Leon Turnbull Photography

So I turned 50 years old on Friday. The big 5-0. The big one. The big Kahuna. Blah blah blah. I took Friday off work and went out hiking. Seemed like a good thing to do. Since I am 50 this year, I have some epic backpacking trips planned this year (weather and snow pack permitting), including a backpacking trip coming up this winter, a Yosemite backpacking trip in the spring, an big trip to the Southern Sierra in the Fall, and one other trip, the most epic of all epic California hikes (can you guess what it is?). More to come on all of those in the future. But for now, on my actual birthday day, I just went out on a non-epic hike to Phantom Falls and Table Mountain. It was a very good day.

It was not my first choice, however, I figured that this latest storm probably dumped at least 1 or 2 feet of snow up where I had intended to go, and it was highly unlikely that I could drive up there this weekend. I really did not have much of a backup plan, not one that I was liking, but when I got to Oroville in the early morning hours, I saw that it was cloudy. All my weather forecasts were saying it would be cloudy for most of the morning. This was a new development. I had thought it was going to be a sunny day. I believe this was God’s gift to me on my birthday: a cloudy morning, and I determined to take advantage of it. I changed my plan and decided to go to Table Mountain; I would do a big loop hike to Phantom Falls and beyond.

It was dark when I arrived at the trailhead. It was also raining. I did not bring my rain gear! It was supposed to be a sunny day! Well, looking at the radar, it seemed this was just a little blip, and should pass by shortly, so I got myself ready to go. It was still a bit misty and lightly raining when I started the hike to Phantom Falls in the dark.

I saw and heard no killer cows in the dark. Where were they all hiding today? It was very strange, actually. There are always cows around up here. I only saw one on the entire hike to the falls. It ran away as I approached it. Afterwards, on the return trip, I saw a few more, but still much less than usual.

I arrived at Phantom Falls at around sunrise. The waterfall was flowing a bit on the low side. I was a bit disappointed. It was not too bad, and it was certainly pretty, but I expected more after this latest storm. This was the first real snow storm of the year, and now we are going back into a 2 week dry spell again. It is so depressing. The snow pack is only at 20 percent of average for the year thus far. I saw a lot of evidence from the fire that raged here in the summer. You can see it in this photo that the fire in Coal Canyon reached all the way to Phantom Falls, and there was a lot of burn elsewhere on Table Mountain. Anyway, after photographing Phantom Falls, I went back to Ravine Falls, took some photos there, and then went on a big loop down to Beatson Falls, and then back to the trailhead. More pictures to come. It was a fun day for my birthday.

I got back to my car about noon and started packing up my gear. It was interesting because quite a few other people had come out to hike Table Mountain on this day. It is a weekday, in the winter, so I thought this a bit surprising. I watched as one car pulled up, carrying a trailer with dirt bikes. I was thinking to myself about this, who are these people? Do they think they are going to ride their dirt bikes out to Phantom Falls? That is not allowed. What is wrong with these people? As I was thinking this, they stopped their car right in front of me. Are they going to park their car right there? What are they thinking? Then the driver rolled down his window and started saying something to me. I looked at him, and I realized, Hey I know these people! They go to my church in Cameron Park (which is quite a distance away from Oroville) – what are the odds of seeing them here today? So weird. We chatted for awhile, and I gave them some tips on how to get to the waterfall. And no, they were not going to ride their bikes to Phantom Falls. They were only hiking. Strange thoughts go through my head sometimes. Probably more so now that I am 50 years old.