage of the nice weather to hit another trail, one a lot closer to town. South Table Mountain is just west of Golden about three miles from where I've been staying. I found the trailhead at the end of a residential street. It was late enough in the day that most of the hike was in the shadow of the mesa. It was a fairly easy climb. The trail was a little muddy and icy, but nothing so much as I encountered over the weekend. At the top of the Mesa, I encountered a small herd of mule deer. I also met a strong wind which only intensified as night fell. By the time I reached the eastern point of the mesa, the sun had set. I had to back track along a trail after it became clear it wouldn't take me back to my original trailhead, and ended up back at the car right about at twilight.

Full Screen Version

Trip Statistics
Length: 2.8 miles
Hike Time: 1 hours 13 minutes
Avg. Speed: 2 MPH
Total Ascent: 350 ft.
Max Elev.: 6,070 ft.

Elevation Profile