Every year, this ecological preserve located just north of Oroville comes alive with jaw dropping wildflowers more beautiful than anything in your wildest imagination. The North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve features incredible hiking trails, waterfalls, and lovely flowers that bloom around this time each year. It’s a spot all nature lovers in Northern California need to put on their bucket list.
Poppies, lupines and purple owl’s clover are just some of the incredible blooms that grow each spring in this Butte County slice of paradise.
Flickr/ California Department of Fish and Wildlife
The reserve is located on 3,315 acres about 7 miles north of Oroville.
Flickr/ Philip Bouchard
The landscape here was created by ancient lava (basalt) flows, which has enable a unique combination of plant life to grow here.
Flickr/ Philip Bouchard
Seasonal streams and waterfalls are formed by fissures in the basalt that soak up winter rains. In a few places, however, the underlying basalt is impermeable to water forming a temporary pool. Soon to dry up after rains end, only specialized plants and animals adapted to this habitat can survive over time.
Flickr/ Philip Bouchard
Seasonal streams and waterfalls include the striking Phantom Falls.
Flickr/ Ray Bouknight
As the saying goes, April showers bring May flowers, and the North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve has plenty of them!
Flickr/ Philip Bouchard Hikers cross a wide ravine filled with lupines and other spring wildflowers.
The beautiful wildflowers include the Foothill Triteleia (Triteleia lilacina).
Flickr/ Philip Bouchard
The Ithuriel’s Spear (Triteleia laxa).
Flickr/Philip Bouchard
The Pretty Face (Triteleia ixioides).
Flickr/ Philip Bouchard
And, of course the California Poppy! Here you can see tiny poppies poking through a mass of Sierra primroses
Flickr/ Sathish J ,
The area draws hikers year round, but the spring time is the best time to soak in the best that this place has to offer.
Flickr/ Philip Bouchard In this photo you can see the crumbled basalt rock in addition to the fields of wildflowers.
The appropriately named Goldfields (Lasthenia sp.) dominate the spring landscape.
Flickr/ Philip Bouchard
To get to the reserve, from Hwy 70 in Oroville, follow these directions. Exit at Grand Ave (Exit 48). Go East (right) 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.
Flickr/ Philip Bouchard
This stunning landscape makes you feel as though buckets of yellow, purple and orange paint were just splashed over the hillside. It’s managed by the California Department of Fish and Game.
Flickr/ Sathish J Here you can see lupines, poppies and more coreopsis (goldfields) that dominate the landscape.
You can learn more about the North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve here.
Flickr/ California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Flickr/ Philip Bouchard
Flickr/ Ray Bouknight
Hikers cross a wide ravine filled with lupines and other spring wildflowers.
Flickr/Philip Bouchard
Flickr/ Sathish J
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In this photo you can see the crumbled basalt rock in addition to the fields of wildflowers.
Here you can see lupines, poppies and more coreopsis (goldfields) that dominate the landscape.
Have you ever been to the North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve? If you love wildflowers and are trying to visit as many as possible this spring, you should also take a look at a recent article that features another incredible wildflower destination, The Secret Spot Along The Northern California Coast You’ve Surprisingly Never Heard Of.
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