Natural History Wanderings

Submitted by Daniel

Daniel reports: On Saturday 3/26/16 I went hiking at North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve near Oroville, where in my opinion is the best place in Northern California to consistently view an abundance of spring wildflowers every year. There were not many flowers by the parking lot on Cherokee Rd but as you walk 1 /4 to 1/2 mile into the fields you start seeing nice patches of flowers around the volcanic rocks. The peak bloom is still at least 1 week away because many small goldfields and poppies are still in the process of growing. Then about 1 to 2 miles on the hike to Fairy Falls and Phantom Falls is where you start seeing the large carpet fields of wildflowers. Besides purple lupines and goldfields, I was surprised to see several other types of flowers I had not seen in abundance in the prior drought years. There are also some spots where the poppies have a large showing on some of the hills.
Shirmir Rd on the GPS recommended route is closed, so I detoured to the Grand Ave exit on Highway 70 (Exit 48). Go East on Grand Ave for 1 mile. Left on Table Mountain Blvd for a tenth of a mile. Right on Cherokee Road 6.3 miles north to the reserve.

Official access is through a small parking lot on the west side of Cherokee Road (left side traveling north). It is the only parking area which has portable restrooms. When I went on Saturday afternoon, the parking lot was full and people were parking along the side of the road. It was the most people I had seen there in three years. Since there are no established trails on the first half of the hike, I made online reservations for my group for the 1:00pm free tour with a guide from the CA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife. A lot of the tours are already full but if you put yourself on the waiting list and call a few days beforehand most likely they will give you the ok to come. On our tour about half of the people were no-show. The advantage of going on the weekend when there are a lot of people, is that you can ask and follow the many locals who are hiking and know the way to the three waterfalls that are close to each other. Right after you pass Phantom falls there is a rocky path to go down to the base of the falls with a rope section to aid the last part of the decent. Round trip hike is about 3 -4 miles through cow pasture, with some muddy spots, and crossing a couple shallow small streams.