South Table Mountain (6,336), Castle Rock (6,319), North Table Mountain (6,594) & Stafford Hogback (6,482) by Brian Schultz Thursday July 28, 2022

South Table Mountain & Castle Rock:
Roundtrip mileage: 2.85 miles
Elevation gain: 465'
Start to finish: 1 hour 20 minutes
Participants: Teresa Gergen, Brian Schultz

This was my last day in Colorado and Teresa happened to be in town so the timing worked out to do some easy foothill peaks together. I've done the Table Mountain peaks once before and she's done them countless times. We met at the small trailhead in a residential neighborhood due south of South Table Mountain. We began at 9:00 AM and good conversation ensued with family, work history, mutual friends, etc. but our main conversation was about peak elevation changes due to LiDAR.

The LiDAR measurements have promoted and demoted peaks, and for those who completed their lists many years ago based on maps, decisions have to be made whether to refinish the lists based on LiDAR. Teresa is the first person ever to have climbed all the ranked peaks in Colorado from 10,000-14,000 feet prior to LiDAR. She's hoping to refinish the Colorado lists based on LiDAR, as well as other lists outside of Colorado. I only have two peaks on the LiDAR bicentennial list to refinish but couldn't do them on this trip because of poor weather forecasts (thanks to the return of the Colorado summer monsoon).

We held a mostly nonstop pace and once we reached the summit of South Table Mountain, we continued on to Castle Rock. After a few minutes on its summit we headed down and were back at the trailhead at 10:20.

North Table Mountain:
Roundtrip mileage: 1.90 miles
Elevation gain: 530'
Start to finish: 1 hour 20 minutes
Participants: Teresa Gergen, Brian Schultz

Teresa asked after if I wanted to climb North Table Mountain and of course I said yes. We drove to another residential area parking area south of the North Table Mountain Park West trailhead and began at 10:30 AM. This trail goes north to the West trailhead and then catches the North Table Loop trail. It's a very popular trail with lots of hikers and bikers but I noticed many don't go up to the summit, seemingly content to just stay on the other trails below the top. We were back at our trucks at 11:50. Teresa had an appointment in the early afternoon and we departed company at this point but she suggested Stafford Hogback as another climb to do since I had the time. This was a very enjoyable morning with Teresa.

Stafford Hogback:
Roundtrip mileage: 0.80 miles
Elevation gain: 370'
Start to finish: 58 minutes

I drove down C470 to West Bowles Avenue and south to Foothills Bible Church. Just past the church I continued to another building called "The Shed" and parked at the southernmost end of the parking area. I'd be using Steve Knapp's route for this peak and began at 1:00 PM. It was a bit of a challenge hiking through the scrub and I was scratched regularly by sharp branches but I made it to the ridge and eventually the summit. There are nice views from the top but I didn't stay long and was challenged once again with trying to find a route down without getting scratched too badly. I made it back to my truck shortly before 2:00.