It's not a bad hike, it's just got nothing other hikes don't have, and doesn't particularly wow unless you somehow climb this one before anything else in the gorge. Which would be weird, because it's hard to find. Aldrich Butte is the definition of a hike for locals who know the area and haven't checked it off their list yet, or OCD hikers like me who wonder if I can summit every vague mountain shape in the area.
Aldrich Butte is a pyramid shaped rock formation in the Table Mountain Complex area.
The whole Table Mtn area is very poorly signed. Even with a guidebook, it was very confusing. There are power line roads and old fire access roads, the PCT comes through the area, and there is no official trailhead. You can either park up an old dirt road in a "lot" under the power lines, or you can park at Bonneville Hot Springs Resort. We parked at the hot springs, felt safer for the car. At the hot springs, you walk up a path to the back of the resort. Here is our first screw up. There is an obvious ATV path westward. We walked along it for a while wondering where the trail starts, as it was supposed to start off that path. We then hit a 4 way junction of power line roads. Confused, we had another hiker with a dog catch up to us as we tried to look up the right way. We talked to him a bit, and he decided on one way back the way we came, thinking he missed the cutoff. We elected to try walking a bit further. We then came into contact with another couple heading the opposite direction. Thinking they had come from Aldrich, we asked them about it. They were also heading to Aldrich...from a parking lot under the power lines. WHERE IS THE STUPID TRAIL TO ALDRICH?
We turned back up the muddy ATV path and eventually found the cutoff, hidden in the weeds. Dog man was right, we missed it. So we turned up the path and started walking. It was hot. it was humid. There were bugs. Bugs aren't normally in the gorge, so this was extra annoying. we followed that path for a while, then we come to another junction with what looks like an old road. I read my guide intently for a while, and we turn north. This is the Aldrich access road from the other trailhead. Okay, right path. Then, 200 yards up from that junction, we hit another one. We turn left. THEN WE HIT ANOTHER ONE. the guide tells me here that Table Mountain goes straight, and we want the left path. I want to take a moment to state that none of these junctions are signed or labeled in any way. If you haven't been here before or have a guidebook, you're screwed.
From the last junction it's just a straight uphill on a moderate incline on the old fire road. Then you are at the top, just like that. At the top you get a mildly good view of the dam and the Oregon side, but nothing special. You can kind of see Table to the north. The top of Aldrich used to be a fire lookout station, and some remnants of the place still linger. Then you walk home. We took the Alrich road all the way back to the power line parking lot, then walked the road back to the hot springs.
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| Not mine, our day wasn't this nice. View is facing east, you can see Augsperger and Dog mtns. |
It was probably our first gorge hike let down. The bugs were stupid, the humidity was up, the views were so so. Aldrich is mediocre, and I'm not sure why some places list it as a good hike because it's meh. If you are a completionist, it's worth doing, but outside that? Just leave it be. It's not special, just a change of scenery hike.
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