I always feel the need to do something epic for my birthday. This hasn't always been true but these last couple years have been crazy and this one fits right in. Last year, I spent my birthday quite intoxicated with one of my favorite people in the world, Markus, and a ton of german friends! Traveling Europe at the time, Markus showed me certainly how to celebrate. The stories from that night are embarrassing, crazy and just generally insane. If I run into you sometime ask me about it but for now they are not internet appropreate. Then flying to London same day to make it the longest day of my life. Birthdays seem to be a mark of new beginnings.
Since I wasn't back packing around Europe this year I decided to explore the Pacific Northwest, Washington to be exact. For a while now I've had a urge to climb a mountain in Washington by my self and decided that my birthday was a great excuse to do it. Table Mountain it was. One of the most gruleing hikes around with every obstickle you could imagine. Oh, and it was raining the first day.
After searching for the trail head to this monster for a while I finally gave up and excepted that I couldn't find it and picked a good looking path to me. With or without a path I was getting to the top of this mountain. Starting off with a easy walking path it wasn't to bad, even in the rain. Then the path started to get steeper and steeper. There were multiple forks in the path multiple times as this path runs next to and sometimes with the Pacific Crest Trail. After hiking for a couple hours in the rain up this giant hill I managed to see someone else. Gary was in sandals because he was a nut and told me that I was on the path to the top and only had 5 more miles to go but those were going to feel like 20. Also, that I should plan to cry or puke at least once. Wow, great pep talk there Gary.
After what felt like a lifetime I reached a sign with a "You are here" map. What was interesting about this sign is that there were a handful of notes, written or taped on. Some were advice, arrows of easier paths, warnings like "Massive bee hive at 3,125 feet. Stung 32 times" and motivational quotes. If you ever make it to this point on Table Mountain you'll find my mark on the far right side that reads, "Bric Bain 8.31.15." Here on was by far the hardest part. Almost a vertical climb in to the forest and boulder field . Lets just say it took me a long while so I'll give you some back story on Table Mountain and the Bridge of Gods in the means time.
Around 1,000 years ago there was a massive earth quake that caused a giant landslide from the north side of the Columbia River, damming the river and creating a inland sea. A hundred years or so went by and the water eroded the dam creating a natural stone bridge. This natural bridge became known as The Bridge of God to the Indians and is in multiple Native American legends. The landslide was from Table Mountain and I set up camp and slept on the the edge of where this landslide originally happened 1,000 years ago.
Reaching the summit was worth it and beautiful, one of the best views of Columbia River. It was also beyond windy so I weighed my tent down with heavy rocks so I didn't blow off the cliff to my death in the middle of the night while I was dreaming in the clouds.
After hiking, climbing and hitting 3,419 feet of elevation I started the descent. This was almost just as challenging as I had to go down all of the vertical bolder fields and climbing routes. Making it back to the base in mostly one piece I felt it was my obligation to visit the new Bridge of The Gods. See the old bridge created by the earthquake ended up eroding almost completely so a new modern bridge was build and named after the old. This bridge is now famous in it own right along with the legends. Being a huge finishing point for tons of hikers from the Pacific Crest Trail even being featured in the movie "The Wild."
This was not the same type of nuts my 21st birthday was but just as crazy in a completely different way. Would have not spent a moment differently and while I didn't cry or puke, I promise, it was a challenging one. Now I'm 22 and writing about another crazy adventure and excited for many many many more.
Bric Bain
