Back to Table Mountain
Yesterday my friend Rob and I took a trip out to Table Mountain in Oroville to check out some different waterfalls. I was “pretty sure” that the waterfalls there would still be flowing. Wrong. We went to four different falls and three were dry. Only one was flowing, but we arrived there too late. The sun was already shining directly in our faces in front of the waterfall. It was very difficult to photograph the waterfall because of this, and I was not very happy with how the photo turned out (however, I did post the picture below anyway).
The waterfall is Beatson Falls, one of a couple magnificent falls on Table Mountain (along with Phantom Falls). Beatson Falls, however, does not get very many visitors. It is a bit off the beaten path, I suppose, and not as many people venture over that way. It is not difficult to get to, however. But it is difficult to photograph.
The terrain on Table Mountain is just incredible. Here you are, walking along a very flat open grassy area, watching that you don’t step on any rattlesnakes, then all of a sudden you come to the edge of a monster canyon with massive death defying drop-offs. Streams flow through these canyons, and in the winter months they form huge waterfalls. All the canyons on Table Mountain seem to look alike, and all the waterfalls seem to look alike as well. It is an extraordinary landscape. At Beatson Falls, there are also very interesting pinnacle formations as well. I just wish the streams would have more flow to them. You have to get here immediately after a lot of rain or they will go back to being their dry normal selves again.
At Beatson Falls, it is very difficult to get a good view of the waterfall due to these death defying drop-offs. We chose the south side of the stream. We had very little time since the sun was already above the horizon. We found a viewpoint of the falls, but we had to get very near the edge of the canyon to see it. It was very un-nerving to be so close to the edge. Do not look down, and stop shaking your knees or you will wobble right off the edge! Unfortunately, the sun was right in our faces here. Rob decided to use his mountain goat capabilities and try photographing from the other side. I should have done this as well as he got a much better photograph, but it looked even more dicier on the other side, so I just chose to go down to the top of the falls and take some shots from there. The photo above is a small 5 foot cascade at the top of Beatson Falls.
Here’s a shot of the main waterfall. I will definitely be back here when the light is better.
