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Let's say you are a guy, and you
go to a dance and find there are 10 women ranging from
pretty to gorgeous who want to dance with you. At
first you feel blessed, but by the end of the evening you
are emotionally exhausted. If you find waterfalls
attractive, you may feel the same way by the end of this
hike. Obviously,
Yosemite Valley has the greatest assemblage of waterfalls.
But outside of Yosemite, we assert that there is no other
place in California with as many near vertical waterfalls,
all within a single dayhike of each other, as there are on North
Table Mountain.
Their beauty is fleeting.
The major ones flow from the first storms in November
through about April. A couple flow for only a few days
after big storms. They are all dry throughout the
summer.
Eons ago, basalt lava flowed
down a canyon and pooled in a valley at the end. There
it slowly cooled, and as it crystallized fracture planes
established vertically. Valley sediments underlay the
basalt. The sides of the valley eroded away, leaving
Table Mountain. The ancient valley's floor was soft
alluvial deposits, and as they erode from underneath, the
basalt cleaves vertically. Thus the vertical cliffs of
North Table Mountain.
If you are lucky and go on a
hike after a big rainstorm in March, all the falls will be
running and there will be millions of wildflowers carpeting
the rocky flats.
Expect to see grazing cattle;
they are generally not dangerous, but give the occasional bull some
space.
Wildflowers best late Feb-April.
Look for
California Newts in the creeks above the waterfalls.
GPS recommended.
Sunlight best on falls in early afternoon (many are facing
west, and are in shade in the morning).
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