Table Mountain Hike
Trip Date: March 7, 2025
I had hoped to bring a fool or two along for the ride, but nobody was into it, so puppy and I set out alone. I had had intermittent communication with the Orovillians at best, so my hopes were not high that they would send me the address on my way up. I headed up Highway 70 and had a nice mellow drive. We decided on the Collins and Denny Market in Oroville to pick up a sandwich and lunch fixins for the hike. It was a huge market with a tiny little sandwich making counter and a tiny Mexican girl running the place. She took care of the one guy buying gas and then hustled over to assume the deli responsibilities.I filled out the sheet for my sandwich and asked her about some deli meat I could get for puppy. She motioned over to some refrigerated cases and by the time I came back after picking out some turkey meat, she had already made and wrapped up the sandwich and was back at the main counter on the other side of the market. I teased her about being so quick and she flashed a beautiful teenage smile and big brown eyes. I checked my phone one more time to see if the Orovillians had responded, but I was already walking among the wildflowers in my mind, so it was no big deal to just head up Cherokee Road, past the Pioneer Cemetery, alongside the Thermolito Diversion Pool, and eventually up through beautiful oak studded hills to the Phantom Falls Trailhead Parking area.
Years ago, Ken, Keir and I had joined several other folks on a guided hike of the Sutter Buttes, America’s smallest mountain range. After the hike, the three of us camped at Lake Oroville State Recreation Area (SRA), possibly at the Bloomer North Fork Trail Campground. The next day we hiked around in the North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve, but I have no idea where we were. It was beautiful at the time and the area stuck with me to return to, so I was excited to finally get back to it, and especially at such a good time in such a good year for rainfall and temperatures. All signs seemed to be pointing in our general direction.
It was already a beautiful drive and I was pleased to not find more than the dozen or so cars in the parking lot. It was cool and breezy, but it felt like it would warm up while we were hiking so I packed light with my sammitch, beers on ice in Beth’s cooler pouch, the turkey meat for puppy, and some cold water. I was immediately deflated to find so many stupid cows all over the place and especially right alongside the trail. Puppy had his first cow encounter and I was happy to have had him on the leash as both puppy and cow were frightened and bouncing all over the place.
The trail was cow road in many places, cobble rock in others and mostly passed over wide open plain. There were very few trees, and it was a little early for maximum flower bloom so it was mainly just low green grass. We crossed several streams and low rocky ridges which took some careful stepping to get down and then back up again. I wanted to get off the trail so I could let puppy off the leash and so I followed one of these low rocky ridges out to a lone oak tree on a rocky knoll, but was bummed to find more cows.
We headed back to the main trail and soon seemed to have the place to ourselves. I let puppy off the leash just before we descended down into a steep narrow ravine which turned out to be our first waterfall. It was beautiful and would be an extraordinary place on a hot summer day, although by then I assume the water may stop flowing. Nonetheless, puppy had a great time playing in the small pool and we listened to faint voices from some folks perched high up on a ledge enjoying their perspective.
We huffed and puffed our way up the other side onto another massive open plain, this one with a tad more color. We passed a few folks coming back already but had plenty of space and time to get far off the trail so they could pass unmolested by the excitable puppy. We passed and then got passed by numerous folks who would try side trails, or as we would explore other areas, but eventually everyone ended up at the main event, Phantom Falls.
There was a group of 8 or so older women all sitting at the best viewpoint and talking and laughing loudly having a grand time together. Puppy and I moved up farther up the rim and away from the certain death the cliff edge offered if one had a trip or ill-fated stumble. It terrified me so I tried to keep puppy away as best I could. We settled in for a delicious lunch and well-earned rest. Every single person who passed us, young and old, with dog or without, asked if they could pet puppy so he got all kinds of attention and loved every minute of it.
It seemed as if the color came out with the increased angle of the sun or maybe just the warmer temperatures, but as we stood up after lunch to head back, the yellows and purples were out in force. We carefully trekked back down the last steep incline to the top off the falls overlook and headed out to a lesser visited overlook of yet another falls. I think this made 5 for the day in this very reasonable 2 mile hike. The wildflowers were anything but disappointing, but clearly not at their max yet, but in combination with the waterfalls, this place was really a treat.
We passed more people on the way back but puppy did really well off the leash. The cows seemed to have moved further away from the trail also so we had a very pleasant hike back. I could see taking another loop off the main trail which leads you to a couple other falls and presumably less people. In talking to some fellow visitors, the place gets heavy use at peak time and especially on weekends, so maybe next time we try the other half of the trail and check out a different area of the reserve.
The parking lot was far more crowded when we got back but we had parked far off in a corner so we took our shoes off and rested our sore dogs and had a celebratory beverage. It was now quite warm and I was super happy I didn’t wear or even carry a sweatshirt or long sleeve. We snacked and finished our beverages before heading off. It didn’t matter at all that we didn’t get the lava rock because the hike was way better than expected and puppy had a great time.
Table Mountain Hike Gallery
