Table Mountain

Route Description for Table Mountain

Table Mountain is a colorful and fun objective in the Castle Wilderness. It is barely a scramble; however, we have included it here as it does take you to the top of Table Mountain, a great day adventure.

Begin at the Table Mountain trailhead located in the Beaver Mines Lake campground, hiking along a good trail through the forest before a steep hike brings you to treeline. Continue following the good trail into a wide gully, then follow the gully, gaining most of the elevation over this section. In spots the trail is indistinct or missing, but travel is never difficult and you will soon find yourself facing a wide scree slope and multiple possible routes to the summit plateau of Table Mountain.

On the map for Table Mountain, we complicated the ascent to the plateau a bit with a poor route choice, using an obvious trail in loose scree that we realized halfway up was clearly meant for descent, but the only real difficulty was the frustration of slipping backwards in loose scree. Once you reach the plateau, however, the views are fantastic, with a sheer cliff on the north side and the long broad plateau stretching out to the east.

From the plateau head towards the summit on the most obvious route choice.

Views from the plateau and summit of Table Mountain are wonderful, and some of the best in Castle Provincial Park. While the views don’t change from the plateau to the summit of Table Mountain, the wonderful walk along the length of the plateau certainly justifies continuing to the true summit.

Return the way you came.

Insider Hints for Table Mountain

• Camp at Beaver Mines Lake Campground, it’s an underappreciated gem of a campground.
• If you want to be based in the area and not camp, there are vacation rentals at Castle Mountain Resort, which are very affordable in summer.
• Beaver Mines General Store has everything you need while in the area.