The sign says, "It is steep, unstable, potentially hazardous and NOT maintained to DNR trail standards." It says, "Most hikers should stay on official trails."
Aside from the failure to appropriately punctuate the first sentence, the sign makes a good point. The Cable Line trail is terrible and you shouldn't use it.
And yet... there we were. The Cable Line is a staple of the early season because it's a perfect training hike, it's close to town, and accessible even if there's a ton of snow. But, bleh.
Cable Line is straight up, loose, and perhaps the least scenic hike on our regular schedule. The most interesting sights are the exposed cables that make you wonder if they're actually carrying power and touching them would be overly exciting.
We usually hit West Tiger 3 at the top of the trail, over to Tiger 2, and finally Tiger 1 before we drop back to the trailhead. In addition to everything else that's wrong with the Cable Line, it started raining/hailing/nastying on us at Tiger 2 so we shorted the trail and headed down from there.
My recommendation: Be like most hikers and don't use the Cable Line. There are so many better places to go.
